French boy went from street urchin to world’s first celebrity chef

Many are lured to the romance of cooking but only a few can rise above the wilting heat of the kitchen. The first to find wide fame with his culinary feats was a boy abandoned by his parents on the streets of Paris

A 19th century engraving of star French chef Marie-Antoine Careme.

Fiery Sydney restaurateur and celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge stirred the pot this week when he lashed out at Gen Y apprentice chefs, claiming they are creating a staff shortage by leaving the industry because they don’t like hard work. The earliest chefs could never have imagined such public scrutiny.

The word “chef” comes from the French word meaning “chief”, “boss”, “ruler” or “head”. Originally it was part of the title “chef de cuisine” or head of the kitchen, but over time, as people recognised the supreme power of the food genius, it has become simply chef.

The romantic image of chefs evolved long before they were thrust on to reality TV. For centuries in Europe the height of culinary creativity resided in the kitchens in the courts of Italian and French rulers.

Fourteenth century French chef Guillaume Tirel worked his way up from enfant de cuisine (kitchen boy) to chef, serving the wife of Charles IV, and also Phillip VI, Charles V and Charles VI. The reputation of French chefs persuaded England’s food-loving Henry VIII to hire his own, known as Peter the Sweet, for his court.

The Italians also had their great cooks. Italian maestro di cucina (master of cooking) Bartolomeo Scappi, who cooked for six popes, published an influential cookbook Opera dell’arte del cucinare in 1570. It described the rules of the kitchen and also established conventions for writing down recipes.

A 16th century engraving of Bartolomeo Scappi (1500-1577) Italian Renaissance chef, who compiled a famous cookbook.

It was followed in 1604 by French chef Lancelot de Casteau’s Ouverture de cuisine, a book of recipes that moved cooking out of the medieval era.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw French chefs in even more demand across Europe. George III’s French chef arrived in England in the wake of the French Revolution. His son, Prince George (later George IV), also hired a French chef who would become the world’s first internationally renowned gastronomic artist.

Known simply as Antonin, he was born Marie-Antoine Careme in 1784 in Paris to poor parents who named him in honour of the queen Marie Antoinette.

Little is known of his parents but they had a large family and were not averse to ditching a child. During the revolution Careme was abandoned in Paris, living on the streets before being taken in by a chef who gave him a job as an enfant de cuisine.

Slogging it out in a poor chop houses, and working in low-grade kitchens around Paris, at 15 he landed an apprenticeship at a patissier, then considered the pinnacle of culinary arts. He showed great creative flair, learning to make elaborate pastries and confectionaries.

A page from the 1570 book by Renaissance chef Bartolomeo Scappi called L'arte et prudenza d'un maestro Cuoco (Prudent arts of the master cook) showing a court kitchen.

In 1801 Careme opened his own shop, occasionally also working for diplomat Charles Talleyrand, who allowed him to learn to cook other kinds of food in his well appointed kitchens and brought Careme to the attention of French emperor Napoleon. While Napoleon was no foodie, he understood the importance of food for showing off to dignitaries from other nations and Careme’s reputation spread.

After Napoleon was ousted, Careme took his skills outside France, to the kitchen of Prince George in England and to other royal homes and embassies in Russia, Austria, Wurrtemburg and eventually back to France.

He ended his days working for Baron de Rothschild. He died in Paris in 1833, as result of the toxic fumes he had inhaled for so many years from the charcoal he cooked with. A great innovator, he is considered the father of modern haute cuisine.

Elaborate pastry vases in the Regency art style by Antonin Careme — Vase en Nougat (Vase of Nougat), Grande Corbeille garnie de Fruits (Large basket filled with Fruits) and Coupe garnie d'Oranges (Vase of oranges).

By then the influence of French chefs was being felt around the world.

First Fleet marine officer and diarist Watkin Tench mentioned that Governor Arthur Phillip had a French cook among his household staff.

Phillip had spent time spying in France and had developed a palate for French cuisine.

Australia’s first restaurant, The Freemason’s Arms, which opened in Parramatta in 1796, had a makeover in 1800, going from wattle and daub to brick and hiring a French chef.

Over the course of the 19th century the reputation of French chefs spread, enhanced by the careers of culinary masters such as Alexis Soyer, who cooked for British nobles, and our local French master “the distinguished French chef, Monsieur Desneux, the promoter and proprietor of the Sydney Delmonico (Paris House)” described in an 1892 newspaper article.

Originally published as French boy went from street urchin to world’s first celebrity chef