Middle Ages
On September 23, 2010, UNESCO classified the French gastronomic meal as an intangible heritage of humanity. The first idea that comes to mind when evoking this meal is certainly that of prestigious tables and French excellence in gastronomy. However, one cannot dissociate it from this. France is one of the few countries where the arts of the table are so pervasive in the culture. Its inhabitants traditionally sit down three times a day, around a table inherited from centuries of history and know-how. The French table arts have been in constant evolution since the Middle Ages, at that time the plate did not exist: on a wooden board a slice of bread is placed, on this slice the food is deposited. The table of a king of a prince it will not be a wooden board it will be gold of the money. It is the monarchy which made evolve all that because of course the monarchy has the power and the wealth and must show an example that one is able to have users to draw up the most beautiful and the richest tables. Louis XIV (14) pushed to the extreme the refinement, as well as his ministers (well what was acting as minister at the time) who were passionate for this art and that’s how France became very rich in the subject. And had factories for royal productions.
After the French revolution
The monarchical model will soon lose its influence in 1789 the French revolution overthrow the regime, the society knows great upheavals. The revolution also revolutionizes the art of the table, that is to say that most of the aristocrats emigrate but they don’t take with them all their servants and their cooks, and these cooks and servants have an extraordinary knowledge so they are going to use it and they will open restaurants.
The restaurants can no longer serve what they used to serve at the tables of the great lords where 10 to 15 dishes were served at a time. The so-called Russian service replaces the traditional service and it is the restaurants that carry the culture of entertaining. The 19th century saw the birth of another type of establishment : the palaces with extraordinary tables that were recreated for the immensely rich. This will upset again the arts of the table both in their presentation because there we no longer speak of domesticity, but we have many staff to serve at table. These palaces will ask in turn all the goldsmiths to all the porcelain makers to create services reserved for their houses. They will in turn magnify the arts of the table thanks to that, both in the dishes which are an extraordinary refinement and in their presentation. The creation of the palaces coincides with the apogee of the bourgeoisie with it the tradition is jostled, the habitat and the ways of life evolve while the industrial revolution passed by there.
In the 19th century the dining room takes a very great importance. It already existed in the seventeenth (17) century, we find plans of castle where already the dining room is installed, in the eighteenth (18) century it begins to be much more used because it is the century of intimacy people do not want to have all the domesticity around them, but using this dining room every time we receive. The table is fixed, it is a piece of furniture that exists and that is there and there is a whole know-how around that, in particular for all the linen which will be put at the dimensions of the tables. A whole arsenal of accessories will appear with materials that are of quality but that are produced in large series and therefore at lower cost. From the moment when the industrial revolution made it possible for certain companies to manufacture in larger quantities and that at the same time there was the revolution of transport, the art of the table quickly evolved. Major technical changes at the time played a role for the metal, the discovery of the possibility of making silver metal thanks to electroplating was the great evolution of the 19th.
Table art of today
The 20th century has seen changes, especially in terms of cooking, from wood to coal and then from coal to electricity or gas, innovations in manufacturing techniques and the appearance of new materials opens the way to new forms of new uses always at lower cost. During the Second World War, stainless steel was introduced and this changed the situation for everything related to cutlery and cooking instruments. The glass industry has had its share of evolution. Where before all glass was blown. From the moment the manufacturing process became mechanical, the crystal became available to the whole population. More recently there has been the evolution of ceramics. The fact of making porcelain other than by turning it, changes of shape could be obtained.
The way of life of the French changes their meal also the daily life is facilitated by the appearance of the refrigerator of the preserves and the dishwasher, the arts of the table know a revolution it is the liberation of the woman in the XXth century. The uses of the table have evolved enormously, that is to say that we no longer live in the same way nor the same fashions, so this obviously influences the meals. Women work, they are more at home in front of the stove, daily life has become simpler, we have to go fast so we need simple things. We use quite basic dishes that go through the dishwasher every day, in general of a rather simple style to adapt to this new way of life: the art of the table has been simplified both in form and in the materials used. The art of entertaining is freed from codes to privilege the notion of pleasure of decoration and trends offer a new space of freedom. Today’s consumers are very informed about decoration, there are blogs and magazines. We show our savoir-vivre through our house, through our decoration and by setting our table in fashion. We receive a little less in any case in a less conventional way, we receive with different modes for example for aperitif dinners or for brunches or even for picnics, so we have a lot of ways of receiving which imply different dishes and containers in the tableware. The art of the table has become a source of creativity, we mix colors and patterns, we are ready to play this game of fantasy and freedom with pleasure especially in these difficult times.
