Deception...

Greetings to all of you reading my blog and I hope you all are keeping safe, trying and being healthy and doing well in all glory .

We live in and around a world that is filled with illusion . Some come in the form of a person , few as puzzles, games or even disguised as life challenges . It's often intriguing to me as how we are subjected to these illusions subconsciously or even being in an absolute state of sensory awareness. The greatest and the funniest example I can state here is of those who fed you as you grew up . Often taking advantage of the statement "oh children are dumb" and feeding us everything we frowned at, just by  even the sight of it deceiving us into it being our favorite food . An often failed attempt is what we all had seen when in the arguably one of the most popular animes of our childhood 'Shinchan' (known originally as CRAYON SHINCHAN in Japan) where his mom often tries to trick him into eating capsicum which he absolutely loathes by often changing it's form and appearance, but that ceases to success . It is only later that we grow up to realize that all the attempts that have gone into the work of deceit were only done with the intention to have us nourished . If I were to broaden the spectrum of my conversation with you all , deception and food have a very DEEP relationship that has been STEWED over the course of time. Now pay attention to those above two words and let them hover over your mind for a little while as I take you down the history lane where these two very phenomena; food and deception gave birth to something so incredible, so opulent , so dramatic that changed the way of how people ate and dined outside of their homes completely, laying foundation of the restaurant industry as we know it today ...

People eating out in restaurants before 2020.

'Restaurant' not just a word representing an eatery but an emotion for many and for many reasons too . Something great happens with you and your friends over the course of the day , one of you would surely say ''this calls for a celebration , let's go to a good restaurant" . Got a promotion? You go dine with your family and friends . Not a very productive and a rather off putting day !? You don't feel like cooking , you go to the nearest restaurant or order a takeaway to treat yourself well . Given the numerous occasions that Co exist with the innumerous humans on this planet, restaurants serve an important role in everybody's life and even for the economy of the land . There are several types of restaurants that exist and new ones keep spawning almost all the time . But I'm sure you must've thought at some point 'what does the word restaurant actually mean?' . Now scroll back up for a second and look out for the words I asked you guys to remember . Continuing on that very route I'll now take you all the way back to the time when there were unions that took charge and controlled over the entire businesses run by people then , I'm talking about the 18th century France .

The 1700s was an interesting time period for the French as during that time most of the chefs , cooks and people doing other similar jobs were servants to the nobles or royal families . These people were given the liberty to establish and run their small businesses as a means of livelihood . This gave rise to several small bakeries ,lodges, butcheries, etc. Just like now even back then tourism was a thing , of course there were no sophisticated 5 star hotels or other top notch lodging facilities but there were places called as "inns" (singular INN ) . Inns were pubs that offered accommodation for tourists , they often provided some very basic food, without any menu or so, meaning you'd have to eat what was given. The above mentioned businesses mainly functioned and thrived by virtue of tourists and locals . Each business back in the day was governed and controlled by a respective 'Guild' or union . These guilds had all the members of a said business as it's members who were functioning all over that city . To run a business of your own you had to have been issued a certificate by the guild of your business and only then you could sell that product . Say for example you want to open a bakery , you even got permission but the laws we're so strict that if granted a permission or license to sell breads you can only and only sell breads . Nothing extra or additional , you could not even apply for another license . Weird isn't it ? I found it amusing too but this was how the system worked back in time . And just around then came a man with a goal - to change the convention, his name A.boulanger (his name BOULANGER coincidentally means baker).

  
In 1765 A.boulanger advertised on his soup shop with a sign that said “Boulanger débite des restaurants divins” translating too Boulanger sells divine restaurants . The word 'RESTAURANT' comes from the word ''RESTAURER" meaning to "RESTORE" . He advertised his soups as 'restoratives' having health benefits . By doing so he enraged the guild of stew makers which led to him being challenged in court by the guild members. The legend goes that one of the dishes he served was 'Sheep's feet in cream sauce' which was by then standards, a stew . The guild of stew makers challenged Boulanger in the court of law that he was serving a stew in his soup shop . 

Boulanger in his defense stated that for his version he did not stew the meat in cream sauce but prepared both the elements separately and served the  separately cooked meat along with the separately prepared sauce . Thus testifying that he did not stew the dish and challenged the rules of the guild, apparently to everyone's absolute astonishment Boulanger won and changed the history of the modern food industry forever . 

Boulanger’s version for the sheep’s feet in cream sauce he merely changed the manner in which the elements were served. For learning chefs like me it’s the epitome of gastronomic brilliance , some may call it creative improvising but to the guild and it’s members it was nothing more than ‘DECEPTION' .This what I was stating when I mentioned that the relationship between food and deception being deep and stewed over the course of time , referencing to the qualities of soup . What can be said as just a dish , caused to create a dispute which was settled in the courtroom, which then led to the change of course in history so much so that what was once a marketing gimmick is now the title of an industry that is worth millions if dollars , a place near your home or somewhere around the high-street , funky or sophisticated, Restaurants come in various forms but the original form is what you now know about . 
Adwait Patil .