The empire of the senses: French haute cuisine and the rise of the modern culinary profession, 1870-1910

This dissertation considers the cultural and historical implications of the long-held power of French haute cuisine in the public sphere. French culinary rule is understood to have a complex genealogy stretching back into modern European history where place, status, consumption practices and practices of consumption emerge entangled with meanings that outlast their time and place of birth. The argument focuses on the conjunction of a set of historical processes during the period 1870-1910, processes that explain the genesis and persistence of such a reign: the existence of French haute cuisine as a discourse and a commodity, the rise of the public sphere in Europe, and the development of the culinary profession. The emergence of France as the ruler in the realm of the haute occurred among a transnational community of producers and consumers of haute cuisine located in France and England. An analysis of French haute cuisine\u27s dominance in the public sphere perforce opens larger intellectual issues concerning definitions of culture, processes of class formation, notions about standards of taste, and the discourses of art and artistry. Although the bulk of this project concerns the circumstances and contexts for the historical development of a culinary profession and a culinary discourse, the importance of culture, class and knowledge does not lie solely with the genesis of the profession. Concerns about the power of France, the need to elevate the profession, and the emphasis on technical mastery continue in the contemporary milieu. Thus, though the primary emphasis of this dissertation considers the historical events involved in the founding of the modern profession, this project is also an anthropological excavation, a genealogy of the present

The empire of the senses: French haute cuisine and the rise of the modern culinary profession, 1870-1910

This dissertation considers the cultural and historical implications of the long-held power of French haute cuisine in the public sphere. French culinary rule is understood to have a complex genealogy stretching back into modern European history where place, status, consumption practices and practices of consumption emerge entangled with meanings that outlast their time and place of birth. The argument focuses on the conjunction of a set of historical processes during the period 1870-1910, processes that explain the genesis and persistence of such a reign: the existence of French haute cuisine as a discourse and a commodity, the rise of the public sphere in Europe, and the development of the culinary profession. The emergence of France as the ruler in the realm of the haute occurred among a transnational community of producers and consumers of haute cuisine located in France and England. An analysis of French haute cuisine\u27s dominance in the public sphere perforce opens larger intellectual issues concerning definitions of culture, processes of class formation, notions about standards of taste, and the discourses of art and artistry. Although the bulk of this project concerns the circumstances and contexts for the historical development of a culinary profession and a culinary discourse, the importance of culture, class and knowledge does not lie solely with the genesis of the profession. Concerns about the power of France, the need to elevate the profession, and the emphasis on technical mastery continue in the contemporary milieu. Thus, though the primary emphasis of this dissertation considers the historical events involved in the founding of the modern profession, this project is also an anthropological excavation, a genealogy of the present