A MATTER OF TASTE

For well over a century, French gastronomy has been held up as the pinnacle of culinary sophistication. Its perfection lies in beef cooked with scientific precision, silken sauces poured just so over a turbot fillet, lighter-than-air soufflés, trolleys laden with more cheese varieties than you knew existed and a leather-bound tome of a wine list to accompany it all.

But this is just its delectable, outward appearance. The reason French gastronomy has endured and evolved is that it is more than a culinary art; it is a social and cultural one. Indeed, the entered the lexicon at the dawn of the 19th century with the publication of Joseph Berchoux’s poem of the same name, an ode to fine dining and the ‘art of the table’. A derivative, , soon followed. While other Western nations can lay claim to having a food centric culture, none has elevated its dining traditions to the level of a discipline worthy of study and discussion as the French have.