gastronomy: a history

The poem has long since been lost, but we have access to 62 fragments of it, about 300 lines in total. In 228 AD, the writer Athenaeus still had access to the poem, and had his dinner table guests quote it in his book, Philosophers at Dinner. These are the 62 fragments that we now have. 

Archestratus was the first to approach cooking as an art and made extensive references on consuming fish and pulses and drinking wine, which were highly appreciated by the ancient Greeks and remain to date among the typical ingredients of a healthy modern Greek diet.

The origin of the modern day word gastronomy (meaning Rules of the Stomach) is attributed to Archestratus, Europe’s first gourmet writer, and his later readers who knew his poem by the name “Gastronomia.”

According to Greek archaeologist Georgia Karamitrou-Mentesidi, Archestratus presented five golden rules about cooking and eating that prove equally valuable today as they did in his time.

1. Use raw food materials of good quality

2. Combine them harmoniously

3. Avoid hot sauces and spices

4. Prefer lighter sauces to enjoy the meal

5. Use spices moderately, so as to not interfere with natural flavors

Archestratus was probably not a full-time cook himself because cooks would generally not have been educated enough to write, let alone write poetry. He must, though, have been a lover of good food, and must have interacted with his cooks and servants a good deal because of the knowledge that comes through in his poem.

Alexandre Grimod de La Reynière wrote the gastronomic work Almanach des gourmands (1803), elevating the status of food discourse to a disciplined level based on his views of French tradition and morals. 

Grimod aimed to reestablish order lost after the revolution and institute gastronomy as a serious subject in France. 

Grimod expanded gastronomic literature to the three forms of the genre: the guidebook, the gastronomic treatise, and the gourmet periodical. 

The invention of gastronomic literature coincided with important cultural transformations in France that increased the relevance of the subject. The end of nobility in France changed how people consumed food; fewer wealthy households employed cooks and the new bourgeoisie class wanted to assert their status by consuming elitist food. The emergence of the restaurant satisfied these social needs and provided good food available for popular consumption. 

 The center of culinary excellence in France shifted from Versailles to Paris, a city with a competitive and innovative culinary culture. The culinary commentary of Grimod and other gastronomes influenced the tastes and expectations of consumers in an unprecedented manner as a third party to the consumer-chef interaction.

The French origins of gastronomy explain the widespread use of French terminology in gastronomic literature. Pascal Ory criticizes this literature as conceptually vague; relying heavily on anecdotal evidence; and using confusing, poorly defined terminology. Nevertheless, gastronomy has grown from a marginalized subject in France to a serious and popular interest worldwide.

The derivative gourmet has come into use since the publication of Physiology of Taste (Physiologie du goût) an 1825 cooking treatise by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a lawyer and politician who aimed to define classic French cuisine. 

While the work contains some flamboyant recipes, it goes into the theory of preparation of French dishes and hospitality.