Charlemagne – Lord of the Table – 813 first to promote cutlery over fingers, first to allow women to sit at the table – provided they did not wear obnoxious perfumes or have objectionably strong body odors. Into the dark ages …. Until the Renaissance.

Catherine de Medici – influence on Haut Cuisine de France 1533. from Florence, Italy although “Roman cuisine was fundamentally barbaric” Antoine Careme [1783-1833] Francois Pierre La Varenne – mushroom duxelles, roux. La Patissier Francais 1653, Le Confiture Francais 1664, Le Cuisinier Francois 1651 and L’Ecole des Ragouts 1668.

Antoine Careme – [1783 – 1833] architectural creations – pastries, puff paste, preserved fruits, creams and sherbets. Chef de cuisine for Talleyrand and the Russian Alexander to Baron de Rothschild. Le Patissier Pittoresque 1815, Le Patissier Royal Parisien 1825. He was the first to classify the sauces of his time into a system of four families: Espagnole, Veloute’, Allemande and Bechamel.

Auguste Escoffier – [1846-1935] “ King of Chefs, and the Chef of Kings” famous for many dishes – Peches Melba. Le Guide Culinaire 1902 as The Escoffier Cookbook, still in use today. He reorganized the sauce tree as the foundation of “Mother Sauces”: Espagnole, Bechamel, Veloute, Tomate and Hollandaise. Followers founded an International Food and Wine Society dedicated to education and experiences.

The French Paradox – keep it simple, keep it fresh and keep it inventive. Drink wine to accompany your meals.

And from Mark Twain we hear, “The secret to success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”

Please Note: Ronald McDonald is not on this list!