Word of the Week

22nd December 2008

Restaurant

A British man is believed to be the first person to dine at all 68 of the restaurants that have been awarded three Michelin stars. Andy Hayler, dubbed the 'Michelin man', sold his stake in a small business and spent some of the proceeds, an estimated £15,000, on meals at the restaurants given the highest rating by the French guide.

Establishments where a meal can be purchased have been around since ancient times but the word restaurant (from restaurer 'to restore') does not appear in French until the 16^th century, where it originally meant 'a food that restores'. The sense meaning 'an eating establishment' arrived in the 18^th century and was first applied to the eatery set up by a Parisian soup-seller called Boulanger, who could be considered the first 'restaurateur'. 'Restaurateur' first crops up in English in the writings of Edmund Burke, a chronicler of the French Revolution, and it is that event which inadvertently led to the creation of many French restaurants as numerous talented chefs had to find new jobs following the swift downturn in fortunes of their aristocratic former employers. France quickly gained a reputation for its fine restaurants and in 1900 the Michelin Guide was published to help touring motorists locate such establishments, the finest of which, by 1926, were being awarded up to three stars.

Fine dining in Britain during World War II was not an option for many people but cheap meals could be obtained at state-subsidised restaurants which were originally going to be called 'communal feeding centres'. Winston Churchill did not like the name, however, and he had them named 'British restaurants' instead. The fare in such places would have been filling but plain and 'eatertainment', a feature of the more recent 'theme restaurant', would have been in short supply.

'Theme restaurants', however, are not of interest to Mr Hayler, a man who prefers fine food to frippery. He rates French cuisine as the world's best, a judgement with which restaurant owners in France must be happy to agree.

Mo Just, Chambers Dictionaries

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