Gourmets of yesteryear

Napoleon at the table

Napoleon did not leave the reputation of being a great gastronome, although he indirectly inspired the invention of the Poulet Marengo. He ate quickly and badly; he preferred Burgundy to Bordeaux; he could not do without his cup of coffee. His meals were ready at irregular times; the main thing for him was that his hunger was appeased as soon as he felt its effects; also, in his palaces in France as in the countryside, his kitchens were organized to be able to serve him at any time, a chop or a chicken.
However, he did not ignore the role of gastronomy in society; he essentially wanted all his great officials to have good food and an open table: "Spend more than your salary," he told them, "get into debts and I will pay them. It is known that when Cambacérès represented him at some negotiation, he sent special couriers so that his ambassador's table would always be well stocked with good French products.

His sobriety was due rather to his fear of gaining weight than to a natural taste. Bourienne reports that he was haunted by the idea of ​​becoming obese around the age of forty, which happened to him, moreover. There was only one dish he was really fond of, and that was pork crepinettes, which the state of his purse had forced him to consume in large quantities early in his life and which reminded him of the time when he was a second lieutenant. One day, at the Tuileries, he called out to Dunand, his head waiter.

Why am I never served pork crepinettes, he asked him. Dunand was taken aback, and stammered: Sire, this dish is very vulgar and indigestible, you would hardly be able to work after eating it.

Nonsense! replied the Emperor. Don't worry about that.
The next day, he had crepinettes on his menu, but Dunand, unable to bring himself to present pork to his sovereign, had them made with partridge flesh. A month later, thinking to please the Emperor, the head waiter presented them to him a second time. When Napoleon saw them appear on the table, his face became severe, he got up, threw down his napkin, overturned the plate, the carafe and the glasses on a magnificent oriental carpet and began to pace nervously around the room. Needless to say, Dunand, the valuables, the sharp squires had fled in disorder. Duroc, whom they met, reassured them:
Believe me, he said to the head waiter, it is not you who are responsible for the Emperor's anger, but the affairs of the kingdom. Have the lunch remade, including the crepinettes.

This new lunch was brought to Napoleon by Roustan. The emperor was surprised that it was not Dunand who served him. He had him called and simply said to him:
-You are happier, Monsieur Dunand, to be a maître d'hôtel than I am to be emperor.

Marcel Rouff.