Ah...Paris!  The cuisine of all cuisines!  The delicately prepared fare of the priviledged...Ok.  French food is a lot more common today and available to a wide varieties of consumers.  However, the preparation of such foods has an interesting history.

During the 1500's, the progressive bride of Henry II, Catherine de Medici, decided to bring some civility to the consumption of food.  Prior to her implementation of silverware and elaborate cuisine, women were not allowed to dine with men.  The men of the era felt that watching a woman eat distorted her facial features and diminished her "erethral beauty".  But as Catherine de Medici continued to bring improvements to the culinary world, the use of silverware ushered in a more "civilized" approach to dining making mealtime a distinguised event.

Catherine also brought with her an entourage from Italy. Included was her personal chef.  The Italians had made large strides in the development of cuisine and brought this to the courts of France.  Along the way, the chef developed recipes made with locally available ingredients, thus expanding the culinary pallette.  Royalty and nobility alike enjoyed these delacacies exclusively until the French Revolution. During this time, it became somewhat of a liability to be working for a member of the classes who were apt to "lose their head" over political matters. This caused the chefs to flee fromthe nobility and direct their efforts to a different - albeit poorer - and less risky clientel. Thus the introduction of fine cuisine to the simple folk.

Blasting ahead a few hundreds years, the next revolution to the culinary industry was Escoffier.  Know as the King of Chefs, Escoffier found himself blessed with an over abundance of labor. With this endless supply, he established the brigade system. Under this organization, chefs were assigned to specific stations in the kitchen. These stations would concentrate on a single task - i.e., the saucier would make only sauces. There was much efficiency related to this organization, however, Escoffier was still faced with a variable that he sought to control - the nature of the chefs. Often times, chefs would become drunk or they would dress in a manner unbecoming of someone that you would wish to prepare a meal. Therefore, Escoffier set out a standard uniform - the white jacket, hat and neckerchief accompanied with black and white checkered pants. Not only did this "clean up" his staff, it also established an air of professionalism and pride in one's work.

But as if revolutionizing food preparation was not enough, Escoffier also authored a cookbook. Including thousands of recipes, the record of the recipes standardized dishes established a common frame of reference not only for the chefs preparing the food, but also for the consumer dining on the dishes.

The International Journey Begins
The Production Process