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The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture
Why are there restaurants? Why would anybody consider eating to be an enjoyable leisure activity or even a serious pastime? To find the answer to these questions, we must accompany Rebecca Spang back to France in the eighteenth century, when a restaurant was not a place to eat but a thing to eat: a quasi-medicinal bouillon that formed an essential element of prerevolutionary France's nouvelle cuisine. This is a book about the French Revolution in taste and of the table--a book about how Parisians invented the modern culture of food, thereby changing their own social life and that of the world.
During the 1760s and 1770s, those who were sensitive and supposedly suffering made public show of their delicacy by going to the new establishments known as restaurateurs' rooms and there sipping their bouillons. By the 1790s, though, the table was variously seen as a place of decadent corruption or democratic solidarity. The Revolution's tables were sites for extending frugal, politically correct hospitality, and a delicate appetite was a sign of counter-revolutionary tendencies. The restaurants that had begun as purveyors of health food became symbols of aristocratic greed. In the early nineteenth century, however, the new genre of gastronomic literature worked within the strictures of the Napoleonic police state to transform the notion of restaurants and to confer star status upon oysters and champagne. Thus, the stage was set for the arrival of British and American tourists keen on discovering the mysteries of Frenchness in the capital's restaurants. From restoratives to Restoration, Spang establishes the restaurant at the very intersection of public and private in French culture--the first public place where people went to be private.
During the 1760s and 1770s, those who were sensitive and supposedly suffering made public show of their delicacy by going to the new establishments known as restaurateurs' rooms and there sipping their bouillons. By the 1790s, though, the table was variously seen as a place of decadent corruption or democratic solidarity. The Revolution's tables were sites for extending frugal, politically correct hospitality, and a delicate appetite was a sign of counter-revolutionary tendencies. The restaurants that had begun as purveyors of health food became symbols of aristocratic greed. In the early nineteenth century, however, the new genre of gastronomic literature worked within the strictures of the Napoleonic police state to transform the notion of restaurants and to confer star status upon oysters and champagne. Thus, the stage was set for the arrival of British and American tourists keen on discovering the mysteries of Frenchness in the capital's restaurants. From restoratives to Restoration, Spang establishes the restaurant at the very intersection of public and private in French culture--the first public place where people went to be private.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 29, 2000
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December 31, 2018
Okay, I love books about food, books about Paris, books about restaurants, books about history ... but ... this one almost bored me to tears. I fully realise it is a scholarly tome, and comes highly recommended by those 'in the know'. But unless you're a historian, you may find this a bit dry. I have nothing against all the info she included, I just felt it could have been done in a more user-friendly fashion. But, that's just me. Your mileage may vary. On the bright side, I did learn a few things, and that's always good.
2 Stars = Blah. It didn't do anything for me.
2 Stars = Blah. It didn't do anything for me.
July 15, 2022
Perhaps the most important thing to know about this book is that it upended an idea that had been passed on for settled fact for over two centuries: that the restaurant was founded in 1765 by a certain Boulanger. You will still find this claim in a number of serious works, but Spang meticulously demonstrates that it was Roze de Chantoiseau who not only founded the restaurant (in 1767) but promoted it in conjunction with one of his other ventures (a business guide to Paris). I do fault her a tad for giving SO little attention to the Boulanger story, if only to trace how it became so established, but her basic position is increasingly the accepted one (even if some people hedge their bets by talking about "Boulanger-Chantoiseau"). She did nothing more to shift this established paradigm than to rigorously follow the evidence - which did not prevent supposedly knowledgeable people from dismissing her claims (with only the vaguest reference to opposing evidence).
Ironically, having upended one received idea, she uncritically accepts another: that one could not eat out or at least not well or with any individual choice before the restaurant. Yet we have several statutes from the sixteenth century enumerating a wide variety of foods and flavorings to be served in taverns and cabarets; we have images of people sitting and eating at separate tables; we have a mention in the seventeenth century of a private room where a couple could left alone after consuming; we have mentions of specific items being ordered and separately paid; etc.
This is problematic since so much of Spang's book proceeds on the assumption that the restaurant introduced privacy and choice in dining, completely ignoring the evidence just cited. As for French "gastronomic culture", there is evidence going back to the Gallo-Romans and Franks that people in what would become France had an unusual appreciation of good food. It is also frustrating, since Spang is a superb archival researcher and perhaps the best person to have looked into the REAL history of public dining in France - which much precedes the restaurant. Notably, the restaurant as we know it owes a great deal to the traiteurs who mainly appeared in the seventeenth century and already sued a cabaret owner (a hundred years before the restaurant) for serving ornately prepared dishes. Instead, she takes a major wrong turn on a road that could have led her to a much richer subject.
Basically, it is an important and valuable work. But once you get past the history of the first restaurant itself, what follows is highly arguable and should be checked against period evidence.
Ironically, having upended one received idea, she uncritically accepts another: that one could not eat out or at least not well or with any individual choice before the restaurant. Yet we have several statutes from the sixteenth century enumerating a wide variety of foods and flavorings to be served in taverns and cabarets; we have images of people sitting and eating at separate tables; we have a mention in the seventeenth century of a private room where a couple could left alone after consuming; we have mentions of specific items being ordered and separately paid; etc.
This is problematic since so much of Spang's book proceeds on the assumption that the restaurant introduced privacy and choice in dining, completely ignoring the evidence just cited. As for French "gastronomic culture", there is evidence going back to the Gallo-Romans and Franks that people in what would become France had an unusual appreciation of good food. It is also frustrating, since Spang is a superb archival researcher and perhaps the best person to have looked into the REAL history of public dining in France - which much precedes the restaurant. Notably, the restaurant as we know it owes a great deal to the traiteurs who mainly appeared in the seventeenth century and already sued a cabaret owner (a hundred years before the restaurant) for serving ornately prepared dishes. Instead, she takes a major wrong turn on a road that could have led her to a much richer subject.
Basically, it is an important and valuable work. But once you get past the history of the first restaurant itself, what follows is highly arguable and should be checked against period evidence.
August 31, 2008
Agreed with Heather - very scholarly and comprehensive. Rebecca L. Spang does a great job of presenting a minutely documented story of the evolution of the restaurant from the 18th to the 19th century, weaving together evidence from sources as disparate as police reports and restaurant menus.
When I first read this book, I referred to the endnotes continuously; although doing so was very informative (and helped understand the context by presenting the primary sources), it did make the book a dry read. Having since re-read it from cover to cover, trying to follow the story itself, I discovered it flowed somewhat better.
While the book is still not a page-turner, the 'continuous' reader will better appreciate the social ramifications of the transformations of the restaurant - in particular how this peculiarly Parisian institution oscillated at the overlap of the public and private spheres, as these spheres themselves were redefined during this tumultuous period of French history.
When I first read this book, I referred to the endnotes continuously; although doing so was very informative (and helped understand the context by presenting the primary sources), it did make the book a dry read. Having since re-read it from cover to cover, trying to follow the story itself, I discovered it flowed somewhat better.
While the book is still not a page-turner, the 'continuous' reader will better appreciate the social ramifications of the transformations of the restaurant - in particular how this peculiarly Parisian institution oscillated at the overlap of the public and private spheres, as these spheres themselves were redefined during this tumultuous period of French history.
September 6, 2023
Academic, not a leisure read by any means !
April 23, 2015
This book provides a social history of the development of restaurant culture.
Reading the book, the common place is cast as alien (how weird is it that we can sit alone in a group?) and what we think of as unique to our time can be seen as just another iteration of what humans have done before.
I enjoy reading history b/c it provides something with which to compare the way we currently live. The goal - as misguided as it may be - is to divine something axiomatic of human behavior. If we complain and acclaim the same things as they did before, what can we infer? If we do something different, what does that mean? This book is ripe with explanations for your consideration and rumination.
Take for example the start of resturants, houses that served a broth for the sick. Limited by guild laws. This sparked a book long inquiry in my brain as to the effects of regulation on trade.
My only gripe is that this book is written for people with longer attention spans than me. Meaning, I can't recall what a chapter is about b/c the titles are oblique. Similarly, I often found myself enjoying the book for 40 pages, able recall what i read, having several mini-epiphanies about human behavior, and i wouldn't be able to give you a coherently organized explanation of what I read. This being said, I quite enjoyed the author's voice, so perhaps the problem is really only with me.
Reading the book, the common place is cast as alien (how weird is it that we can sit alone in a group?) and what we think of as unique to our time can be seen as just another iteration of what humans have done before.
I enjoy reading history b/c it provides something with which to compare the way we currently live. The goal - as misguided as it may be - is to divine something axiomatic of human behavior. If we complain and acclaim the same things as they did before, what can we infer? If we do something different, what does that mean? This book is ripe with explanations for your consideration and rumination.
Take for example the start of resturants, houses that served a broth for the sick. Limited by guild laws. This sparked a book long inquiry in my brain as to the effects of regulation on trade.
My only gripe is that this book is written for people with longer attention spans than me. Meaning, I can't recall what a chapter is about b/c the titles are oblique. Similarly, I often found myself enjoying the book for 40 pages, able recall what i read, having several mini-epiphanies about human behavior, and i wouldn't be able to give you a coherently organized explanation of what I read. This being said, I quite enjoyed the author's voice, so perhaps the problem is really only with me.
March 4, 2015
The book begins at the end of the Seven Years War and examine the birth and growth of the modern restaurant, and the chefs physiocrats, philosophes, charlatans, aristocrats, and politicians who helped shape it. This is an excellent study of a subject that doesn't get much serious attention from historians. Spang's use of sources is exemplary, and the book is full of interesting and hilarious anecdotes and illustrations. Be warned. This is not a light read, and unless you're a food history fan or a French Lit or History major, it's going to take a bit to get into.
February 11, 2008
Well written and very scholarly, just dry and in many ways too long - it would have been just as poignant in 100 pages.
April 6, 2013
A fantastic and entertaining read - I disagree with the other reviewers; I think the length was completely earned.
April 25, 2022
Many people have argued through the ages that the restaurant arose in the aftermath of the French Revolution, either as a communal feast, or when all the fancy chefs employed by the aristocrats were unemployed and searched for alternative employment. There is an alternative explanation that it all started when a Mr Boulanger served a rogoût, in contradiction of the rigid guild regulations. Spang, however, rejects all these, and points out that there was already a thriving restaurant scene in Paris during the Ancien Regime, and the defining character of a restaurant was rather the private dining, in contrast to the communal Table d'hôte that came before it.
After the revolution and under the consulate, the state actively fomented discussions about frivolities, such as restaurants and theatres, to take focus away from awkward topics like grain shortage or the autocratic behaviour of Bonaparte. During the various restorations and revolutions of the 19th century, the restaurant was seen by the leaders as a harmless outlet for popular energy, and by the masses as something to aspire to.
The book talks almost only about the front of the restaurant, and spends a lot of time comparing room sizes, table arrangements and wall-hung mirrors. The back kitchen, however, is almost entirely neglected. The enormously long menus with 30 ways of serving chicken invite the question of how the kitchen coped with this bewildering variety in an era before mechanical refrigeration, but those questions remain unanswered. Likewise, the influence of Carème, who was active during this period is relegated to a footnote stating that he never worked in restaurants. While that's technically true, his influence must surely have ben felt in them.
After the revolution and under the consulate, the state actively fomented discussions about frivolities, such as restaurants and theatres, to take focus away from awkward topics like grain shortage or the autocratic behaviour of Bonaparte. During the various restorations and revolutions of the 19th century, the restaurant was seen by the leaders as a harmless outlet for popular energy, and by the masses as something to aspire to.
The book talks almost only about the front of the restaurant, and spends a lot of time comparing room sizes, table arrangements and wall-hung mirrors. The back kitchen, however, is almost entirely neglected. The enormously long menus with 30 ways of serving chicken invite the question of how the kitchen coped with this bewildering variety in an era before mechanical refrigeration, but those questions remain unanswered. Likewise, the influence of Carème, who was active during this period is relegated to a footnote stating that he never worked in restaurants. While that's technically true, his influence must surely have ben felt in them.
December 3, 2018
A fascinating look at the very unusual origins of something we all take for granted: restaurants. Spang, in this fun (but occasionally dense) bit of popular history, goes back to original sources to identify the restaurant's beginnings in 18th Century France — not during the Revolution, as is sometimes reported, but decades prior. As it turns out, before a "restaurant" was a place to eat it was a thing to eat. Specifically, it was a type of broth or consommé that was, according to cutting-edge 18th Century science, believed to be the ideal treatment for a common catchall malady of the time, "weakness of chest."
As it happened, the broth, which could be prepared in advance and kept warm, enabled restauranteurs to be open for extensive hours instead of simply serving food at a specific hour as existing establishments did at the time. "If eighteenth-century models of physiology had singled out the soufflé for its restorative powers, the restaurant could not have taken the form it did," Spang writes. Once the restaurateurs were open serving their consommés, they gradually began to expand their menus (including inventing the concept of the menu) until they reached truly gargantuan proportions. Spang chronicles all of this and more, including the collision of the new restaurants with the fast-shifting sensibilities of Revolutionary France and how the rest of the world saw this peculiar innovation when it was discovered (especially after the end of the Napoleonic Wars).
For those with an interest in the topic and a general knowledge of the period, this is a superb read that will change your perception of something extremely ordinary. Spang doesn't write down to a popular audience, but neither is this a ponderous academic tome laden with jargon. If the book sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend it.
As it happened, the broth, which could be prepared in advance and kept warm, enabled restauranteurs to be open for extensive hours instead of simply serving food at a specific hour as existing establishments did at the time. "If eighteenth-century models of physiology had singled out the soufflé for its restorative powers, the restaurant could not have taken the form it did," Spang writes. Once the restaurateurs were open serving their consommés, they gradually began to expand their menus (including inventing the concept of the menu) until they reached truly gargantuan proportions. Spang chronicles all of this and more, including the collision of the new restaurants with the fast-shifting sensibilities of Revolutionary France and how the rest of the world saw this peculiar innovation when it was discovered (especially after the end of the Napoleonic Wars).
For those with an interest in the topic and a general knowledge of the period, this is a superb read that will change your perception of something extremely ordinary. Spang doesn't write down to a popular audience, but neither is this a ponderous academic tome laden with jargon. If the book sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend it.
January 17, 2023
I really love everyday history - the history of shops, supermarkets, hotels etc. So this seemed right up my street. It starts promisingly but unfortunately it is mainly a history of revolutionary France with some gastronomy thrown in. It was worth reading for the descriptions of old restaurants, but I was much more interested in the asides (more of Charlotte's honeymoon to Paris please!) than I was on the chapters and chapters of how restaurants relate to historians' conceptions of the French revolution.
April 1, 2023
Informative, eye-opening and well-written. The idea of the restaurant as an actual traceable invention rather than a natural consequence of human inclinations was not something i had thought of before, and this book does a great job explaining it, as well as being chock-full of juicy anecdotes about the period in general.
April 26, 2023
very interesting on the start of the restaurant, a specific term referring to a specific type of eatery that is hard to understand given that all eateries are referred to as restaurant now. i wish the history could have gone past the mid 1800s too
December 12, 2022
What began as broth vendors for the weak-chested ended up as Waffle House. The only things missing from the wolf-to-chihuahua terminus are the fuck cabinets. Otherwise it all tracks.
Read
April 29, 2023Read for Menu RA job.
Read
March 17, 2024DNF 20%. Lovely subject but far too academic to hold my interest or gain momentum.
February 16, 2019
Well-researched, informative and entertaining
I purchased this book (and some others) as source books for some stories set in pre-Napoleon III Paris. The action does involve meals taken at restaurants, and while I was aware that the sidewalk café was a fairly recent invention, and it would be highly unlikely that the party that set out to dine at a restaurant would be given a number and told that their waitperson would seat them when a table came open. The organization, running, substance and practice of restaurants escaped me, and I needed to understand them.
The credentials of the author, who lectures about modern European history at University College, London, and the publisher, Harvard University Press, indicated that the information was likely to be accurate and useful. The samples that I read made it fairly clear that Ms. Spang could write an entertaining and informative account.
The material is comprehensive and useful. There is a lot of information there, and concepts are illustrated by contemporary accounts (such as the trial of some enterprising butchers who represented as rabbits what turned out to be cats. The case caused an uproar).
For my own purposes, I learned that a café was a place that sold primarily beverages while a restaurant sold a wider array of edibles. You could eat in a common room at a restaurant, or hire a private room (and some of those private rooms were hired for somewhat risque' purposes).
The book is illustrated with contemporary engravings and pictures, properly identified. I did not, myself, find much in the way of typos or poor layout.
The only complaint that I might have about this book is that the print is rather smaller than I generally like, the better to get a lot of information into a not-so-large package. I did not find it annoying enough to downgrade the book.
This is an excellent source book and an often enjoying read, if you enjoy research. It is certainly not dry. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the subject, or in the greater subject of the evolution of European, and specifically Parisian, society in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries.
...I must see if it is available in hardcover.
I purchased this book (and some others) as source books for some stories set in pre-Napoleon III Paris. The action does involve meals taken at restaurants, and while I was aware that the sidewalk café was a fairly recent invention, and it would be highly unlikely that the party that set out to dine at a restaurant would be given a number and told that their waitperson would seat them when a table came open. The organization, running, substance and practice of restaurants escaped me, and I needed to understand them.
The credentials of the author, who lectures about modern European history at University College, London, and the publisher, Harvard University Press, indicated that the information was likely to be accurate and useful. The samples that I read made it fairly clear that Ms. Spang could write an entertaining and informative account.
The material is comprehensive and useful. There is a lot of information there, and concepts are illustrated by contemporary accounts (such as the trial of some enterprising butchers who represented as rabbits what turned out to be cats. The case caused an uproar).
For my own purposes, I learned that a café was a place that sold primarily beverages while a restaurant sold a wider array of edibles. You could eat in a common room at a restaurant, or hire a private room (and some of those private rooms were hired for somewhat risque' purposes).
The book is illustrated with contemporary engravings and pictures, properly identified. I did not, myself, find much in the way of typos or poor layout.
The only complaint that I might have about this book is that the print is rather smaller than I generally like, the better to get a lot of information into a not-so-large package. I did not find it annoying enough to downgrade the book.
This is an excellent source book and an often enjoying read, if you enjoy research. It is certainly not dry. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the subject, or in the greater subject of the evolution of European, and specifically Parisian, society in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries.
...I must see if it is available in hardcover.
November 12, 2020
Restaurant: a place to eat or a food to eat? In The Invention of the Restaurant, Spang shows both by tracing its development from a cup of broth to a place to eat. I found the book was a little like wading to shore, slowly, slogging through deep water, except for the last few easy steps onto the beach. Had a guillotine deadline not been hanging over my head, I may well have abandoned the over-promised, underdelivered monograph. The read is difficult for those unfamiliar with French, French history, and twelve-cylinder words. Spang uses interesting illustrations and plenty of first-hand accounts to argue that restaurants were not a product of the French Revolution, but existed earlier as the brainchild of Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, developed into a unique institution with distinctive customs and expectations and developed from a public and political forum to a private and apolitical experience.
Over two centuries, Spang traces the restaurant from a cup of soup served to elitists who were considered of too sensitive a constitution for a full evening meal, to a politized stage, to a place where politics were unwelcome. She goes to Roze de Chantoiseau, a landowner and merchant’s son, who opened what she considers the first restaurant in 1766, well before the revolution. Her evidence of Roze de Chantoiseau being the first to offer bouillon for the weak chested is limited. However, her defence of restaurants being prerevolution and of what distinguished a restaurant from other eating establishments is thorough. Using the commentary of both French and foreigners, she points out that restaurants offered a menu with fixed prices, food at all hours, and a private table. Traiteurs used the table d’hôte method (host’s table) where mealtimes were set and one was served family style at a community table.
The restaurant continued to develop its customs and expectations. After a score of years, offerings expanded. Since print was expensive, menus were vast, offering anything that might be on the menu in any season, but not necessarily available at the time. Spang well documents the menus with plenty of commentary, especially from the letters and diaries of awestruck tourists.
Restaurants became a political issue by the 1790s. Spang asserts that that they were seen as “potential sites of conspiracy.” (214) She references the example of a restaurateur, Dominique Février, who was arrested for the political views of those in his restaurant. Perhaps more political were the analogies to restaurants which Spang documented with illustrations and written accounts. King Louis XVI’s attempted escape from France was depicted as an attempt to dine and dash. Michel Le Peletier serves as an example that was juxtaposed with Louis’s. He, a Jacobin, was murdered while dining in a restaurant. Since he was on the right side of the revolution, his story was quickly embellished to have him spending his dying minutes paying his bill. The restaurant was utilized well for propaganda purposes.
Spang traced the restaurant’s continued development through the revolution to a depoliticalized restaurant by the end of the 1790s where writers were arguing for a more autonomous view of food. One of the evidences provided is the popularity of restaurant singing clubs. After wining and dining, members in their inebriated state would compete to compose ditties, but politics and religion were off limits. Additionally, Spang gives significant attention to the views and writings of Alexandre Balthaser Laurent Grimod de la Reynière. Grimod, the inventor of the restaurant review, was a popular figure on the food commentary scene. Another of his contributions was shunning politicians and political discussions from serious dining, a trait, Spang notes, his successors maintained. Politics was largely banished from the restaurant scene.
In addition to noting political shifts, Spang notes the shift of restaurants to a much more private experience from providing the individual’s public need to showcase their weak chestedness and cultured sensitivities while consuming a broth. Spang notes that while brothels and theatres were policed, restaurants were tolerated as a safety valve for philandering upper class men. She points out with plenty of written and pictorial evidence that private rooms could be obtained at restaurants for these covert activities. Additionally, she documents that these rooms tended to be removed from the main dining rooms and sometimes even had separate exterior entrances to aid clandestine relationships.
As Spang traces the metamorphosis of the restaurant from a pre revolution soup-serving institution for grand-standing individuals to a political statement to an apolitical, private and tailored dining experience, she does so with extensive documentation. The risk she takes, is losing her reader in the quotes. Well documented and evidenced arguments make the read a good resource for French history students, and those interested in restaurant history.
Over two centuries, Spang traces the restaurant from a cup of soup served to elitists who were considered of too sensitive a constitution for a full evening meal, to a politized stage, to a place where politics were unwelcome. She goes to Roze de Chantoiseau, a landowner and merchant’s son, who opened what she considers the first restaurant in 1766, well before the revolution. Her evidence of Roze de Chantoiseau being the first to offer bouillon for the weak chested is limited. However, her defence of restaurants being prerevolution and of what distinguished a restaurant from other eating establishments is thorough. Using the commentary of both French and foreigners, she points out that restaurants offered a menu with fixed prices, food at all hours, and a private table. Traiteurs used the table d’hôte method (host’s table) where mealtimes were set and one was served family style at a community table.
The restaurant continued to develop its customs and expectations. After a score of years, offerings expanded. Since print was expensive, menus were vast, offering anything that might be on the menu in any season, but not necessarily available at the time. Spang well documents the menus with plenty of commentary, especially from the letters and diaries of awestruck tourists.
Restaurants became a political issue by the 1790s. Spang asserts that that they were seen as “potential sites of conspiracy.” (214) She references the example of a restaurateur, Dominique Février, who was arrested for the political views of those in his restaurant. Perhaps more political were the analogies to restaurants which Spang documented with illustrations and written accounts. King Louis XVI’s attempted escape from France was depicted as an attempt to dine and dash. Michel Le Peletier serves as an example that was juxtaposed with Louis’s. He, a Jacobin, was murdered while dining in a restaurant. Since he was on the right side of the revolution, his story was quickly embellished to have him spending his dying minutes paying his bill. The restaurant was utilized well for propaganda purposes.
Spang traced the restaurant’s continued development through the revolution to a depoliticalized restaurant by the end of the 1790s where writers were arguing for a more autonomous view of food. One of the evidences provided is the popularity of restaurant singing clubs. After wining and dining, members in their inebriated state would compete to compose ditties, but politics and religion were off limits. Additionally, Spang gives significant attention to the views and writings of Alexandre Balthaser Laurent Grimod de la Reynière. Grimod, the inventor of the restaurant review, was a popular figure on the food commentary scene. Another of his contributions was shunning politicians and political discussions from serious dining, a trait, Spang notes, his successors maintained. Politics was largely banished from the restaurant scene.
In addition to noting political shifts, Spang notes the shift of restaurants to a much more private experience from providing the individual’s public need to showcase their weak chestedness and cultured sensitivities while consuming a broth. Spang notes that while brothels and theatres were policed, restaurants were tolerated as a safety valve for philandering upper class men. She points out with plenty of written and pictorial evidence that private rooms could be obtained at restaurants for these covert activities. Additionally, she documents that these rooms tended to be removed from the main dining rooms and sometimes even had separate exterior entrances to aid clandestine relationships.
As Spang traces the metamorphosis of the restaurant from a pre revolution soup-serving institution for grand-standing individuals to a political statement to an apolitical, private and tailored dining experience, she does so with extensive documentation. The risk she takes, is losing her reader in the quotes. Well documented and evidenced arguments make the read a good resource for French history students, and those interested in restaurant history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2013
Successful in HST 301: Graduate Historiography in 2011 and 2013.
October 14, 2020
A fun and easy to read yet educational book about the creation and evolution of the restaurant.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews