Why is French food so good.

Well, all depending what you think and how you feel the big question is why do we think of France as the place in the world that has given more to the world of food than nay other.  Why is French “cuisine”, a French word that has become to mean the embodiment of all that is fine in food, got such a good reputation?

Why has the knoledge of French cooking contributed so much to Western cuisines and is so widly taught all over the world.

Well I think you have to look back at the history of the country and how it used to conduct itself on the world stage. Food obviously play a big part in the country and to the people but it was one person who I know of that really use food as a statement of power and opulence. He was king Louis XIV, The Sun King.  It was he and his Chef François Massialot who wrote Le Cuisinier roïal et bourgeois, you could say the first real cook book ever. It was at this time that France was such a powerful country and everyone who came to the court to see the kink would see that he was eating only the very best. In fact there is a very sad but true story of a chef of a house that the king was going to visit that killed himself thinking that he did not have the right fish for his menu. The sad thing being that he had but it had not got there. So strong was the rule of the king and the power to impress with what you put on the table.

Food was more than something you just eat , it was a way of life in the royal court. In fact one of the most famous quote that brought the royal dynasty to an end was about food when Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake".  It is sad to say that that is not what she said but what she did say was  "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", or let them eat brioche. Now considering a shortage of grain and you use eggs to make brioche and less flour this was a good idea. But then as now if you are hated by the press then the spin on what you say is everything.

This id eventually lead to the French revolution and this let the chef of France be free.   Before the revolution there had been all sorts of guilds that had ruled what you could do but afterwards there was none of this. So if you was a chef you could produce almost anything you wanted not just what you was restricted to make as a baker, chef or whatever.

Also this was a time when a lot of chef left France to live in other country’s as it was safer for them. And so began the European and then western domination of French food culture.

Now I know that so say that all French food is Italian food really. And you can trace back the hart of French cooking to Lyon , and Lyon was a Italian trading colony .  But that is not the real reason why, the French took food and turned it in to art, spectacle and gave it purity. Purity that was protected by law. Now that is a country who takes its food seriously.

That is why when you cook you use so many French words, because they invented them to mean something , regarding a process or action. I am sure that word existed before but these are the ones that stuck, I do not toss fry potatoes I sauté them.

In fact I think I could sit here and think of a thousand reasons why French food culture has got to be the most revered in the world. I am sure that there are hundreds of  book films and television shows that have been dedicated to the subject.   But the truth is when all is said and done, it just really good. We know it they know it so why deny it and just enjoy it. That after all , is what it is for.