‎"(MENON, JOSEPH).‎
‎La nouvelle cuisine avec de nouveaux desseins de tables et vingt-quatre menus. 3 vols. - [INVENTING THE ""NOUVELLE CUISINE""]‎

‎Paris, Guillyn, 1751. 8vo. Uniformly bound in three very nice contemporary full sprinkled calf bindings with five raised bands and richly gilt spines. Vol. 1 missing top 5 mm. of spine. Small paper-label pasted on to upper part of spines, indicating the inventory number in an estate library. Small worm-tract in lower margin of vol. 3, far from affecting text. A very nice set. (12), 456, (24) pp. + 8 folded plates" (36), 365, (3) pp." (8), 400 pp. + 4 folded plates. ‎

Reference : 60594

‎Rare second edition, first with all three volumes published simultaneously, of arguable one of the most important and influential 18th century book on gastronomy. Here Menon for the first time explicitly describes the recently invented “nouvelle cuisine: a tendency to put food and nutrition on a scientific basis, its functions in the body, reducing the number of varieties offered at a meal, lighter foods and bringing simpler presentations to the table. Menon embraced a comprehensive approach to the culinary customs of his era, extending beyond mere food preparation and presentation. His works highlighted the significance of action, strategy, and demeanor, emphasizing that these aspects were equally crucial. His books served not only as guides to gastronomic practices but also as manuals for proper conduct and manners. For instance, in this present work, he incorporated a diagram illustrating the meticulous organization of dishes discussed throughout the books. Menon had what we would today call a holistic approach to gastronomic practices of his day that went well beyond the preparation and presentation of food. Several of his titles make clear that action, strategy and deportment were just as important. His book were as much about ways of acting as they were about food itself, like style-guides for gastronomic mores and manners. For instance, in his Nouveau traite, there is a diagram showing the careful arrangement of dishes that are described in the course of the books. ""François Menon was the most influential and prolific French cookbook author of the eighteenth century. During his time, today's familiar categories of French cooking were emerging, and Menon was a master of them all: nouvelle cuisine (a term that each generation redefines)" haute or classical cuisine and cuisine bourgeoise. He even wrote the first French cookbook devoted specifically to a woman cook (La cuisinìere bourgeoise)... Menon first described the new cuisine in detail in the third and final volume of Nouveau Traité de la cuisine (New Treatise on Cooking, 1742). In contrast to traditional cooking, he wrote, the key to nouvelle cuisine was delicacy. Sauces were lighter but at the same time more nourishing seasonings aimed to enhance rather than mask lead ingredients... Menon not only wrote about the practicalities of nouvelle cuisine" he was also concerned with philosophy, linking his mission closely to that of the leading thinkers of the Enlightenment: to advance and disseminate knowledge that allows humankind to live in a state of nature perfected."" (Willan, The Cookbook Library, pp. 218-19). Vassallo, Catalogo dei libri esistenti nella pubblica biblioteca di Malta p. 118.‎