This column tells the little or big story behind our foods, dishes or chefs. Powerful weapon soft power, A societal and cultural marker, food is the founding element of our civilizations. Conflicts, diplomacy, traditions, cuisine has always had a political dimension. Because, as Bossuet already said in the 17th century, “it is at the table that we govern”.
These are unmistakable signs. A hat, the famous black bicorne with its blue-white-red cockade, sold on November 19 at auction for nearly 2 million euros in France, a letter written in the hand of the emperor in 1812 put on sale in United States for $55,000… The historical figure of Napoleon Bonaparte continues to fascinate the world, as Ridley Scott’s film has just been released in theaters on Wednesday, November 22. This 200 million dollar Hollywood melodrama, made up of Homeric battles and episodes from his love life, is already shaping up to be one of the cinema hits of the year.
Military genius for some, gravedigger of the Revolution for others, “irritable little tyrant” says the actor Joaquin Phoenix who plays him on screen, the ebullient emperor of France (from 1804 to 1814 then from March 20 to 22 June 1815) was also a poor gourmet and gourmand.
There pasta della mamma !
Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 into a family of Italian origin from the nobility of Ajaccio in Corsica, just one year after the Treaty of Versailles which placed the Genoese island under French administration. His childhood knew neither opulence nor deprivation. A rural and peasant life, made of barter with other villagers. “We brought milk, goat cheeses. Even butcher’s meat was not paid for. We had an account with the butcher and we gave in exchange for butcher’s meat, the equivalent in sheep, lambs, kids, or same beef. The important thing was not to spend money which was very rare”, reports General Henri Gatien Bertrand in the Notebooks of Saint Helena. The last 500 days (1820-1821) who had long conversations with the emperor.
His family harvests cherries and produces olive oil and wine. Napoleon is therefore immersed in the middle of this Mediterranean land, where polenta with chestnut flour, timbales of parmesan macaroni and ramekins of lasagna made in his mother’s kitchens rub shoulders. There pasta della mamma !
Chambertin, his favorite wine
But his highest functions will not necessarily make him a Rabelaisian character, eager for good food. On the contrary, he has kept his old military habits and hates above all else being stuck at the table. A meal at the Tuileries or Saint-Cloud? Seven to eight minutes maximum, even if the most appetizing buffet has been prepared before his eyes. In 1810, an emperor’s lunch could include a soup, three starters, two desserts, bread, two desserts, and a cup of coffee. “He never touches so many dishes […] It follows no order, goes from the dessert to the hors d’oeuvre, to return to the roast; does not adhere to any of the rules used for a classic meal, chews large mouthfuls rather poorly and is eager to finish it”, writes Frédéric Masson, permanent secretary of the French Academy between 1919 and 1923 and specialist in Napoleonic studies In his glass? A drinkable bottle of Chambertin, his favorite Burgundy wine which he also took to war but which he cut without flinching with iced water, a very common practice at the time.
Napoleon likes rather simple dishes: lamb chops, boudin à la reine, green beans, crepinettes, boudin “à la Richelieu” (with apples flavored with cinnamon), coffee and chocolate – especially when he stays up at night – and retains a weakness for dates from his Egyptian campaign. As for meats, poultry is his guilty pleasure. Who has never heard this legend reporting that “Marengo chicken”, one of the most famous dishes of French cuisine, was born on the evening of the famous battle of June 14, 1800 in Italian Piedmont? Napoléon’s chief chef, François Claude Guignet, known as “Dunan”, deprived of provisions, would have been forced to improvise with the means at hand: a chicken, a little white wine, tomatoes and crayfish from the neighboring river . And there you have it, the “Marengo chicken” was born. However, it is still one of the many gastronomic legends since, as the historian Jean Tulard recounts, “Dunan” only entered the service of the emperor in 1802! He therefore absolutely did not see the battlefield at that time, any more than the “Marengo chicken” who would only be born a few years later… At the time, it was customary to give names of battles or military leaders to sauces or dishes. Thus were born the “Albufera sauce” (Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet, Duke of Albufera), the “Tournedos Masséna” (a Marshal of the Empire under Napoleon) or the “Rivoli chops” (a battle in 1797).
“Gastro-diplomats” at his side
Although he never developed a particular taste for the table, Napoleon was perfectly aware of its absolute necessity in the protocol framework. His ministers Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès (1753-1824) and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838), distinguished “gastro-diplomats”, made the imperial table shine for him. The priceless craftsmanship of the Sèvres porcelain factory finds a second lease of life after a tormented revolutionary period. “Welcome to your tables all the French and foreign personalities passing through Paris to whom we have to honor. Have a good table, spend more than your salary, run up debts, I will pay them!”, Napoleon is said to have declared.
This is a good time for tableware. At this time, in 1801, the word “gastronomy” was born from the pen of the poet Joseph de Berchoux. The Foodies’ Almanac, the very first gastronomic guide, by Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière was printed at this time. Paris, which saw its first restaurant appear around 1760, began to play a leading role in this “gourmet diplomacy”. “The capital of gastronomy where internationally renowned restaurants are concentrated,” writes historian Patrick Rambourg in the collective work At the diplomats’ table. The establishments Le Rocher de Cancale, on rue Montorgueil, and Les Trois Frères Provençaux, on rue Helvétius (now rue Sainte-Anne), are the delight of Parisians and foreigners. Eugène Briffault, gastronomic critic, says this in his Paris at the table in 1846: “Under the Empire, we saw the reputation of Paris restaurants rise so high that they did in Europe for our cuisine, what the 17th and 18th centuries had done for our literature. They made it universal. ” If gastronomy never really conquered the emperor on a personal level, the puny Napoleon that he was in his youth showed some signs of being overweight from 1810 onwards. He even approached obesity when he found himself in exile on Saint Helena in 1815.
Our advices :
A good Corsican restaurant in Paris: Alma, 10, rue Mandar, 75002 Paris.
A good book on Corsican gastronomy: Bread, wine, sea urchins, by Nicolas Stromboni, Marabout, 2016.
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