Louis XIV at the table

At the court of Versailles, the King dines in public: all dishes from a single service are arranged together on the table in symmetrical pyramids, and guests serve themselves under the gaze of standing courtiers. The meal unfolds in three or four successive services (soups and entrées; roasts and entremets; fruits and preserves), each service entirely replacing the previous one. The splendor of the arrangement matters as much as the taste.

Under Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie forced peas, strawberries, and asparagus out of season in the Potager du Roi at Versailles: eating a vegetable 'before its time' was a royal luxury. Paired with fresh whipped butter, these early vegetables became the hallmark of a court cuisine that lightened and abandoned the heavy spices of the Middle Ages.