In Zola's time, a proper bourgeois meal unfolded in several successive courses: a soup or broth to begin, an entrée, then the main course (braised meat or fish), cheese, and finally a sweet entremets or candied fruits. Everything was dictated by the seasons of the kitchen garden and the long simmering on the coal stove. The table at Médan, where Zola entertained his writer friends, blended this traditional cuisine with the generosity of a man who loved to eat.

The soul of 19th-century bourgeois cooking: a little bundle of thyme, bay leaf, and parsley tied together, perfuming broths and sauces for hours of slow cooking. It is this patience, more than the luxury of ingredients, that marks Zola's table.