Basse cuisine

• 21.03.2023 08:36 UTC+01:00
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The BBC's home page teases The 'scandalous' chef the world forgot. Thus, Anna Richards' eulogy to Eugénie Brazier, the first person to be awarded six Michelin stars, was bigged up more than it could deliver. It ended up as interesting, could've been better.

The problem is that Richards didn't take much time to describe the dishes—or the scandal—that Brazier created. So how can I relate to her craft? Other than read about her menus on Wonkypeedeeyah!, that is.

Richards asks why Brazier's achievements have been forgotten, when male chefs are still remembered. She rattles off François Pierre de la Varenne; Antonin Carême; and Auguste Escoffier, although only the latter was a near contemporary of hers, and concludes that it's due to PaTriArchY aNd MisOGyNy™: Her gender had a huge role to play, explained food historian Dr Annie Gray.

More telling, however, is that Brazier practised the cuisine de la grand-mère style of French cooking, rather than haute cuisine. And she plied her trade in Lyon, not Paris. And she didn't publish her work during her lifetime. Escoffier rose to fame not just for his culinary skills, teaching, and writing; but for doing so in Paris and London. So the question as to why her name isn't as well-known as those of her male counterparts isn't really much of a question at all.

She excelled at a style of cookery that was more accessible than flamboyant. And she remained provincial. These days though—with the rise of media chefs, social media, and food blogging—she'd probably be more famous than a cordon bleu chef de cuisine slaving away in an expensive Parisian restaurant or the London Savoy.

I'm still none the wiser as to why—other than a glib reference to extramarital pregancy at 19, before her career took off—the BBC descibes her as scandalous though. Even when hedged with quotation marks.