There is more to French restaurants than being delicious
Image sourced from https://cineuropa.org/film/394378 on 2 January 2021. All rights reserved - I do not own this photograph.
Recently, I watched the French film “Delicious” - https://www.palacefilms.com.au/delicious?fbclid=IwAR11zCqF16zxs3Vtn9yz3xt4LI8XxqXHzCsWid-V5Gk4fClSPyhT-NjP7bU
It’s set in the 1780’s, and it’s made abundantly clear that the aristocracy are all-powerful. They can hire and fire at will, along with much worse, and there’s precious little in place to stop them from doing so.
The hero of the movie, Pierre Manceron, works as head chef for the Duke of Chamfort, but his desire to try new recipes gets him sacked. A female apprentice, Louise, appears and asks to be his apprentice – but there is more to her than meets the eye. After some back-and-forth, the pair open the first restaurant in France – an incredibly brave move given that the attitude of the French nobility is that only the elite should be allowed to eat well.
The scenery is beautiful and suitably rustic in the same measure as the duke’s palace is colossal and glittering. And there is good chemistry between the characters. But what really caught my interest was the attention paid to period detail.
To my surprise, many of the kitchen tools looked reasonably similar to what we use today; ladles, spatulas, basting brushes, tongs, etc. The copper pans hung on racks up above the cutting bench, and the only real difference was that instead of electricity, the griddle was over flames fueled by wood. Imagine having your barbecue plate set into your kitchen bench, a little bit like a Japanese yakiniku restaurant. I have no idea if that was accurate, but I see no reason for it not to be – after all, not everything can be cooked by reaching in over a hearth.
Having said that, while it looked pristine in the movie, I think such a setting would be a health and safety nightmare. The floor was just cobblestones in many places, and as much as people tried, I find it hard to imagine how they kept things clean. For a start, given that the characters were washing clothes in a trough by the creek, what did they use to clean the dishes and pans with?
Everything was muscle powered, and I mean everything, as this was all pre-Industrial Revolution. So not only the obvious stuff required human labour, but so did the cutting and carting of wood, the cutting and storage of straw for the animals, the maintenance of tools, and so on. Transport was equally primitive. The roads looked little better than tracks, and while it wasn’t shown, it was all too easy to imagine a wheel shattering on stones, or sliding off sideways at high speed. And, of course, only the nobles were shown riding; for most peasants, walking would have been the only option.
Another aspect which stood out to me was how well the film captured what it was like to live in such an unequal society. The nobles acted in a boorish manner, treating the people who served them with complete contempt. But something I hadn’t expected to see was that they also seemed rather nervous of each other. I don’t know how much of that relates to them being nervous about the rumours coming through about what mobs were starting to do in Paris, or how much of it was just that social status was so fluid at that point in time. The movie definitely gave the impression that telling the wrong joke or the like at the wrong time could have real – and potentially lethal - consequences.
And watching how Manceron was treated by the Duke sent chills down me. As head chef, I would have thought he’d have some clout, especially considering the Duke was relying upon him to keep the house guests happy. But it counted for nothing. Likewise, all of the servants were similarly toady towards the Duke, because they had no power – none – under that social system.
It is hard for me to imagine having to not look someone in the eye, and to not express my opinions freely on a daily basis. That doesn’t mean I don’t show subtlety and tact when required, and keep my mouth shut when it makes sense to do so. But there’s a huge difference between doing so occasionally, and having to do it with EVERY conversation I have each and every day.
In hindsight, watching this, the French Revolution looks inevitable. But its success wasn’t obvious, at least in terms of the time frame. It should be hard to imagine the social elite being so blinkered, and unwilling or unable to reflect upon how their attitudes were so out of touch. Sadly, it’s not – witness the way a lot of billionaires act (especially in the tech sector), or in so much of Western politics.
My takeaway from this movie? The next time you eat out, treat everyone from the waitress to the cleaner with respect…and give heartfelt thanks that you don’t live in a time without the basic freedom to choose what you’d like to eat.
