A Bite-Sized History of France

1. French Food: A Bizarre Blend of Sublime and Preposterous

If there is one thing that shines through the never-ending story of France, it is the easy coexistence of the sublime and the preposterous.

A compelling character. France, renowned for its allure and enlightenment, often bewilders visitors with its bizarre customs, politics, and gastronomic habits. This unique blend of the majestic and the mercurial, the glorious and the infernal, defines its captivating character. The authors, a French cheesemonger and an American graduate student, discovered this while navigating the pungent world of French cheeses, where every "stinky" cheese came with a rich, compelling story.

Food as identity. French identity is deeply intertwined with its foodways—the customs around eating, drinking, farming, and vine growing. This is evident in everyday expressions and political discourse:

• "Sad like a day without bread" (sad comme un jour sans pain)
• De Gaulle's challenge: "How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 varieties of cheese?"
• Farmers protesting European standards as a threat to traditional life.
• Far-right politicians using food (pork, wine) to define "Frenchness" against Muslim communities.

A global amalgam. Despite nationalist claims of "pure" French cuisine, its gastronomy is a rich amalgam of global tastes and customs. Roman vineyards, Austrian pastries, Turkish coffee, Mexican chocolate, and American tomatoes all illustrate that French cuisine is a constantly evolving, international blend, making claims of an unchanging, pure tradition ludicrous.

2. Ancient Roots: Gauls, Romans, and the Birth of Wine

Most French people would doubtless agree with François Rabelais, the great Renaissance humanist, who declared that “from wine, one becomes divine.”

Wine's foreign origins. Twenty-five hundred years ago, wine was largely unknown in Gaul, with most preferring cervoise, a fermented barley brew. Wealthy Gauls shocked Romans by drinking imported Italian wine pure and to excess, even allowing women equal drinking rights. Wine cultivation was limited to Marseille, founded by Greeks.

Roman conquest and cultural fusion. The Romans, initially viewing Gauls as "noisy, drunk, uncultured" barbarians, eventually conquered Gaul in 52 B.C.E. This led to the "Gallo-Roman" era, blending cultures, including:

• Language: Modern French has roots in this fusion.
• Eating habits: Gauls adopted Roman wine drinking and vine growing.
• Vineyards: New vineyards emerged in Burgundy, Alsace, Bordeaux, producing wines appreciated even in Rome.

The wooden barrel. Despite Roman superiority, Gauls invented the wooden barrel, initially for cervoise, then for transporting food. This innovation, superior to Roman amphorae, is crucial for modern wine, cognac, and whiskey aging, adding lovely flavors. Even balsamic vinegar owes its current form to Gaulish barrels.

3. Feudal Fare: Food as a Marker of Class and Power

A noble table would look very different, and not only because the quantity of food on offer would be vastly more abundant (an easy way to show how powerful and rich you were).

Feudalism's rise. The anarchy of the 9th and 10th centuries, marked by constant wars and invasions, led to the rise of local lords and the feudal system. Kings granted land (fiefs) for allegiance and military service, creating a pyramid structure: King, greater lords, minor lords, and at the bottom, peasants (90% of the population), mostly serfs bound to the land.

Class-based diets. Food became a rigid marker of social class, justifying the nobility's rule.

• Peasant diet: Dominated by grains (rye, barley, oats), vegetables from untaxed gardens (leeks, onions), occasional pork, eggs, cheese, and copious amounts of wine/cider/beer (safer than water).
• Noble diet: Abundant, emphasizing roasted meat (closer to "fire," the noblest element), game (from hunting, a warrior activity), and birds. They shunned root vegetables (associated with "earth," the despicable element) and boiled meats.

The droit de ban and Ban des Vendanges. Lords exercised the droit de ban, allowing them to impose taxes and force peasants to use their mills or wine presses. This included setting the Ban des Vendanges, the official start date for grape harvesting, ensuring tax collection and quality control. This system, while beneficial for the powerful, fueled peasant revolts.

4. Monastic Innovations: Monks, Cheese, and Wine

As cheese can have various taste notes, from floral and fruity to pungent and meaty, it seems monks could not get enough of it, and some of them became expert cheesemakers.

Monasteries as culinary centers. Medieval monks, forbidden meat but allowed milk, became expert cheesemakers, creating classics like Munster, Abondance, and Époisses. Their austere Benedictine Rule, while strict, allowed for creativity in food, especially in fish farming and wine production. Monasteries, like those in Burgundy, transformed local varieties into world-renowned wines like Chablis.

Asceticism and gastronomy. The Cistercian order, founded in the 12th century, sought a more ascetic life, forbidding eggs, fish, cheese, and milk. Yet, their devotion to manual labor in agriculture, particularly viticulture, led to significant gastronomic contributions. Their meticulous work in Burgundy vineyards, like Clos de Vougeot, perfected winemaking techniques.

Wealth, philanthropy, and influence. Monasteries amassed immense wealth through donations, becoming major landowners and feudal lords. This wealth also enabled them to be philanthropists, providing food and shelter for the poor, and promoting literacy and learning. The image of the "rich and fat monk" had a basis in reality, leading to new, pauper-focused orders like the Dominicans and Franciscans.

5. Renaissance and Conquest: New Tastes from Afar

No single individual better captures this transformative era than Leonardo da Vinci, a man of extraordinary and wide-ranging talents.

French Renaissance in the Loire. The 15th and 16th centuries saw the end of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the early modern era, marked by human progress and challenging dogma. King Charles VIII's 1494 invasion of Italy, though militarily limited, brought Italian artisans, architects, and gardeners to France, particularly to the Loire Valley, kickstarting the French Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci himself spent his last years at Amboise, invited by King Francis I.

New foods and royal tastes. Italian influences brought new foods and cooking styles to the French court.

• Oranges: First bloomed in France at Amboise, leading to elaborate orangeries for year-round cultivation.
• Plums: Queen Claude, wife of Francis I, popularized the succulent Reine-Claude plum.
• Confectionery: Candied spices, fruits, jellies, and preserves became popular, with sugar becoming a new status symbol.

Catherine de' Medici's culinary legacy. Catherine, wife of Henry II, is often credited with transforming French cuisine by introducing Italian chefs and foods like broccoli, artichokes, and haricot beans. Her influence helped shift noble palates towards vegetables and away from medieval aversions, leading to dishes designated "à la Florentine" (e.g., eggs Florentine).

6. The Mother Sauces: A Culinary Revolution

Sauce (n.): The one infallible sign of civilization and enlightenment. A people with no sauces has one thousand vices; a people with one sauce has only nine hundred and ninety-nine.

From medieval to modern sauces. Medieval French sauces were heavily spiced and acidic, relying on vinegar, lemons, and verjus (unripe grape juice). They rarely included fat. By the 17th century, a culinary revolution occurred:

• Fats: Butter and oil became prominent, replacing much of the acidity.
• Local herbs: Chives, garlic, shallots, and mushrooms gained favor over exotic spices.
• Philosophy: A radical idea emerged: "food should taste like what it is," advocating simpler, more natural flavors.

Carême's codification. In the early 19th century, legendary chef Marie-Antonin Carême brought order to French sauces, identifying four "mother sauces" from which all others could be derived: allemande, béchamel, espagnole, and velouté. These roux-based sauces allowed for an endless variety of "daughter sauces," designed to complement specific dishes.

Escoffier's update and mayonnaise. In the 20th century, Auguste Escoffier updated the list to five mother sauces, adding hollandaise and tomato sauce. The French are also famous for mayonnaise, an oil-based sauce, purportedly invented in 1756 after the French capture of Mahón, when a cook substituted olive oil for cream.

7. Bitter Sweetness: Sugar, Slavery, and Colonialism

So many tears were shed for sugar that by rights it ought to have lost its sweetness.

Sugar's global journey. Sugarcane, originating in Southeast Asia, spread westward through trade and conquest, becoming a profitable industry in the Middle East and later in Europe. European colonization opened vast new lands in the Americas, leading to massive sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean and Brazil.

The transatlantic slave trade. The labor-intensive nature of sugarcane cultivation led European powers, including France, to rely on the African slave trade. Ships from French ports like Nantes transported enslaved Africans to the Americas, returning with sugar, coffee, and rum. Nantes became France's most important slave port, its prosperity built on this barbaric trade.

Colonial legacy and modern consumption. The gâteau nantais, a rum-soaked vanilla cake, is a direct culinary legacy of Nantes's slave-trade wealth. While France belatedly acknowledges this bitter past, the history of sugar highlights how food is often connected to exploitation. Today, most French sugar comes from beets, a development spurred by Napoleonic Wars' blockades.

8. Science and Survival: War, Potatoes, and Preservation

Monsieur Appert has discovered the art of fixing the seasons: in his home, spring, summer, and fall live in bottles, similar to those delicate plants that the gardener protects under glass domes against the intemperate seasons.

Napoleon's food challenge. Napoleon understood that "an army marches on its stomach," prioritizing new food preservation methods for his vast Grande Armée. The Directory offered a prize for solutions to food scarcity, piquing the interest of Nicolas Appert.

Appert's revolutionary invention. Appert, a confectioner, developed "appertization"—placing food in hermetically sealed bottles and boiling them. This process, later understood by Louis Pasteur to sterilize food by killing microorganisms, revolutionized food production by allowing preservation for years, regardless of season or location.

• First application: Green peas, offered in December, astonished guests.
• Impact: Eradicated food scarcity, benefited sailors (combating scurvy), and spurred new food industries.
• Legacy: Appert is known as the father of canning, though the British later adapted his method to tin cans.

The potato propagandist. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French army pharmacist, championed the potato, a South American native initially resisted in Europe due to fears of leprosy and its "unbiblical" nature.

• Royal endorsement: King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette wore potato flowers, making them fashionable.
• Revolutionary food: The revolutionary government promoted potatoes to combat famine and prevent hoarding, distributing Parmentier's memoir and Madame Mérigot's La Cuisinière républicaine (the first French cookbook by a woman, solely of potato recipes).
• Enduring legacy: Potatoes became a French staple, celebrated in dishes like hachis Parmentier and even the Paris Métro's Parmentier station.

9. The Green Fairy's Curse: Alcohol, War, and Identity

I am for wine, and against Absinthe, like I am for tradition, and against revolution.

Absinthe's rise and fall. Absinthe, the "Green Fairy," a Swiss-invented, anise-flavored herbal liqueur, gained popularity in France in the 19th century. French soldiers in Algeria used it to purify water, and it became a fashionable aperitif in Paris's "green hour." Bohemian artists and writers embraced it, believing it sparked creativity, despite its reputation for causing madness due to its high alcohol content and haphazard distillation.

Phylloxera crisis and temperance. The phylloxera louse, an American import, devastated French vineyards in the late 19th century, causing wine production to plummet. This crisis, coupled with rising alcoholism, led to an unholy alliance between French wine producers and the temperance movement. They targeted "industrial alcohols," especially absinthe, as the cause of social ills, while promoting wine as a "natural alcohol."

Wartime ban and modern revival. In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, the French government banned absinthe, seeing it as undermining national strength. Wine, however, remained a daily ration for soldiers. After the war, Pontarlier distilleries switched to producing pastis, an anise-flavored alternative. The ban was reversed in 2010, and absinthe made a comeback.

10. Empire's Legacy: Couscous and Cultural Assimilation

France has become Europe’s largest consumer of couscous, and surveys suggest it is now the third-favorite dish of the French people (after magret de canard and moules-frites).

Marseille's Maghrebi influence. Marseille, a historic port city, boasts a vibrant Maghrebi cuisine, with couscous as a highlight. Couscous, a Berber dish, is a staple across the Maghreb, symbolizing home and community. Its introduction to France began with early travelers but intensified with French colonization of Algeria (1830-1847).

Colonialism and migration. French colonial practices in the Maghreb (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) reshaped local economies for France's benefit, leading to significant labor migration to France. Maghrebi migrants, particularly men, filled factory jobs in French cities, establishing their cuisines, including couscous, in their new localities.

• Algeria's unique status: Administered as part of Metropolitan France, leading to extensive two-way migration.
• Pieds-noirs: French colonists in Algeria adopted local dishes like couscous.

Couscous's assimilation. Couscous was initially not embraced by the broader French population due to its "staple food" status and unfamiliar flavors. However, post-WWII migration waves, including the return of 1 million pieds-noirs after Algerian independence in 1962, expanded its popularity.

• Industrialization: French manufacturers developed mechanized couscous production, creating a prepackaged, easy-to-prepare version.
• Cultural paradox: This "assimilated" couscous is now France's third-favorite dish, yet it's seen as distinct from authentic Maghrebi styles, reflecting ongoing cultural tensions and selective appropriation rather than full embrace.

11. From Liberation to Exasperation: Franco-American Food Fights

The vast gulf between nouvelle cuisine and a McDonald’s meal seemingly epitomizes an unbridgeable civilizational divide.

Post-WWII tensions. The liberation of France by Allied forces in 1944 brought initial gratitude, but postwar recovery and Cold War politics quickly strained Franco-American relations. Gastronomy became a symbolic battleground, with periodic spats and controversies.

Coca-colonization. In 1950, France nearly banned Coca-Cola, seen by French Communists and local producers as a symbol of "coca-colonization"—American cultural and economic subjugation. Despite the ban's failure, France (and Italy) still has Europe's lowest per capita Coca-Cola consumption, though it symbolizes carefree youth.

Cheese wars and food activism. US bans on French cheeses (e.g., raw milk Camembert, Roquefort) due to pasteurization laws or retaliatory tariffs (for EU bans on hormone-treated beef) fueled French resentment.

• José Bové: A Roquefort farmer, dismantled a McDonald's in 1999 to protest tariffs and globalized fast food, becoming a national figure for anti-globalization and local food traditions.
• McDonald's in France: Ironically, France is McDonald's second most profitable market, due to astute adaptation to French tastes (e.g., Roquefort burgers, croissants).

Nouvelle cuisine and cultural convergence. The social upheaval of May 1968 facilitated the rise of nouvelle cuisine, challenging Escoffier's classical methods with principles of truth, lightness, simplicity, and imagination. This trend, emphasizing fresh, local ingredients and shorter cooking times, influenced "New American cuisine," suggesting a convergence of culinary values despite political and cultural friction.

Last updated: August 24, 2025