A History of Modern Food Service

The value of history is that it helps us understand the present and the future. In food service, knowledge of our professional heritage helps us see why we do, how our cooking techniques have been developed and refined, and how we can continue to develop and innovate in the years ahead. But it doesn't mean a lot  of knowledge has been collected over the years, and we would be smart to take advantage of what has already been learned. Furthermore, how can we challenge old ideas unless we know what those old ideas are ? Knowledge is the best starting point for innovation.

The Origins of Classical and Modern Cuisine

Quantity cookery has existed for thousands of years, as long as there have been large group of people to feed, such as armies. But modern food service is said to have begun shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century. At this time, food production in France was controlled by guilds. Caterers, pastry makers, roasters, and pork butchers held licences to prepare specific items. An innkeeper, in the order to serve a meal to guests, had to buy the variousmenu items from those operations licensed to provide them. Guest had little or no choise and simply ate what was available for that meal.

   In 1765, a Parisian named Boulanger began advertising on his shop sign that he served soups, which he called restaurant or restoratives. (Literally, the word means "fortifying.") According to the story, one of the dishes he served was sheep's feet in cream sauce. The guild of stew makers challanged him in court, but Boulanger won by claiming he didn't stew the feet in the sauce but served them with the sauce. In challenging the rules of the guilds, Boulanger unwittingly changed the course of food-service history.

   The new developments in food service received a great  stimulus as a result of the French Revolution, beginning in 1789. Before this time, the great chefs were employed in the houses of the French nobility. With the revolution  and the end of the monarchy, many chefs, suddenly out of work, opened restaurants in and around Paris to support themselves. Furthermore, the revolutionary goverment abolished the guilds. Restaurants and inns could serve dinners reflecting the talent and creativity of their own chefs rather than being forced to rely on licensed caterers to supply their food. At the start of the French Revolution, there were about 50 restaurants in Paris. Ten years later, there were about 500.

Another important invention that changed the organization of kitchens in the eighteenth century was the stove, or potager, which gave cooks a more practical and controllable heat source than an open fire. Soon commercial kitchens became divided into three departements : the rotisserie, under the control of the meat chef, or rotisseur; the oven, under the control of the pastry chef, or patisserie; and the stove, run by the cook, or cuisiner. The meat chef and pastrchef reported to the cuisiner, who was also known as chef de cuisine, which means "head of the kitchen."

Careme

All the changes that took place in the world of cooking during the 1700s led to, for the first time, a difference between home cooking and professional cooking. One way we can try to understand this difference is to look at the work of the greatest chef of the period following the French Revolution, Marie-Antoine Careme (1784-1833). As a young man,  Careme learned all branches of cooking quickly, and he dedicated his career to refining and organizing culinary techniques. His many books contain the first systematic account of cooking principles, recipes, and menu making.

He is Marie-Antoine Careme, Courtesy of the Rare Manuscript Collection, Cornel University Library

    At a time when the interesting advances in cooking were happening in restaurants, Careme worked as a chef to wealthy patrons, kings, and head of state. He was perhaps the first real celebrity chef, and he became famous as the creator of colaborate, elegant display pieces and pastries, the ancestors of our modern wedding cakes, sugar sculptures, and ice and tallow carvings. But it was Careme's practical and theoretical work as an author and an investor of recipes that was responsible, to a large  extend, for bringing cooking out of the Middle Ages and into the modern period.

   Careme emphasied procedure and order. His goal was to create more lightness and simplicity. The complex cuisine of the aristocracy -called Grande Cuisine_  was still not much different from that of the Middle Ages and was anything but simple and light. Careme efforts  were a great step toward modern and simplicity. The methode explained in his books were complex, but his aim was pure results. He added seasonings and other ingredients not so much to add new flavors but to highlight the flavors of the main ingredients. His sauce were designed to enhance, not to cover up, the food being sauced. Careme was a thoughtful chef, and, whenever he changed a classic recipe, he was careful to explain his reasons for doing so.

   Beginning with Careme, a style of cooking developed that can truly be called international, because the same principles are still used by professional cooks around the world. Older styles of cooking, as well as much of today's home cooking, are based on tradition. In other words, a cook makes a dish a certain way because that is how it always has been done. On the other hand, in Careme's Grande Cuisine, and in professional cooking ever since, a cook makes a dish certain way because the principles and methods of cooking show it is the best way to get the desired results. For example, for hundreds of years, cookes boiled meats before roasting them on rotisserie in front of the fire. But when chefs began thinking and experimenting rather than just accepting the tradition of boiling meat before roasting, they realized either braising the meat or roasting it from the raw state were better options.

Escoffier

Georges-Auguste Escoffier (1847-1935), the greatest chef of his time, is still revered by chefs and gourments as the father of twentieth-century cookery. His two main contributions were (1) the simplification of classical cuisine and the classical menu, and (2) the reorganization of the kitchen.

  Escoffier rejected what he called the "general confusion" of the old menus, in which sheer quantity seemed to be the most important factor. Instead, he called for order and diversity and emphasized the careful selection of one or two dishes per course, dishes that followed one another harmoniously and delighted the taste with their delicacy and simplicity.

  Escoffier's books and recipes are still important reference works for professional chefs. The basic cooking methods and preparations we study today are based on Escoffier’s work. His book Le Guide Culinaire, which is still widely used, arranges recipes in a simple system based on main ingredient and cooking method, greatly simplifying the more complex system handed down from Carême. Learning classical cooking, according to Escoffier, begins with learning a relatively few basic procedures and understanding basic ingredients.

  Escoffier’s second major achievement, the reorganization of the kitchen, resulted in a streamlined workplace better suited to turning out the simplified dishes and menus he instituted. The system of organization he established is still in use, especially in large hotels and full-service restaurants, as we discuss later in this chapter.


Modern Technology

Today’s kitchens look much different from those of Escoffier’s day, even though our basic cooking principles are the same. Also, the dishes we eat have gradually changed due to the innovations and creativity of modern chefs. The process of simplification and refinement, to which Carême and Escoffier made monumental contributions, is ongoing, adapting classical cooking to modern conditions and tastes.

   Before we discuss the changes in cooking styles that took place in the twentieth century, let’s look at some of the developments in technology that affected cooking.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW EQUIPMENT 

We take for granted such basic equipment as gas and electric ranges and ovens and electric refrigerators. But even these essential tools did not exist until fairly recently. The easily controlled heat of modern cooking equipment, as well as motorized food cutters, mixers, and other processing equipment, has greatly simplified food production.

  Research and technology continue to produce sophisticated tools for the kitchen. Some of these products, such as tilting skillets and steam-jacketed kettles, can do many jobs and are popular in many kitchens. Others can perform specialized tasks rapidly and efficiently, but their usefulness depends on volume because they are designed to do only a few jobs.

  Modern equipment has enabled many food-service operations to change their production methods. With sophisticated cooling, freezing, and heating equipment, it is possible to prepare some foods further in advance and in larger quantities. Some large multiunit operations prepare food for all their units in a central commissary. The food is prepared in quantity, packaged, chilled or frozen, and then heated or cooked to order in the individual units.

DEVELOPMENT AND AVAILABILITY OF NEW FOOD PRODUCTS 

Modern refrigeration and rapid transportation caused revolutionary changes in eating habits. For the first time, fresh foods of all kinds—meats, fish, vegetables, and fruits—became available throughout the year. Exotic delicacies can now be shipped from anywhere in the world and arrive fresh and in peak condition. 

  

  The development of preservation techniques—not just refrigeration but also freezing, canning, freeze-drying, vacuum-packing, and irradiation—increased the availability of most foods and made affordable some that were once rare and expensive. 

  Techniques of food preservation have had another effect. It is now possible to do some or most of the preparation and processing of foods before shipping rather than in the foodservice operation itself. Thus, convenience foods have come into being. Convenience foods continue to account for an increasing share of the total food market.

  Some developments in food science and agriculture are controversial. Irradiation, mentioned above, caused much controversy when it was introduced because it exposes foods to radioactivity to rid them of organisms that cause spoilage and disease. Scientists say, however, that no traces of radioactivity remain in the foods, and the procedure is now used more widely. 

  A more controversial technique is genetic engineering, which involves artificially changing the gene structure of a food to give it some desirable trait, such as resistance to disease, drought, or insect damage.

FOOD SAFETY AND NUTRITIONAL AWARENESS 

The development of the sciences of microbiology and nutrition had a great impact on food service. One hundred years ago, there was little understanding of the causes of food poisoning and food spoilage. Food-handling practices have come a long way since Escoffier’s day.

  Also, little knowledge of nutritional principles was available until fairly recently. Today, nutrition is an important part of a cook’s training. Customers are also more knowledgeable and therefore more likely to demand healthful, well-balanced menus. Unfortunately, nutrition science is constantly shifting. Diets considered healthful one year become eating patterns to be avoided a few years later. Fad diets come and go, and chefs often struggle to keep their menus current. It is more important than ever for cooks to keep up to date with the latest nutritional understanding.

  Complicating the work of food-service professionals is a growing awareness of food allergies and intolerances. Not only are chefs called upon to provide nutritious, low-fat, low-calorie meals, they must also adapt to the needs of customers who must eliminate certain foods from their diets, such as gluten, soy, dairy, or eggs.
 

Cooking in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries 

All these developments have helped change cooking styles, menus, and eating habits. The evolution of cuisine that has been going on for hundreds of years continues. Changes occur not only because of technological developments, such as those just described, but also because of our reactions to culinary traditions.

  Two opposing forces can be seen at work throughout the history of cooking. One is the urge to simplify, to eliminate complexity and ornamentation, and instead to emphasize the plain, natural tastes of basic, fresh ingredients. The other is the urge to invent, to highlight the creativity of the chef, with an accent on fancier, more complicated presentations and procedures. Both these forces are valid and healthy; they continually refresh and renew the art of cooking.

   A generation after Escoffier, the most influential chef in the middle of the twentieth century was Fernand Point (1897–1955). Working quietly and steadily in his restaurant, La Pyramide, in Vienne, France, Point simplified and lightened classical cuisine. He was a perfectionist who sometimes worked on a dish for years before he felt it was good enough to put on his menu. “I am not hard to please,” he said. “I’m satisfied with the very best.” Point insisted every meal should be “a little marvel.”

  Point’s influence extended well beyond his own life. Many of his apprentices, including Paul Bocuse, Jean and Pierre Troisgros, and Alain Chapel, later became some of the greatest stars of modern cooking. They, along with other chefs in their generation, became best known in the 1960s and early 1970s for a style of cooking called nouvelle cuisine. Reacting to what they saw as a heavy, stodgy, overly complicated classical cuisine, these chefs took Point’s lighter approach even further. They rejected many traditional principles, such as the use of flour to thicken sauces, and instead urged simpler, more natural flavors and preparations, with lighter sauces and seasonings and shorter cooking times. In traditional classical cuisine, many dishes were plated in the dining room by waiters. Nouvelle cuisine, however, placed a great deal of emphasis on artful plating presentations done by the chef in the kitchen.

  Very quickly, however, this “simpler” style became extravagant and complicated, famous for strange combinations of foods and fussy, ornate arrangements and designs. By the 1980s, nouvelle cuisine was the subject of jokes. Still, the best achievements of nouvelle cuisine have taken a permanent place in the classical tradition. Meanwhile, many of its excesses have been forgotten. It is probably fair to say that most of the best new ideas and the longest-lasting accomplishments are those of classically trained chefs with a solid grounding in the basics.

Sources @Professional cooking by John Wiley & Sons, INC

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