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In French gastronomy, cuisine bourgeoise is the home cooking of middle class (bourgeoisie) families as distinguished from elaborate restaurant cooking, haute cuisine , and from the cooking of the regions, the peasantry, and the urban poor.
The cuisine bourgeoise has been documented since the 17th century: Nicolas de Bonnefons, Le Jardinier françois (1651) and Les delices de la campagne (1684); François Menon, Cuisinière bourgeoise (1746); and Louis Eustache Audot, Cuisinière de la campagne et de la ville (1818). Starting in the 19th century, a series of cookbooks go beyond simply listing recipes to teaching technique: Jule Gouffé, Livre de cuisine (1867); Félix Urbain Dubois, École des cuisinières (1887). [1]
In the late 19th century, cooking schools such as Le Cordon Bleu and magazines such as La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu and Le Pot-au-feu , emerged in Paris to teach cooking technique to bourgeois women. Pellaprat's La Cuisine de tous les jours (1914) and Le Livre de cuisine de Madame Saint-Ange (1927) come from those cooking schools. [1]
In the 20th and 21st centuries, cuisine bourgeoise has continued to evolve while retaining its emphasis on tradition, seasonality, and domestic cooking practices. Rather than disappearing with the rise of modern gastronomy, it has been reinterpreted by chefs and food writers as a form of culinary heritage that values simplicity, balance, and the transmission of recipes within families. In contemporary France, cuisine bourgeoise is often associated with bistro culture and home made style restaurants that reinterpret classic dishes using modern techniques while preserving their original spirit. This renewed interest reflects a broader movement toward authenticity and comfort in French cuisine, positioning cuisine bourgeoise as a bridge between historical domestic cooking and nowadays culinary trends. [2] [3]