martes, 23 de septiembre de 2014

"Let them eat cake"

Through this part of the movie "Marie Antoinette", you can imagine what life was like in the eighteenth century in Versailles.

22 comentarios:

  1. FOOD IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
    In the 1760s, the merchant class of Paris developed a taste for healthy light broths known as restoratives, or restaurants. By the 1780s, this new Parisian "health food" craze led to a handful of reputable dining halls, where customers could sit at individual tables and choose from a wide range of dishes.
    Ironically, the popularity of these restaurants grew at a time when the bulk of the French population couldn't afford bread.
    Aristocrats fled to the countryside, leaving behind their highly skilled chefs and the fine wines from their cellars. Suddenly, unemployed cooks and abandoned bottles found their way to the city's eateries, and within a year, nearly 50 elegant restaurants had popped up in Paris.

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  2. Javier Hernandez Garcia15 de octubre de 2014, 18:01

    "Let them eat cake"
    "Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Since brioche was made from dough enriched with butter and eggs, making it more expensive than bread, the quote supposedly would reflect the princess's disregard as to the condition of the people.
    The quotation, as attributed to Marie Antoinette, was claimed to have been uttered during one of the famines that occurred in France during the reign of her husband, Louis XVI. Upon being alerted that the people were suffering due to widespread bread shortages, the Queen is said to have replied, "Then let them eat brioche.

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  3. City-dwellers in the 18th century were dependent on a constant supply of grain from the country. The "sans-culottes," or urban poor, had to spend more than half of their income just to get enough food to survive in 1788, the year before the Revolution began. After unusually cold weather ruined the harvest, an unskilled laborer in 1789 could expect to spend 97 percent of his wages on bread, according to historian Gregory Stephen Brown. The high price of bread fueled the rising anger of the urban lower classes. Widespread violence soon destabilized the country, followed by the storming of the Bastille and the beginning of the Revolution.

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  4. two of the most essential elements of French cuisine, bread and salt, were at the heart of the conflict; bread, in particular, was tied up with the national identity. "Bread was considered a public service necessary to keep the people from rioting," Civitello writes. "Bakers, therefore, were public servants, so the police controlled all aspects of bread production." 

    If bread seems a trifling reason to riot, consider that it was far more than something to sop up  bouillabaisse for nearly everyone but the aristocracy—it was the main component of the working Frenchman's diet. According to Sylvia Neely's A Concise History of the French Revolution, the average 18th-century worker spent half his daily wage on bread. But when the grain crops failed two years in a row, in 1788 and 1789, the price of bread shot up to 88 percent of his wages. Many blamed the ruling class for the resulting famine and economic upheaval. On top of that, peasants resented the gabelle, a tax on salt that was particularly unfairly applied to poor.
    Obviously, the causes of the revolution were far more complicated than the price of bread or unfair taxes on salt (just as the American Revolution was about more than tea tariffs), but both contributed to the rising anger toward the monarchy.

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  5. It has been said that man does not live only from bread, however, this is exactly the situation that the urban poor faced in French cities during the winter of 1788 to 1789 not willing to take the cheapest foods introduced from the New world, poor diet was based on French bread and little else to stay. When disaster caused bread prices to rise nearly 90 percent in a year, many worked to maintain at least two loaves of bread on the table. There was no choice that to pay for anything.
    The worst part of this was that while the people were starving, royalty lived with the greatest variety of food. Also, they made parties knowing that the people were starving.

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  6. According to Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, by Linda Civitello, two of the most essential elements of French cuisine, bread and salt, were at the heart of the conflict; bread, in particular, was tied up with the national identity. "Bread was considered a public service necessary to keep the people from rioting," Civitello writes. "Bakers, therefore, were public servants, so the police controlled all aspects of bread production."
    According to Sylvia Neely's A Concise History of the French Revolution, the average 18th-century worker spent half his daily wage on bread. But when the grain crops failed two years in a row, in 1788 and 1789, the price of bread shot up to 88 percent of his wages. Many blamed the ruling class for the resulting famine and economic upheaval. On top of that, peasants resented the gabelle, a tax on salt that was particularly unfairly applied to the poor.

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  7. The problem was that raised the price of cereals because crops were lost because of hailstones and frost. Minister King ordered a tax to overcome the situation but refused aristocrats and bourgeois, there was no way to make flour or bread or import and famine came. The poor could not afford the tax.

    We formed an assembly and people started an armed movement called the French Revolution.

    Defeating the king and aristocrats, private cooks became unemployed and decided to open restaurants with tablecloths covered (a well-accepted stylish novelty) tables, these restaurants specialize in desserts, cakes and dishes seasoned butter.

    By: Juan Enrique Sánchez Viciana

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  8. The French Revolution was integral to the expansion of French cuisine, because it effectively abolished guilds. This meant any one chef could now produce and sell any culinary item he wished. Marie-Antoine Carême was born in 1784, five years before the onset of the Revolution. He spent his younger years working at a pâtisserie until being discovered by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who would later cook for the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Prior to his employment with Talleyrand, Carême had become known for his pièces montèes, which were extravagant constructions of pastry and sugar architecture.

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  9. The treatement of poor people in France in the XVIII century was very hard . They lived for the privilaged groups of the society , as they were poor people they didn't have lands to cultivate and have their own food , so they had to ask for land , the nobility gave them land but with the condition of giving part of the cultives to them . Finally when the cultives were done the nobility and the king took almost all.
    On the other hand the peasants had to pay taxes to the king too.
    One day , they couldn't stand it anymore and they realized they were more, in number , so they started a revolution known as, the French Rrevolution .

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  10. THE CREATION OF RESTAURANTS IN FRENCH REVOLUTION
    France gave birth to restaurants, but it was no civilized affair. In fact, today's restaurant business is actually a byproduct of the class warfare that arose during the French Revolution.
    Restaurants were opened by chefs of the time who were leaving the failing monarchy of France, in the period leading up to the French Revolution. It was these restaurants that expanded upon the limited menus of decades prior, and led to the full restaurants that were completely legalized with the advent of the French Revolution and abolition of the guilds.
    Ironically, the popularity of these restaurants grew at a time when the bulk of the French population couldn't afford bread.

    Carmen De Blas

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  11. If bread seems a trifling reason to riot, consider that it was far more than something to sop up bouillabaisse for nearly everyone but the aristocracy—it was the main component of the working Frenchman's diet. According to Sylvia Neely's A Concise History of the French Revolution, the average 18th-century worker spent half his daily wage on bread. But when the grain crops failed two years in a row, in 1788 and 1789, the price of bread shot up to 88 percent of his wages. Many blamed the ruling class for the resulting famine and economic upheaval. On top of that, peasants resented the gabelle, a tax on salt that was particularly unfairly applied to the poor.


    By: Guillermo Sánchez Navarro

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  12. Rafael Montoya Rodriguez18 de octubre de 2014, 13:41

    It has been said that man does not live by bread alone, however, this is exactly the situation that the urban poor faced in French cities during the harsh winter of 1788 to 1789 not willing to take the cheapest foods introduced from the New world, poor diet was based on French bread and little else to stay. When disaster caused bread prices to rise nearly 90 percent in a year, many worked to maintain at least two loaves of bread on the table. There was no choice but to pay for anything. This was the winter of his discontent.

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  13. In the French Revolution just a few years later. According to Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, by Linda Civitello, two of the most essential elements of French cuisine, bread and salt, were at the heart of the conflict; bread, in particular, was tied up with the national identity. "Bread was considered a public service necessary to keep the people from rioting," Civitello writes. "Bakers, therefore, were public servants, so the police controlled all aspects of bread production."


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  14. The years immediately preceding the French Revolution were a time of great excess and terrible poverty. Royalty feasted on rich confections and huge roasts; the starving peasants ate anything they could find, including stale bread and scraps. In 18th century France, new world foods, most notably potatoes, played a pivotal role in feeding the starving country.

    The Revolution was a great culinary equalizer. The fall of the Royal regime created (by necessity) a more egalitarian cuisine. Food, and the concept of how it was eaten changed radically. During the revolution another notable French "invention" happened. The restaurant. The first restaurants were quite different from what we know today. Their initial purpose was to serve healthy restoratifs (soup!) to anybody who could pay.

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  15. María Martínez Sánchez18 de octubre de 2014, 20:20

    The years immediately preceding the French Revolution were a time of great excess and terrible poverty. Royalty feasted on rich confections and huge roasts; the starving peasants ate anything they could find, including stale bread and scraps. In 18th century France, new world foods, most "The eighteenth century was a great century for cooking, but the progress made and the refinements added to the art of cooking were briefly interrupted by the French Revolution. In 1789 the French Revolution broke out, and according to one observer at the time, it "served the soverign people a dish of lentils, seasoned with nothing but the love of their country, which did very little to improve their blandness."notably potatoes, played a pivotal role in feeding the starving country.

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  16. What did pleasant eat?

    They ate just about anything they could get,ie stews were often made. Also fish and soups were quite good - if one could find and prepare them. The problem was that bread was the staple crop, the very product that allowed people to make a living, eat and survive.
    Beef was relatively uncommon because peasants only had about 2-3 acres of land.

    Food played an even larger role in the French Revolution just a few years later. According to Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, by Linda Civitello, two of the most essential elements of French cuisine, bread and salt, were at the heart of the conflict.
    BY:Marina Cárceles Molina


    food played an even larger role in the French Revolution just a few years later. According to Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, by Linda Civitello, two of the most essential elements of French cuisine, bread and salt, were at the heart of the conflict
    BY:Marina Cárceles Molina

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  17. There was a very poor harvest during the years right before and during the French Revolution. The demand for bread was very high but supply was low, thus the price went through the roof. This helped start the revolution as there were rumors flying around France that members of the first and second estate were hoarding grain and bread in order to starve the third estate. This was known as the Great Fear. It caused peasants to go about the country side marauding, sacking and burning the estates of nobles.During that time, something called The Little Ice Age was making crops scarce. Only the wealthy could afford the raw materials needed to make bread. Beef was quite uncommon since peasants had just about 2-3 acres of terrain. Food played an even larger role in the French Revolution just a few years later.



    "Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Since brioche was made from dough enriched with butter and eggs, making it more expensive than bread, the quote supposedly would reflect the princess's disregard as to the condition of the people.While it is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, there is no record of this phrase ever having been uttered by her.

    Links: http://www.indopacificreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Keep-Calm-and-Let-Them-Eat-Cake.png

    http://www.history.com/topics/marie-antoinette


    By: Irene Expósito Mora 4B

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  18. The years immediately preceding the French Revolution were a time of great excess and terrible poverty.

    Let them eat cake," Marie Antoinette allegedly pronounced. Parisians were indeed starving in the years preceding the French Revolution. Bread, while commonly employed for its symbolic connection as the "staff of life," was not the only commodity in short supply. There were several reasons for these food shortages, number one being a population explosion. Other key factors included war (farmers pressed into service meant neglected fields), weather conditions (severe drought), and economics (inadequate distribution systems).

    In 1789 the French Revolution broke out, and according to one observer at the time, it "served the soverign people a dish of lentils, seasoned with nothing but the love of their country, which did very little to improve their blandness."

    Olexander4B

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  19. Many of the changes that occurred during this period put customs what are today the basis of national and regional cuisines of Europe today, should the export of many fresh foods, especially fruit, fish and meat, which however it is now very common in all industrialized nations. However, highly refined and processed foods exclusive to the wealthy nobility were considered foreign influences and were more likely to be internationalized than the groceries from the lower strata of society. The trends set by the consumption of the kings and nobles of his court remained influential, from a culinary point of view because people wanted to emulate, especially the upper middle class of medieval cities.

    Mario Moyano

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  20. The oft-repeated story about Marie Antoinette, queen of France at the time, responding to the news that her subjects had no bread with the line, "Let them eat cake" (actually, brioche) is probably not true—or, if it is, she wasn't the first to speak the mal mots. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau attributed the callous utterance to an unnamed princess in his 1766 Confessions, written when Antoinette was 10 years old and living in Austria.

    Two of the most essential elements of French cuisine, bread and salt, were at the heart of the conflict; bread, in particular, was tied up with the national identity.

    Of course, food is influenced by history as much as vice-versa, and the French Revolution was no exception. The birth of the Republic of France laid the foundation for the modern restaurant to flourish. According to Larousse Gastronomique, the French culinary encyclopedia, although taverns, inns and cafés had served food and drink to the public for centuries, the first restaurant as we know it was opened in around 1765 in Paris by a bouillon seller named Boulanger. At the time, clear soups such as those Boulanger sold were considered restorative; hence the term "restaurant." However, as the encyclopedia explains, "the first Parisian restaurant worthy of the name was the one founded by Beauvilliers in 1782 in the Rue de Richelieu, called the Grande Taverne de Londres. He introduced the novelty of listing the dishes available on a menu and serving them at small individual tables during fixed hours."

    By: Ana Celia Ruiz García 4ºB

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  21. The years immediately preceding the French Revolution were a time of great excess and terrible poverty. Royalty feasted on rich confections and huge roasts; the starving peasants ate anything they could find, including stale bread and scraps. In 18th century France, new world foods, most notably potatoes, played a pivotal role in feeding the starving country.

    ResponderEliminar
  22. RESTAURANTS DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

    The restaurant industry as we know it was established during the French Revolution.

    In 1789, French aristocrats, sensing the tide was turning against them, begun fleeing cities for the countryside. In their haste, they left behind both their highly trained cooks and their extensive wine collections.

    Due to this sudden influx of bottles and master chefs, 50 elegant restaurants popped up in Paris within a year. And with no aristocracy to serve, fine dining was presented to the working class for the first time. Eventually, the concept of elegant dining for the masses spread throughout the world.

    These findings coincide with our own research, which determined the Italian Risorgimento should be blamed for Sbarro.

    By : Bianca María Roman 4B

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