Research Catalog

Title

Paris à table : 1846 / Eugène Briffault ; translated and edited by J. Weintraub ; with a foreword by David Downie ; illustrated by Bertall.

Author

Briffault, Eugène, 1799-1854

Publication

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2018]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Bertall, 1820-1882

Description

lix, 211 pages; 22 cm

Summary

• "Described by Le Monde as "the richest view of Balzac's time seen from the table," Paris à Table: 1846 is an essential text in the history of gastronomy, along with Brillat-Savarin's The Physiology of Taste and Dumas's Dictionary of Cuisine. Its author, Eugène Briffault, was well-known in his day as a theater critic and chronicler of contemporary Paris, but also as a bon-vivant, celebrated for his ability to quaff a bell jar full of champagne in a single draft and well-qualified to write authoritatively about the culinary culture of Paris. Focusing on the manners and customs of the dining scene, Briffault takes readers from the opulence of a meal at the Rothschilds' through every social stratum down to the student on the Left Bank and the laborer eating on the streets. He surveys the restaurants of the previous generation and his own-from the most elegant to the lowest dive-along with the eating habits of the bourgeoisie, the importance and variety of banquets, the institutional meal, and even the plight of "people who do not dine," artists and intellectuals who fell on hungry times. He records the specialties, the décor, the patrons, and the restaurateurs and their waiters. A fine storyteller, Briffault collected culinary anecdotes, from the tantrums of a king deprived of his spinach to the tragedy of "the friendliest pig that was ever seen." The volume includes the humorous drawings of the caricaturist Bertall that cleverly reinforce the witty and ironic tone of the text. With an introduction by J. Weintraub, who provides the first modern biography of the author and analyzes the place of Paris à Table in the literary culture of the time, the text features copious annotations about the events and characters that appear in the narrative. Paris à Table provides a delightful and delectable entryway to Briffault's Paris, the city Walter Benjamin characterized as "the capital of the nineteenth century."--
• "Paris à Table: 1846 is the first English translation of a seminal book in the literature of nineteenth-century gastronomy, a work described by Le Monde as "the richest view of Balzac's time seen from the table." It was written by the journalist Eugène Briffault, well-known in his day as a theater critic and chronicler of contemporary Paris, but also as a bon-vivant, celebrated for his ability to quaff a magnum of champagne from a bell jar in a single draft and well-qualified to write authoritatively about the culinary culture of Paris. Focusing on the manners, customs, and "moeurs" of the dining scene, the author takes the reader from the opulence of a dinner at the Rothschilds through every social stratum down to the laborer eating on the streets. He surveys the restaurants of the previous generation and his own-from the most elegant to the lowest dive-along with the eating habits of the bourgeoisie, the importance and variety of banquets, the institutional meal, and even the plight of "people who do not dine." Briffault was also a fine storyteller, and the book is a compendium of culinary anecdotes, from the tantrums of a king deprived of his spinach to the tragedy of "the friendliest pig that was ever seen." The edition also includes the humorous drawings of the caricaturist Bertall, artwork that cleverly reinforces the witty and ironic tone that pervades the text. Along with an introduction -which provides the first modern biography of the author and analyses the place of Paris à Table in the literary culture of the time--the text is copiously annotated, acquainting readers with the events and characters that appear in the narrative and providing an entryway to the author's Paris, the city Walter Benjamin characterized as "the capital of the nineteenth century.""--

Uniform Title

Paris à table. English

Alternative Title

Paris à table.

Subject

• 1800-1899
• Dinners and dining > France > Paris > History
• COOKING > Regional & Ethnic > French
• HISTORY > Europe > France
• Dinners and dining
• Manners and customs
• Paris (France) > Social life and customs > 19th century
• France > Paris

Genre/Form

History.

Note

• Translated from the French.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

Machine generated contents note: -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword TK -- Introduction Dinner in the Current Age: A Translation from Paris à table -- Chapter I Introduction: The Parisian Dinner -- Chapter II The History of Dinner up to Our Time -- Chapter III Dinner in the Current Age -- Chapter IV Varieties of Dinner -- Chapter V People Who Do Not Dine -- Chapter VI Breakfast -- Chapter VII Luncheon -- Chapter VIII Supper -- Chapter IX Clubs, Cercles, Tables d'Hôte, Pensions Bourgeoises, Rest Homes -- Chapter X The Restaurants of Paris -- Chapter XI Eccentricities.

Call Number

JFD 18-1673

ISBN

• 9780190842031
• 0190842032

LCCN

2017044123

OCLC

1005103571

Author

Briffault, Eugène, 1799-1854, author.

Title

Paris à table : 1846 / Eugène Briffault ; translated and edited by J. Weintraub ; with a foreword by David Downie ; illustrated by Bertall.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2018]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references.

Chronological Term

1800-1899

Added Author

Bertall, 1820-1882, illustrator.

Research Call Number

JFD 18-1673