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At Versailles, everything was a spectacle – even the king’s meals. Every evening, at the « Grand Couvert, » Louis XIV dined in public. His appetite was legendary: he could devour four soups, a pheasant, a partridge, a salad, mutton with garlic, ham, pastries, and fruit in a single meal. He was even nicknamed “the ogre of Versailles”! Yet, among these sumptuous dishes, his true guilty pleasure was much more modest: peas. Introduced from Italy, these tiny green pearls sparked true madness at court. Madame de Sévigné wrote: « The impatience to eat them, the joy of having eaten them, and the pleasure of eating them again are the three main topics of conversation. » Some ladies secretly ate them after the royal supper, even at the risk of indigestion. To cultivate all these treasures of the kitchen garden, Louis XIV commissioned an extraordinary garden: the King’s Kitchen Garden (Potager du Roi), entrusted to La Quintinie. Thanks to innovative techniques (heated walls, greenhouses, frames), the king could enjoy strawberries in March, asparagus in December, and figs in June.
About L'Institut Bernardaud:
Because the French art of living is the envy of the world, what better way than with porcelain to introduce you to the teeming world of the table... Contribute with L'Institut Bernardaud to reenchanting this convivial and so precious moment of the meal by following our various workshops and conferences. A program with a creative approach and open to the world to live an exciting adventure at the crossroads of gastronomy, art, history or decoration.
