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How often have you heard the term “nouvelle cuisine”? Where did it originate, how did it emerge, and what exactly does it mean? This morning, with my research materials in hand, I traced the history of gastronomy back to the 1960s and 70s, when nouvelle cuisine began to shine under the new spotlight of the culinary world, to find answers to all these questions.
WHERE AND WHEN DID THE 'NOUVELLE CUISINE' MOVEMENT BEGIN?
It started in France, of course, but it wasn’t immediately embraced, and certainly not by everyone. Among the pioneers of nouvelle cuisine were Fernand Point, Alex Humbert, and Jean Delaveyne, who began to challenge the traditional gastronomic legacy of Carême and Escoffier, rejecting the use of heavy sauces and stocks in favor of lighter alternatives, which they began to promote themselves.
Was it an act of rebellion? An attempt to make their mark by distancing themselves from the old school of masters who had been unchallenged until then? Perhaps. What is certain is that the advocates of nouvelle cuisine were not at all strangers to the highest art of French cooking. On the contrary, they were all disciples of the great masters of French cuisine. The gastronomic revolution began within the Michelin-starred restaurants, led by chefs like Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, and Michel Guérard, who had honed their skills based on the principles of traditional French cuisine. But as they matured, they began to share and assert their own ideas and principles, becoming themselves the symbols of a new culinary tradition.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NOUVELLE CUISINE
One of the most important features of this new gastronomic revolution was the chefs' preference for the freshest products. They began the habit of going to the market every morning to handpick their ingredients based on their vision for that day. Since the freshest products were seasonal and not available year-round, chefs replaced the long, unchanging menus with fresh, daily menus, as varied as the products they found in the market that day—shorter, changing menus that depended on what each season had to offer.
Heavy stocks and sauces were eliminated, as already mentioned, and replaced with lighter jus, just as the exotic spices that had been used excessively were now employed only in small quantities, enough to lightly scent the dishes and give them a subtle flavor.
Moreover, the chefs who championed nouvelle cuisine began to pay attention to the nutritional aspects of food and how it affects health. At the time, magazines had already started promoting the idea of smart choices and slender silhouettes, and chefs realized they needed to move away from the image of the overweight gourmand, which had persisted for centuries in the history of French gastronomy, and propose lighter recipes, especially for the clientele frequenting their restaurants. In fact, the first culinary book published after the rise of nouvelle cuisine was Michel Guérard’s La Cuisine Minceur in 1976.
As a result, the rich, heavy dishes were replaced by dishes with impressive aesthetics, served in small, individual portions, which were considered more elegant than the lavish feasts of Carême’s era, where banquets meant tables laden with all sorts of delicacies prepared in large quantities and ostentatiously displayed as a sign of social distinction. Now, along with the focus on the refined presentation of dishes, there was growing interest in new techniques and technologies. Chefs, who until then had been culinary artists working with their hands, began to encourage the use of appliances like blenders, food processors, and other kitchen gadgets.
THE NOUVELLE CUISINE REVOLUTION AND MASS MEDIA
Although it began with the finest chefs of the time, the revolution of nouvelle cuisine also benefited from strong support from the mass media, which turned many of these chefs into stars, role models, and true icons. In fact, the great culinary revolution represented by nouvelle cuisine owes much of its success to journalists and food critics Henri Gault and Christian Millau, who published the ten principles of nouvelle cuisine and, through their magazine Guide Gault et Millau, exerted significant influence not only on restaurant chefs but on society as a whole.
THE PRINCIPLES
In 1973, Gault and Millau drafted the ten “commandments” that formed the foundation of nouvelle cuisine, which stated:
Do not overcook food.
Use fresh, high-quality ingredients.
Offer a lighter menu.
Be open to new technologies.
...but do not embrace them systematically.
Avoid marinades.
Eliminate heavy sauces.
Be mindful of anything that is not dietetic.
Use a simple aesthetic in presentation.
Be creative.
To these, they added an unwritten rule, equally important or perhaps even more so than all the others: friendship among chefs.
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