Léon Blum at the table

At the table of the Parisian upper middle class during the Third Republic, meals were not simply 'starter, main course, dessert.' The meal unfolded in an orderly succession: soup opened the dinner, followed by a 'relevé' or large piece (meat in sauce, poultry), then came the entremets — sweet or savory — and finally the dessert of fruits, preserves, and sweets. In the early morning and during rest hours, hot drinks and herbal teas were served separately. This slow architecture, inherited from the 19th century, structures the cuisine in which Blum grew up: sober, classic, without ostentation.

The emblematic gesture of French bourgeois cuisine: a white roux (butter + flour) moistened with broth, then bound off the heat with a mixture of egg yolk and cream, finished with a squeeze of lemon. This is the 'white sauce' of blanquette and veloutés, the hallmark of a careful but unpretentious home kitchen — exactly the culinary register of Blum.