Takats Publishes Book on the Expert Cook in Enlightenment France

Takats Publishes Book on the Expert Cook in Enlightenment France

Sean Takats, assistant professor of history, has published The Expert Cook in Enlightenment France.

His publisher, the Johns Hopkins University Press, explains that "In the eighteenth-century French household, the servant cook held a special place of importance, providing daily meals and managing the kitchen and its finances. In this scrupulously researched and witty history, Sean Takats examines the lives of these cooks as they sought to improve their position in society and reinvent themselves as expert, skilled professionals . . .  

"Relying on an unprecedented range of sources, from printed cookbooks and medical texts to building plans and commercial advertisements, Takats reconstructs the evolving role of the cook in Enlightenment France.  

"Academics and students alike will enjoy this fascinating study of the invention of the professional chef, of how ordinary workers influenced emerging trends of scientific knowledge, culture-creation, and taste in eighteenth-century France."