This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. French cuisine developed throughout the centuries influenced by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition gourmet baklava its own food traditions on the long western coastlines of the Atlantic, the Channel and inland.
Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine. Knowledge of French cooking has contributed significantly to Western cuisines. Its criteria are used widely in Western cookery school boards and culinary education. John, Duke of Berry enjoying a grand meal.
The Duke is sitting with a cardinal at the high table, under a luxurious baldaquin, in front of the fireplace, tended to by several servants, including a carver. In French medieval cuisine, banquets were common among the aristocracy. Multiple courses would be prepared, but served in a style called service en confusion, or all at once. Food was generally eaten by hand, meats being sliced off in large pieces held between the thumb and two fingers. The sauces were highly seasoned and thick, and heavily flavored mustards were used. Pies were a common banquet item, with the crust serving primarily as a container, rather than as food itself, and it was not until the very end of the Late Middle Ages that the shortcrust pie was developed. The ingredients of the time varied greatly according to the seasons and the church calendar, and many items were preserved with salt, spices, honey, and other preservatives.