Disney released Beauty and the Beast, a faithful yet fresh live-action re-telling of its 1991 animated classic. Cutting across generations, the film sets an all-time highest-grossing March opening in the U.S., with a $170 million debut. This “tale as old as time” features Belle, a courageous, bright young woman, who is taken prisoner by the Beast, a prince who is cursed by an enchanted sorceress. In his castle, the enchanted staff are anthropomorphized furniture, including a candelabra, a mantel clock, and a teapot, who take care of Belle and serve her multi-course meals. Weaving throughout the musical, food provides a history lesson of classic French cuisine and shows the class distinction between the aristocracy and the peasants.
The film setting is mid-eighteenth century France. French cuisine is already a century into developing and refining its culinary technique and style. From 1651-1738, Pierre Francois de la Varenne published a series of cookbooks and recipes that initiated and codified grand ‘haute’ cuisine. The aristocrats greedily ate up this new cooking, with gluttony becoming an expression of courtly lifestyle. According to The Cambridge World History of Food, “only cooking and eating that demonstrated wealth, luxury, and pomp could accomplish this goal and distinguish the aristocracy in no uncertain terms from the rising middle class…” The royalty’s overeating and lavish entertainment become legendary.
During the reign of Louis XIV, gardens flourished with vegetables and fruits, and vineyards produced the finest wine. Rich sauces were created, such as the bechamel, a roux of butter, flour, and milk that is now considered one of the mother sauces of French food. Coffee, tea, and chocolate were delights of the privileged. Meals were kingly affairs, both in quantity and quality. According to An Illustrated History of French Cuisine, “the Sun King was a glutton. He ate without discernment, and he ate enormously. He would think nothing of four huge plates of different kinds of soup, a whole pheasant, a partridge, vegetables, a large dish of salad, two big slices of ham, mutton with garlic, a plate of cakes and –to wind up a good meal—eggs prepared in various ways.” Gorging themselves, the aristocracy ate for pleasure alone without any need for extra courses.
In the film, we see also a sumptuous feast. The enchanted staff bring haute cuisine to life in the extravagant food scene, Be Our Guest. The singing candelabra, dancing tea pots, swirling plates, and bubbling glasses present a “culinary cabaret” to welcome Belle to the castle. Many plates and multiple courses prance and parade by her at the grand dining table.
Food in Be Our Guest:
- Soup du jour
- Hot hor d’oeuvres
- Try the grey stuff. It’s delicious… (pate)
- Beef ragout
- Cheese souffle
- Pie and pudding en flambe
- Wine’s been poured and thank the Lord
- With dessert…
- She’ll want tea
If you want to make these dishes, go here for recipes!
Food of the Peasants in 18th century France
The plentiful array and elegant food at the castle contrasts with the rustic, simple food in the town, highlighting the pre-Revolution class system. In This Little Town, Belle sings of her “poor, provincial” town as she dances through the bustling market. The townspeople are bickering and bartering for their daily provisions: eggs, cheese, fish, and bread.
Belle sings:
“There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell…”
Baker: Good Morning, Belle!
Belle: Good morning, Monsieur.
Baker: And where are you off to, today?
Belle: The bookshop. I just finished the most wonderful story
About a beanstalk and an ogre and a –
Baker: That’s nice. Marie! The baguettes!
—
Woman 1: I need six eggs!
Woman 2: That’s too expensive!
Woman 3: You call this bacon?
Woman 4: What lovely grapes!
Man 1: Some cheese
Woman 5: Ten yards!
Man 1: one pound
Cheese Merchant: I’ll get the knife
Woman 6- This bread –
Woman 7- Those fish –
Woman 6- it’s stale!
Woman 7- they smell!
Men- Madame’s mistaken.
Women- Well, maybe so
These ingredients likely went into soups, a common dish both in the royal courts and the peasants’ dining room. Soups were filled with water, herbs, and root vegetables such as radishes, carrots, turnips, and leeks, and cooked all day. In the evening, the people would bring their earthenware or wooden bowls to be filled with the stock. Soups regularly appear during the scenes of Belle and the Beast eating together at the castle. Lacking dexterity with his gnarly hands, the Beast slurps up his soup.
Bread also was an important part of the French diet in the mid-eighteenth century, a culinary tradition continued today (baguette, anyone?). Cereals (barley, oats, millet, buckwheat, and maize) and legumes dominated the diet of the poor and soaked up meat juices and rich sauces prepared for the court. In the film, Belle’s father, Maurice, seeks shelter at the castle and restores himself with tea, bread, and other dishes that are magically ready for him at the dining table.
Tea is another essential component of the French diet. The hot beverage appears frequently in the movie, linking scenes in the narrative. In the 2017 version of the film, Belle serves tea to her father as he paints and invents clocks. Later, Maurice again is served tea by a woman in the woods, and his health restored. The healing effects of tea were already known in the mid-18th century French diet. According to Gastronomy of France, the breakfast of choice for Louis XIV was a bouillon or a cup of sage tea.
Tea’s presence continues with Mrs. Potts, one of the central characters of the castle staff. Her human attributes of hospitality is represented by her tea service. Mrs. Potts’s tea-cup son Chip adds humor and sings of “Earl Grey” and “Darjeeling.”
Last, but not least, bacon! In the film, bacon is exchanged at the market, but was it really part of the French peasantry diet? Not really. Bacon would have been a rare treat for French peasantry in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to historian Pierre Goubert, few parts of the country kept pigs. When available, salted pork fat would be added to porridges made with rye and sweet chestnuts and vegetable stews. Pork was eaten by the poor more as a flavor enhancer; only in special occasions was ham eaten as a main dish.
Hope you enjoyed this taster of food history from Disney’s 2017 Beauty and the Beast film. Other food and drink are also present in the film, but take a less prominent role.