Versailles. The Gastronomic Revolution [English version]

In 2023, Versailles will celebrate its 400th anniversary. The history of the castle, to which the figure of Louis XIV remains attached, actually leaves other forms of history in the shadows, starting with the fascinating and necessary history of food. In this respect, France in the 17th century underwent a real revolution. The cuisine served at the table of the king, the nobility and, consequently, the bourgeoisie underwent profound changes. While evolving, this model has endured until today. Better still, it was consecrated on a worldwide scale in 2010 when the "gastronomic meal of the French" was inscribed on the Unesco list of intangible cultural heritage. 

Versailles, more specifically, embodies this gastronomic model and ensures its international influence. This is the story, which spans four centuries, which Versailles, the gastronomic revolution, third title in the Menus de légende collection, relates. Alongside menus selected amongst Jean-Maurice Sacré's collection and precious manuscript archives, including the menu served in Louis XIV's carriage during a court trip to Chambord in 1684 and of the State and the Maison-Bouche menu for Louis XV for the year 1749, engravings and photographs illustrate French gastronomy and the art of the table. 

This edition, one version in French, the other in English, is limited to 400 copies. All the elements of the edition are made in France. Each box is manufactured by a workshop of handmade bookbinding and made of a clothed cover, with hot stamping for the title. The box that comes with a certificate of authenticity includes a 400-page hardcover book and five offprints picturing engravings: one for every century analyzed in the main text, the most recent one showing a work by contemporary artist Philippe Cognée. 

This publication, under the pen of the historian and author Guillaume Picon, is realized thanks to the Jean-Maurice Sacré's collection of emblematic menus and the collaboration of Nicolas Kenedi, perpetual secretary of the Academy of Gastronomes.