Almanach des Gourmands
19th century French restaurant guide
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Almanach des gourmands was a guide to the restaurants, pastry shops, and specialty food stores of Paris,[1] published by the French lawyer and gastronome Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de La Reynière approximately once a year between 1803 and 1812. Written by a group of restaurant critics and Grimod de La Reynière himself, Grimod de La Reynière was responsible for editing.[2][3] For his work on Almanach des Gourmands, Grimod de La Reynière is typically credited as the first restaurant critic.[3][1]
Almanach des Gourmands was written for locals of the city rather than its tourists, and for the first time, wrote for consumers who sought taste rather than cheap prices or convenience.[4][5] At times, the reviews of the food and establishments contained were intensely critical.[6] According to the British historian Roy Strong, Almanach des gourmands opened up the culture around food to anyone who was literate, and increased competition between restaurants.[3] The guide was published at a time when restaurants were gaining prominence in Paris, the first having opened in the 1770s.[4]
Among its writers included Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, a prominent revolutionary, whose writing in 1807 opined on appetite: "A pleasure 'tis; the last that we surrender/Is it impaired? a little time's its mender."[7][a]