A tantalising collection of more than 4,000 French state dinner menus spanning 155 years of history, from 1868 to 2023, has been sold at auction. And as well as some mouthwatering dishes, it reveals some tasty historical titbits too.
The collection, which belonged to chef Christophe Marguin, president of Lyon’s Toques Blanches, went on view to the public in Paris before going under the hammer. It details dinners enjoyed by the likes of Napoleon III, Emperor Hirohito, Nelson Mandela, Saddam Hussein and last year’s meal at Versailles held for King Charles III, which included a Louis XIV-inspired lobster and crab dish, poultry marinaded in champagne with a gratin of French cèpe mushrooms, a selection of French and English cheeses, vintage wines and champagne, and macarons with lychee and rose sorbet and raspberry compôte.
The collection also reveals tales such as the meal in June 2014 at which Barack Obama’s desire for an unscheduled cheese course (after a blue lobster salad and line-caught sea bass) almost made then president François Hollande late for a second meal scheduled the same evening at the Élysée Palace with a certain Vladimir Putin.
Then there’s the meal for 23,000 mayors held in the Tuileries Gardens to tie in with the 1900 Universal Exhibition, which involved 7km of tablecloths, 125,000 plates, 600 kitchen staff, 2,200 waiters, two tonnes of salmon and 39,000 bottles of wine.
The menus were printed on silk or special paper and decorated by famous artists, such as Marc Chagall, whose lithograph graced the menu enjoyed by US President Jimmy Carter.
“We see the evolution of international relations. Visits at the end of the 19th century were much rarer, so they were exceptional events with several meals at the Élysée, sometimes at Versailles, often with military parades and a programme of opera or theatre,” said Pierre Marquis, from Cabinet Poulain, which assisted with the auction.
Some menus even had hidden messages. For instance, in 1897, France was trying to strengthen its relations with Russia and Britain and so a dinner in honour of Tsar Nicholas II included Muscovite-style Volga sturgeon alongside Pineapple à la Victoria, named after Queen Victoria.
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