Vive la Francophonie:

Presenter: Liz Williams

Topic: Old French Cuisine

The 17th century, a time that France was always playing second fiddle to England, the Netherlands, and Spain, was a time that France invented the restaurant which then led to its cuisine. Influenced by the Enlightenment, the French began treating food as a form of art.

Small plate: French onion soup

Presenter: Marc Witham

Topic: The History of French Cuisine in Three Chefs

French Cuisine has a long history and is constantly evolving.  This presentation will be about the medieval roots of French cuisine of the 14th century all the way to the early 19th of Napoleon.  The story will be told through the lens of three famous French chefs.  Guillaume Tirel (Taillevent), François Pierre de La Varenne (La Varenne), and Marie-Antoine Carême (Carême) successively redefined the structure, techniques, and intellectual foundations of French cuisine.  This is the story of the evolution, codification, increased sophistication of techniques, sauses and dishes.  Marking the path to Auguste Escoffier of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Small plate: Charcuterie

Presenter: Jean Xavier Brager

Topic: Stirring the Pot: Haute Cuisine and Hidden Hands

This lecture examines the overlooked histories and cinematic portrayals of female chefs in France, tracing how women have navigated professional kitchens, domestic expectations, and

public fame. From early twentieth-century restauratrices such as six times Michelin-starred Eugénie Brazier to contemporary Michelin-starred figures like Hélène Darroze, the talk explores the real lives of female chefs in France alongside their screen representations, with particular attention to the 2023 film The Taste of Things, starring Juliette Binoche. By comparing real chefs’ careers with their fictional counterparts, the lecture reveals how food on screen becomes a lens for power, visibility, and cultural memory in modern France today.

Small plate: Pizzaladière (a savory flatbread from Provence, topped with caramelized onions, anchovies, and Niçoise olives)

Presenter: Liz Williams

Topic: New Cuisine

Emerging from WWI France was influenced by greater foreign travel and an interest in French food. And after the deprivations of WWII French cuisine blossomed and later left behind its rules and allowed itself to be shaped by the modern world.

Small plate: Tarte Flambée (a thin, crispy flatbread from the Alsace region of France and southwestern Germany, similar to a pizza but with a different base and toppings. It features a very thin dough topped with crème fraîche [or fromage blanc] thinly sliced onions, and bacon lardons, traditionally baked quickly in a very hot, wood-fired oven)

Presenter: Dominique Macquet

Topic: Jean-Louis Palladin

French-born Chef Dominique Macquet (whose food we will be enjoying at all five sessions) speaks about his mentor, the great French chef Jean-Louis Palladin (1946-2001), who taught him the magic of French Cuisine. In 1979, Chef Palladin founded the restaurant Jean-Louis inside the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC and while there, cooked for presidents, famous actors, and a corps d’élite of dignitaries and VIPs.

Chef Dominique will open up about his tutelage under the James Beard Award-winning master.

Small plate: Croque Monsieur (a classic French hot ham and cheese sandwich, elevated with a creamy béchamel sauce and Gruyère cheese, then baked or fried until golden and bubbly)