Gastronomy with roots and commitment
- Food and words with a taste of Art -
Visit French gastronomy in 2010 and is now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site. intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Since 2017, Neapolitan pizza has joined it. It may sound like a joke, but good food is a serious business that unleashes passions and raises multiple issues for our society and the days to come. I invite you to start your tasting of the subjects on the grill for gourmet, authentic and committed gastronomyby discovering the taste that’Art and belles lettres are all about gastronomy.
The Art of dining
The table is a a place to share highly codified. A power issue whose mission representation has evolved over the centuries. As the Patrick Rambourg for Beaux-Arts Magazine (N° 428), the banquet plays a social function, policy and religious. Its magnificence is at the heart of many works of art, from the frescoes of the necropolises of Thebes to the paintings of the Renaissance. Immortalizing a meal may seem like a profane act, the essential role of the table has not escaped the attention of artists. Even the most spiritual beings know how to enjoy themselves, and even the gods receive wine and feast as offerings. Painters, writers, film-makers and photographers have all taken pleasure in the inexhaustible source of inspiration that is a meal.
One of the most famous canvases of all, the Last Supper for Leonardo da Vinci or the Cana's wedding go beyond the snapshot of a lunch with friends and Arcimboldo was perhaps one of the artists who best grasped the extent to which we are what we eat. His portraits, with faces made of carrots, squash or corn on the cob, are true vegetable troglodytes not devoid of mischief.
Centuries later, the fashion photographer Irving Penn moves away from elegant women and haute couture to immortalize tomatoes, apples and oysters in eminently pictorial compositions, star of Vogue magazine. La culinary photography found its letters of nobility? The polished compositions of Renards Gourmets have nothing to envy the still lifes of the greatest Flemish painters. The tasty, exclusive interview of this duo of gourmet artists that accompanies this article should convince you!
Renards Gourmets' polished images
Mets & mots, a winning recipe
Fine writing and good food also go hand in hand, expressing a flavor is a delicate exercise.
To speak to us of Love and Beauty, Plato goes so far as to entitle his text Le Banquet. In 1808 in his Amphitryon Manual, Grimod de la Reynière offers a treatise on meat dissection, «elements of gourmet politeness» and a «nomenclature of the most novel menus», where a new first makes its appearance: mashed potatoes.
Published in 1972 and now reissued by Taschen, Gala dinners (a play on words between his wife Gala's first name and these incongruous party recipes) is another unique work. La surreal culinary bible gather 136 recipes illustrated by Salvador Dali. The impertinent preparations (Casanova cocktail, crayfish bush with Viking herbs or Eros rump steak) conceal, as do the paintings of the Catalan master, many hidden symbols.
Had you noticed? Visit restaurant menu also celebrates the marriage of food and words with poetic grace. Even today, its role remains unchanged, despite some admittedly convoluted turns of phrase. The content and design of these ephemeral documents provide valuable clues to the tastes and customs of a society. From bar slates to official receptions, the menu assumes its advertising role and allows diners to salivate in anticipation, with images from certain regions of the world such as China.
Visit TASTE TELLING is a theme that interests the Chef Bruno Verjus for whom« The first relationship with the dish in the restaurant is that of the verb, one could almost speak of a liturgy, that of the word on the menu, of poetic naming and precise words. »Soberly christened Table, His Michelin-starred restaurant promotes cuisine that goes straight to the heart of the matter, helping to redefine the world we live in.
Some menus are veritable collector's items, religiously preserved by the museum. New York Public Library. With over 17,000 digitized menus, including this farewell menu for President Roosevelt, even the most demanding gourmets will find something to their liking.
Have these works and words whetted your appetite? Find out in this second chapter visit food and tasting rituals that contribute to a certain definition of gourmet cuisine.