It is even harder to think that the first restaurants were for the fastidious, who did not even like eating. They were served a restorative broth or “restaurant’.

It was for such delicate stomachs that the first establishments in the Palais Royal opened up new dining rooms with separate tables, a menu, fixed prices and flexible opening hours.

When the French Revolution broke out 20 years later, the unemployed cooks and maitres d’ of exiled royalty began introducing the paying public to the delights of aristocratic cuisine.

The restaurant as we know it was born.

The next Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Shoalhaven (Berry/Nowra) lecture will feature Sylvia Sagona, presenting 'Acquired Taste: The Invention of the Restaurant in 19th century Paris.'

​This lecture will investigate the first great restaurants, chefs, patrons and gastronomes such as Grimod, Careme and Talleyrand, and the invention of modern cuisine with Escoffier at the Ritz.

It will be held on Thursday, March 28 at 7.30pm at the Berry School of Arts. Tickets are $25 at the door and includes a light supper and wine.

A little about Sylvia ( BA (Hons), M-ès-Lettres, Dip Ed): 

Sylvia’s fascination with the Fine Arts led her to abandon her undergraduate medical studies and enroll in Honours Classics and French at the University of Melbourne.

The French Government awarded her a three year scholarship for post-graduate work in Aix-en-Provence where she gained her Maitrise-ès-Letttres in Comparative Art and Literature and qualifications in Sociology.

While in France, she lectured at the Université de Provence and at the Ecole Nationale des Etrangers d’Aix -en-Provence.

After living in Italy and Spain, she returned to Melbourne to be appointed in the Department of French, Italian and Spanish Studies at the University of Melbourne where she specialized in nineteenth century French art and literature and Italian Romanticism.

Sylvia’s knowledge of French, Italian and Spanish language and society has led her to form her own cultural and historical tourism company, Travels Through Time, and she has led specialised art and literature based tours to Paris, Rome, Venice and Northern France over the past five years.

She has been commissioned by French television and SBS to write a documentary on the development of the first Parisian department stores and the invention of shopping in 19th century Paris.

She is also working on a documentary on Josephine and the Australian flora at Malmaison.

About ADFAS:

ADFAS Shoalhaven is a local community group, which offers a series of informative, illustrated and entertaining lectures covering a broad range of subjects relating to the arts.

The speakers are world class, experts in their field and entertaining. Membership is available for $140 per year or you can pay $25 at the door for each lecture. This includes a light supper with wine.

Information on the society and the 2019 program can be found here or from Tina, the membership secretary, on 4464 2118.