PAIN AU CHOCOLAT. CROISSANTS. RATATOUILLE.

These delicious foods are now beloved in Paris, the “culinary capital” of the world, but French cuisine wasn’t always as well-known. We can see and understand the French Revolution, in part, through France’s foods.

Before the French Revolution, French food was deeply impacted by the guild system. This system dates back to the Middle Ages. A guild was a collection of craftspeople or merchants in a certain town. The guild’s purpose was to regulate prices and the number of people who could be in one profession. There were many different types of guilds, including guilds for bakers, painters, blacksmiths, and weavers. Guilds helped protect their members and made sure their products were well-made. While this could be a good thing, the guild system limited competition and innovation. The system also excluded women and poor people.

Different guilds controlled many aspects of French food.
Here are just a few examples:

There were numerous reasons for the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, and bread was one of them. Bread was a staple of the peasants’ diet, so price increases were noticeable and harshly felt. Expensive bread often led to anger and protests. To keep the peace, the police controlled all aspects of bread making. Due to the guild system, the monarchy decided who would be the bread makers and the peasants. When France suffered from a famine in 1789 and the prices kept increasing, the peasants revolted. Many directed their anger at the monarchy and the guilds for the high bread prices.

The French Revolution resulted in the end of the monarchy, and by 1791, the guild system was gone too. Previously, the restrictive system had controlled who could sell certain foods and where. With no more guilds, it was much easier to open new shops and eateries. There were also a lot of cooks looking for jobs! During the revolution, many aristocrats were sent to the guillotine or fled France. Their cooks and kitchen assistants had to find new employment. Many cooks decided to create their own restaurants, bringing the fine dining of the elite with them. In these restaurants, the common people got to eat like the aristocrats, but at a cheaper price.

The main aims of the French Revolution were liberté, égalité, fraternité, and this was even seen in the new popular French cuisine. There was no longer any harsh divide between the people, so there was no divide between food. Fine dining was no longer just for the rich, and foods like “mother sauces” (bechamel, hollandaise, tomato) became popular. Today, these sauces are the staples of many iconic French dishes, like beef bourguignon.

Abolishing the guild system after the Revolution allowed French cooks to experiment with food and try new dishes. It’s no wonder that today, Paris is considered one of the world’s culinary capitals.