The Eighteenth Century

Two Strong Forces were at work in eighteenth-century European society, one intellectual and centered on the philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment, the other material and propelled by the eagerness of consumers. Enlightenment thought, led by the French philosophes Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Diderot, sought a new order based on reason and science. This view played out in a variety of ways throughout Europe, ultimately undermining previously entrenched traditions, engendering democratic revolutions in France and America, and filtering into every realm of scientific, social, and political thought, including ideas about food and cooking. At the same time that the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, publishers were able to produce books in greater quantities and at lower prices, making cookbooks more accessible to the growing market of literate customers.