Restaurant History and Dining Out

 

According to Britannica.com, the first café is said to have opened in 1550 in Constantinople; during the 17th century cafés opened in Italy, France, Germany, and Englan d – Above, Jan Steen’s “Revelry at an Inn”

The Birth and Spread of Public Catering

Public consumption of food has always been both a private matter –when we are eating– and a collective event –when we are socializing. The atmosphere that is created leads to exchange a few words with those who are close, creating interpersonal relationships influenced by the type of accommodation where the food is offered, whether it be via a kiosk, tavern, or restaurant.

Today, one of the most popular catering establishments is the restaurant. It is an environment where one can sit at the table to eat outside the home for a fee. In the worst case, one is satisfied with what is there– good, bad, or, at best, experiencing a moment of intense artistic creation. More generally, the situation is a middle ground that combines business with pleasure in varying proportions, and quality with a modest price.

Origins of the Restaurant in Street Cooking

The roots of the cuisine date back to the borders between prehistory and history. Then the public catering service was born with markets and fairs that forced farmers and artisans to leave their home for one or more days, and to feed themselves while they formed or maintained social relations of friendship or business.

The service offered by this type of public cuisine has grown and diversified at the same pace as urbanization, to which it has remained tied. Eating outside the home was already widespread among the Romans. Over time, it became increasingly important among the urban popular classes. Those who lived in the city had the need to feed themselves by buying food cooked in public places or from street vendors. Some examples of the most famous traditional Italian street food are: Sicilian arancine, raw Apulian seafood, Ascolana olives, Romagna piadina, Ligurian focaccia, Roman pork “porchetta.”

The Birth of the Modern Restaurant

France was the birthplace of “restaurants.” This birth dates back to the end of the 18th century, with the exception of the inns frequented by travelers and by street kitchens, where was it possible to have a meal served outside the home in Europe of the time. Essentially in the establishments offering alcoholic beverages (such as taverns) which, in addition to wine and beer, the main object of their trade, were offered simple and inexpensive dishes, prepared on the spot, or brought from a nearby food shop.

All these establishments made for a noisy, often inconvenient and sometimes quarrelsome conviviality, serve more “plebeian” style foods than elaborate dishes. To drink and meet friends in a refined setting, you have to go to the café, a kind of meeting place born in the previous century. – From  Taccuini Gastrosofici

Our newest contributor, Eva Sorribas Costantini, was born in Barcelona Spain, but currently lives in Rome Italy. She is a graduate of La Sapienza University of Rome, specializing in in the courses of Etiquette, Good Manners and Costume Paths, Ceremonial, Protocol and Institutional Etiquette. She has performed Basic and Advance courses in Etiquette and Good Manners at the Accademia Italiana Galateo in the city of Rome, and has studied British Etiquette, English Afternoon Tea, Social History of Tea and Colonial Drinks. She also worked in the luxury retail fashion sector in window dressing, image consultancy and fashion history. Her expertise is in the history of dress code and court dresses with a focus on the psychology of fashion, gender identity, body, image and symbolism of color.

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

The Birth of the Modern Restaurant

By the late 19th century the restaurants in Paris had become accepted centers of social life, accompanied by the elegant art of the menu card.— From “Food Mania... An extraordinary visual record of the art of food from kitchen garden to banqueting table,” 2001

Paris of the 1760s saw the birth of one facet of the modern world... The modern day restaurant

When traveling, lunches and dinners can be the most delightful of moments. Especially, if we allow ourselves to spend some time discovering the culinary particularities of the visited region. The chances are that we have all enjoyed these moments at restaurants, as we can find them in most places we visit, whether the place is a tourist destination or not. The fact is that restaurants are nowadays so commonplace, we can hardly picture ourselves in a world without them. However, it hasn’t always been the case. Did you know that the French Revolution deeply influenced the development of the restaurant as a major cultural practice, and made it nowadays a marker of world heritage?

Historically, inns and hotels have always provided meals for their guests, but it was related to hospitality and not on the culinary experience itself. Moreover, these were mostly taverns which were notoriously crowded, noisy, not very clean and they served food of dubious quality at large common tables. The first modern restaurant appeared in rue des Poulies in Paris in the 1760s, owned by Mr. Boulanger; he opened a place with his motto written on the top of it, “Venite ad me, omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego restaurabo vos” (“Come to me, you whose stomachs hurt, and I will restore you”). Mr Boulanger was serving healing “bouillons” to his guests, in order to cure their aches. This is why he created the word “restaurant,” which comes from the verb “se restaurer” (to restore), a place where you would find something to restore your strength. But quickly Boulanger adapted his place to the expectations of his clientele, giving birth to the modern restaurant and bringing three disruptive innovations.

The first was on the food itself. Indeed, the client could choose from a much larger selection of dishes, up to 250, of a higher quality. Also, it was possible to enjoy various types of food, from bouillons to meat, and vegetables to pastries, while taverns mostly proposed a daily meal. The concept of eating “à la carte” was born. The second innovation seems commonplace for us today: at Boulanger’s restaurant it was possible to be seated at an individual table, and no longer on collective benches, as was the case in inns and hotels. And finally, the restaurant displayed fixed pricing in advance. Thus the client was able to choose the table he wanted, be seated with the persons he had invited, eat the dishes of his choice and know how much he would have to pay for it. How innovative!

Very often disruptive innovations break the situation of well-established competitors. This was also the case at that time. The industry of the “traiteurs” (caterer) were the only ones allowed to serve dishes cooked in sauce, thus they decided to sue Boulanger, who won the trial. This affair had a major impact with enlightening the new concept of the restaurant, making it even more successful by attracting philosophers and intellectuals. Quickly, several competitors appeared. The most famous was “La Taverne de Londres” at the rue de Richelieu, held by Antoine de Beauvilliers, the chef of the Count of Provence, King Louis XVI’s brother. In a very delicate and refined environment, he invited his guests to eat like at the Court of Versailles. The wine was served by the bottle, according to the custom in of the time in London, which was fashionable at that time. “La Taverne de Londres” was the first grand restaurant, and remained the largest one in Paris for 20 years from 1782 without any rival. Joséphine de Beauharnais, the future Empress and wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, enjoyed dinners there. But the take off of the modern restaurants happened thanks to a major historical event... the French Revolution!

By the late 19th century the restaurants in Paris had become accepted centers of social life, accompanied by the elegant art of the menu card.— From “Food Mania... An extraordinary visual record of the art of food from kitchen garden to banqueting table,” 2001

Without a doubt, the French Revolution helped indirectly the development of this innovative dining trend. Before the Revolution, the profession of cook was almost exclusively dedicated to serve at the private mansions of the bourgeois and aristocrats. No chef was on his own. But during the French Revolution most of the nobility emigrated outside of France, leaving their cooks and domestic servants unemployed. In order to use their talents, many of them became restaurant owners. There were fewer than 100 restaurants before 1789, but 10 years later Paris had more than 1,000 of them. There were 3,000 restaurants by 1815. The competition became fierce, each place trying to make a difference by offering different styles and varieties of food, and also enhancing the quality. The trend went quickly abroad: the first restaurant in the United States opened in Boston in 1794. And slowly, the fashionable trend became a well-integrated habit, which went during the 19th century from an elitist custom to a well-popularised practice.

Another revolution, the industrial one, also deeply influenced the development of the modern restaurant. People from the countryside left their provinces in numbers to come to Paris to work in factories. They arrived in a city where they had no family to feed them, and no place to cook for themselves after the day’s work. Therefore, cheaper versions of the restaurant appeared, called “gargote” or “guinguette,” where it was possible to enjoy some basic meals at very low prices. The trend went on, and later, in Paris during the Second Empire (1853-1870), each neighborhood had a restaurant offering choices of food matching the tastes of the local population. This is why, in 1867, the “Almanach des étrangers à Paris” wrote, “Paris is the city in the world where people enjoy the most dining at restaurants.” The author also added “This is the city where you can taste the best cuisine if you are not paying too much attention to your expenses, but also the capital where you can get fed for very moderate prices”. In 1900 the Michelin guide was created to go with the development of automobiles as a common practice, giving for drivers a list of mechanics, doctors and maps for each listed cities. Some 20 years later, the guide also started to list restaurants, and gave its first stars in 1926 for the best tables. At the time, restaurants could be found around the world, and the success of the “restaurant” has not declined since.

The next time you travel, give a bit of thought to your ancestors, who 250 years ago could not choose their own food while traveling, and could thus face some difficulties to adapt local culinary customs. Nowadays, you can make your own choice, and it is no longer a luxury to enjoy a meal when traveling. In fact, one of the best things to do for the next Bastille Day celebrations, could be to enjoy a meal at a restaurant!

Etiquipedia contributor Guillaume Rué de Bernadac is the President & Founding Director of the luxury etiquette institution, Académie de Bernadac in Shanghai and Paris. He has been featured in Michelin Guide, L’Officiel, Global Times, The Guardian, M6, CNN, etc... Académie de Bernadac

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Salad Etiquette and History

Originally, long lettuce forks and matching spoons were the proper accoutrements for serving salads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Eventually, by the mid 20th century, they became connected, made of plastic and mass marketed as “salad tongs,” though those who took much pride in entertaining, continued to use separate salad serving forks and spoons to serve their guests leafy, green salads.

To paint a complete portrait of the restaurant’s history, the iconic image of Man Carving a Roast should be accompanied by Man Mixing a Salad. For in haute restaurant-ology it is Man, not Woman, who rules the salad bowl.


In the 19th century wealthy men who styled themselves epicures often impressed their dining companions by rising from the table and mixing the salad. In the 20th century the custom passed into the hands of headwaiters at chi chi venues.

The tradition can be traced to peripatetic Frenchmen who wandered around Europe solemnly ministering to urban dinner parties with the contents of their small yet sacred chests of salad ingredients which included flavored vinegars, soy, caviar, truffles, anchovies, and other delectables.

In the 18th century sallad (spelled in the British manner) referred to a mixture of greens and herbs, possibly radishes, dressed with vinegar and oil and perhaps a raw egg. It could also mean chopped cabbage, known in the early 19th century as “cold” slaw. How many taverns, coffee houses, and other early eating places served salads is unknown but the number was probably very small and their salad days limited to springtime.

Although some green salads appeared on 19th century menus, the word salad more often referred to cold chopped meat or fish dressed with mayonnaise. Lobster and chicken were favorites. Combination salads and fruit salads did not come into popularity until the 20th century, largely due no doubt to the lower price of greens, vegetables, and imported bananas and pineapples.

The type of restaurant that did most to advance the green salad as a basic component of the American diet was the table d’hôte, a small French or Italian restaurant serving a fixed-price meal of about five courses. In 1844, patrons at the Café Tortoni in NYC enjoyed dinners of soup, stew-like entrees, roast meat, salads “mixed a la des Jardins,” and desserts. Head lettuce was rare, so typical salads featured romaine, chicory, dandelions, or field greens. Salad lovers particularly lauded Italian restaurants for their salads, both in the 19th and 20th centuries (despite the common appellation “Wop salad” ca. 1940-1970). In 1909 a patron wrote that Italian restaurant salads “are almost always good, and the dressing, made from red wine vinegar, is usually delicious. The mixed salad, in spring includes tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, celery, sometimes spinach and usually chives. Beet tops are also served as salad.”

In the New England countryside, on the other hand, salads were rare – and unsatisfactory. As a patron in a hotel dining room noted in 1881, “If by any chance there is lettuce on the table – for this happens rarely – and you manifest a desire to eat of it, the waiter puts before you the vinegar cruet and the sugar bowl. If you want to make a fool of yourself, call for salad oil. It will take some time to explain your meaning, and when you have done so the attendant will sneeringly inform her companions that ‘That feller eats grease on his lettis.’”

Although some thought salads were gaining popularity in the 1890s as sedentary city dwellers woke up to the wisdom of lighter fare, hotel cook Jessup Whitehead remarked in 1901 that “salads are not among the common popular dishes, and the average public seldom seems to think of them.” Many cooks had no idea how to prepare them, he added.


Salads became feminized in the 1920s. Perhaps it was the popularity of fruit salads in tea rooms, or the increasing use of flavored gelatin salads, but some male gourmets denounced women for preferring “comic salads” chosen for eye appeal rather than taste. Indeed there were some bizarre ones such as the Candlestick (illustrated), and others with names such as Clara Barton, Bon Ton, Butterfly, and Martini. Even a female tea room proprietor had to admit that “Atrocities have been committed in the name of salad.”

In the mid-20th century the tossed salad smothered under a layer of thick dressing became the standard start of a regulation meat and potatoes restaurant dinner. The high incidence of mediocre salads led syndicated columnist Inez Robb to launch a one-woman campaign in the 1960s against the two-pronged “red menace” to restaurant salads: chopped red cabbage and sludgy red-orange “French” dressing. Relief was on the way, for in the 1970s field greens returned, and ingredients rarely (but sometimes) found in salads of previous decades, such as olive oil, radicchio, and arugula came into wider use.–© Jan Whitaker, 2011

Jan Whitaker

We wish to thank Jan Whitaker for her allowing us to use another wonderful post from her blog. Says Jan, “We eat in restaurants several times a week and yet know very little about their history. I plan to dip into my archive of research and images every so often to present a little tidbit that highlights aspects of our American restaurant culture. Let me know your thoughts”- Restaurant-ing Through History

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia