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A Brief History of French Cuisine

The first printed cookbook in France, the gastronomic capital of the world, dates back to the 14th.century. It was written by Guillaume Tirel alias Taillevent which in old French means "slicewind." Tirel, was a cook for several French kings and his famous book Le Viandier details the developing cuisine of France. It explains, ragouts, and describes many sauces and the use of roux. It has had a major influence on books on French cuisine, and is very important to food historians as a source on the medieval cusisne of northern France.

France's cuisine continued to develop in the 15th. Century as the French government started protecting producers of the famous Roquefort cheese which is made form ewe's milk. Forks were now used more frequently in France, having first been used in the 11th. Century, and then in Italy.However they did not become widely used in France until the 18th century.

In the 16thc entry, turkeys from New Spain were introduced into Old Spain and later France, where they became popular for banquets, and gradually replaced the peacock, swan and stork which were tough and stringy. Foods from the New World such as corn, tomatoes, potatoes, white beans, vanilla and chocolate began being introduced into Spain and slowly into France. However, they did not become widely popular for several centuries. The marriage of Catherine de Medici of Florence in Italy, to the French dauphin Henri of Valois who later became Henri II in 1547, is said to have had some influence on French etiquette and cuisine; thus bringing an Italian touch in to French cooking.

In the 17th century, Henry IV expressed the hope that every peasant would have "a chicken in his pot every Sunday", but French peasants continued to live on bread and gruel. Henri IV was assassinated before his dream could be fulfilled. Another cookbook Le Cuisinier Franois by Francois de la Varenne indicated a change to lighter dishes and the use of less sugar, which had become very important in the 16th century.

Sugar was one of the Arabic food products such as rice, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves among other spices which had become popular in France in the 13th century, when knights and soldiers returning from the Fourth crusade introduced them. Now, this cookbook suggested replacing many of the spices with the use of native herbs.

It is in this century that champagne was pioneered by a Benedictine monk Dom Perignon; but he is not credited with inventing sparkling wine which had

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