Italianate Style Dining

“… meals had been served in what was called the Italianate style, which had been brought to the French court by Catherine de'Medici. In this style, apparently revived from the Roman Empire, all food was prepared, then placed helter-skelter on the table. There might be separate “services” or “plates,” but since each service might include fish, fowl, game, fruits, and sweets, there was little point in keeping them apart.” — Public domain engraving of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, in his Physiology of Taste, published in 1825, had introduced a new “ordinance of the table,” which he is said to have devised during his exile in the United States during the last years of the 18th century. Prior to the introduction of his new theory, meals had been served in what was called the Italianate style, which had been brought to the French court by Catherine de'Medici. In this style, apparently revived from the Roman Empire, all food was prepared, then placed helter-skelter on the table. There might be separate “services” or “plates,” but since each service might include fish, fowl, game, fruits, and sweets, there was little point in keeping them apart.

Under Savarin's system, which has now become so common that few people realize how original it was at the time of its introduction, the old “services” became “courses,” each consisting of only one fundamental food, and these were arranged in a logical order. The logic was Savarin's; if anyone questioned why fish should come before meat, or a stew before a roast it was because Savarin said that was the way it should be -and Savarin was confident of his own taste. He stressed the necessity of having the wines complement the food, and taught that every meal should be a festive occasion with gay, cheerful conversation and a well-chosen group. The new scheme was adopted to a limited extent throughout Europe during the ensuing years; it made its appearance in the United States about mid-century, but was not generally accepted until after the War between the States.

At least one silverware manufacturer paid his debt to Savarin by naming a tableware pattern after him; there seems to be no record of the dedication of one of the numerous books on decorum and etiquette to the French master, but that was surely merely an oversight on the part of the authors and publishers for whom a whole new field had opened.— From “American Silver Flatware 1837-1910,” by Noel Turner, 1972

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Etiquette from Brillat Savarin's “The Physiology of Taste"

A French born lawyer and politician, (1783-1833) writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin gained his fame as an epicure and gastronome and helped found the genre of the gastronomic essay. He made famous the aphorism, "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are." He believed that food defined a nation. 

APHORISMS OF THE PROFESSOR- 

TO SERVE AS PROLEGOMENA TO HIS WORK AND ETERNAL BASIS TO THE SCIENCE...

"The Creator, when he obliges man to eat, invites him to do so by appetite, and rewards him by pleasure."

I. The universe would be nothing were it not for life and all that lives must be fed.

II. Animals fill themselves; man eats. The man of mind alone knows how to eat.

III. The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed.

IV. Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are.

V. The Creator, when he obliges man to eat, invites him to do so by appetite, and rewards him by pleasure.

VI. Gourmandise is an act of our judgment, in obedience to which, we grant a preference to things which are agreeable, over those which have not that quality.                   

The drunkenness of Noah :"Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking."

VII. The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all areas; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure.

VIII. The table is the only place where one does not suffer, from ennui during the first hour.

IX. The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.

X. Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking.
             

"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye."

XI. The order of food is from the most substantial to the lightest.

XII. The order of drinking is from the mildest to the most foamy and perfumed.

XIII. To say that we should not change our drinks is a heresy; the tongue becomes saturated, and after the third glass yields but an obtuse sensation.

XIV. A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye.

XV. A cook may be taught, but a man who can roast, is born with the faculty.

XVI. The most indispensable quality of a good cook is promptness. It should also be that of the guests.

XVII. To wait too long for a dilatory guest, shows disrespect to those who are punctual.

XVIII. He who receives friends and pays no attention to the repast prepared for them, is not fit to have friends.

XIX. The mistress of the house should always be certain that the coffee be excellent; the master that his liquors be of the first quality.

XX. To invite a person to your house is to take charge of his happiness as long as he be beneath your roof.

From Brillat Savarin's “The Physiology of Taste," 1825