ABSTRACT
In his inspiring study, All Manners of Food, Stephen Mennell (1985; see also Mennell 1987) identified the social mechanism which led to the development of royal or haute cuisine in France and to its rapid and continuous revival. He was especially interested in an issue which has been widely discussed by gastronomes: why did French cuisine achieve such a prominent role in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a position it has been able to retain to some extent up to the present day (cf. Revel 1979; Wheaton 1985)? Mennell’s interpretation relies to a great extent on the theory of civilization developed by Norbert Elias (1978, 1983). The same process which marked the gradual development of increasing individual self-control at the beginning of modern times also manifested itself in the gradual restraint of appetite and refinement of table manners. Ostentation with regard to food and drink was increasingly regarded as a sign of bad manners and was not considered to be in accordance with the demands of etiquette.
