Marivaux at the table

In bourgeois households and 18th-century Parisian salons, dishes were not served one after another but in grand "services" placed all together on the table: first the soups and entrées, then the "roast" (roasted meats) accompanied by salads, and finally the sweet entremets, candied fruits, and liqueurs. Coffee and chocolate were taken separately, at the literary café or in the salon, amid conversation.

More than a spice, the true signature of Marivaux's world is chocolate beaten in a *chocolatière*, the queen of drinks in Parisian cafés (Le Procope, Le Gradot) where comedies were written between witty repartees. Beaten until frothy and barely sweetened, it pleases the mind as much as the palate.