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    Beer, Cider and Spirits in Old Regime France
    Beer, Cider and Spirits in Old Regime France
    Beer, Cider and Spirits in Old Regime France
    Ebook100 pages1 hour

    Beer, Cider and Spirits in Old Regime France

    By Jim Chevallier

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    About this ebook

    This excerpt from Le Grand d'Aussy's classic work on the history of French private life explores the history of beer, cider and spirits in France from the Gauls to Le Grand's own time (the late eighteenth century). The history of beer since the Egyptians to its slow growth to popularity in France to what Le Grand describes as its decline in his own time; the surprisingly late appearance of cider in Normandy (later known for the drink) and a look at the numerous use of varieties used to make it and to make perry, the pear version; the start of spirits as a late medieval medical ingredient and its evolution into a colorful variety of ratafias, rissolis, populo and other liqueurs - all this and more is packed into a few brief but lively chapters.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJim Chevallier
    Release dateSep 29, 2014
    ISBN9781311563118
    Beer, Cider and Spirits in Old Regime France
    Author

    Jim Chevallier

    Jim Chevallier is a food historian who has been cited in "The New Yorker", "The Smithsonian" and the French newspapers "Liberation" and "Le Figaro", among other publications. CHOICE has named his "A History of the Food of Paris: From Roast Mammoth to Steak Frites" an Outstanding Academic Title for 2019. His most recent work is "Before the Baguette: The History of French Bread". He began food history with an essay on breakfast in 18th century France (in Wagner and Hassan's "Consuming Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century") in addition to researching and translating several historical works of his own. He has been both a performer and a researcher, having worked as a radio announcer (WCAS, WBUR and WBZ-FM), acted (on NBC's "Passions", and numerous smaller projects). It was as an actor that he began to write monologues for use by others, resulting in his first collection, "The Monologue Bin". This has been followed by several others over the years.

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      Book preview

      Beer, Cider and Spirits in Old Regime France - Jim Chevallier

      Pierre Jean-Baptiste Le Grand d'Aussy

      Beer, Cider and Spirits

      in Old Regime France

      Edited and Translated

      by Jim Chevallier

      Chez Jim Books • North Hollywood, CA

      Published by:

      Chez Jim Books

      To contact the editor, e-mail: jimchev@chezjim.com

      Translations and additional text copyright © 2014 by Jim Chevallier

      All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in any form.

      ISBN: 9781311563118

      Although the editor and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of these translations and any additional information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein.

      About Le Grand d'Aussy's Work

      The current volume has been extracted, translated and retitled from Pierre Jean-Baptiste Le Grand d'Aussy's classic work on French food and drink, which has come down to us with the slightly misleading title of Histoire de la vie privée des Français depuis l’origine de la nation jusqu’à nos jours; that is, History of the private life of the French from the origin of the nation until our days. Though Le Grand originally intended to produced such a comprehensive work, in practice he only finished the three volumes on food and drink (first published in 1783). Incomplete as these may be in terms of the overall project, they are almost manically thorough in their examination of the specific subject and have remained, over the centuries, some of the prime sources on the subject. Not only do even modern writers continue to draw on them for key information, more than one writer (in both French and English) has shamelessly copied whole stretches of Le Grand's work, well after it was written, and presented it as their own.

      Le Grand at one point refers to himself as a compiler and certainly one of the strengths of his work is that it brings together a wealth of information drawn from earlier sources, some classics of their respective periods, some profoundly obscure. He began as a Jesuit and brings to his task the methodical, erudite and demanding precision which made the Jesuits so admired as teachers. But his personality – passionate, determined, unsparing, but also compassionate, even witty and sensual – shines through. When he thinks a previous writer has written nonsense, he says so, succinctly. When he feels obliged to work his way through fastidious, if important material, he lets his impatience show. When he includes an anecdote more because it is entertaining than because it is essential, he does so without apology. At the rare moments when he draws on his personal experience or acquaintance, he brings us vividly into the instant.

      He is, in a word, not only an informative but a lively and enjoyable writer, but one who, in English, is more often cited than translated at length. The present effort is intended to remedy that, if only in small measure.

      About This Translation

      While some French food terms have straightforward English translations (pain/bread, bière/beer) others present special challenges. Some are used in English as is, whether or not their French term is translatable. Some are untranslatable, yet may have a suggestive meaning. Others have equivalents in English which are not really translations; conversely, many can be translated directly, but the translation may not be used in English. In such cases, the approach here has been generally to give the French versions, with translations where appropriate (in square brackets and quotes) or the English equivalent (in square brackets only.)

      Note that in discussing spirits, Le Grand consistently uses the term eau-de-vie. Already in the eighteenth century, the standard translation for this term was brandy (as it is today). However the term very literally means water of Life, a phrase found, with various meanings, in other languages. The Latin aqua vitae did originally refer to spirits, and is echoed today in the Swedish akvavit, a word for a strong spirit. Even the word whiskey is adapted from the Gaelic usquebaugh (uisge beatha), which has the same meaning. Probably Le Grand had this larger meaning in mind, though sometimes he applies the term to drinks, like cognac, which we would today consider brandy. He was not unfamiliar with the term spirit; he uses it, for instance, in referring to wine spirit (esprit de vin). This further distillation produced, in effect, pure alcohol and the term is sometimes defined as a synonym for the latter.

      This is not, in any meaningful way, an annotated edition, but certain phrases or references have seemed to require clarification or alternate suggestions; the latter appear here in-line, in square brackets ([]). The alphabetic footnotes are Le Grand's own and originally appeared at the bottom of the physical page in each case.

      In most cases, archaic spellings of places, etc. have been converted to their modern equivalents. Where the equivalence is too uncertain to be definitive, a note appears after the word in question. Where no meaningful information has been found, the word is left as it is in the original text.

      With few exceptions, the titles of the many works cited have been left in French, since presumably those who wish to consult them will be seeking the works in that language. The work includes numerous quotes from Latin, most are preceded by a paraphrase in the main

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