The Chef and the Cordon-Bleu

Authors

  • Philip Hyman Independent Scholar Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.28031

Keywords:

cordon bleu, chef de cuisine, culinary profession, food and gender, gender roles, Certificat d’Aptitude Professionnelle, France, discrimination, 20th Century

Abstract

In 1935 two prominent French gastronomes, Maurice Edmond Sailland, better known as Curnonsky, and Pierre Andrieu felt that the time was ripe to publish a ‘who’s who’ of the French culinary establishment. They called their book Les Fine Gueules de France (we might call them ‘Gourmets of France’). Those they chose to figure in the book were divided into two groups. One was composed of grands gastronomes who belonged to the many gastronomic ‘clubs’ that flourished at the time, and the other was made up Grands traiteurs [caterers], grands chefs and grands cordons-bleus. It is this last named group, the grands cordons-bleus who will be the subject of this essay. All of them were women but there were no women among the grands chefs.

Author Biography

  • Philip Hyman, Independent Scholar

    Philip Hyman is an American scholar living in Paris where he has written and translated for many years, often in partnership with his wife Mary, on a number of topics concerning cookery and food history.

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Published

2017-05-01

Issue

PPC 108 (2017)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Hyman, Philip. 2017. “The Chef and the Cordon-Bleu”. Petits Propos Culinaires, May, 60-65. https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.28031.