From the First Restaurants to Carême

Modern food service is said to have begun shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century. Just as bakers and pastry cooks had to be licensed and were members of guilds, which controlled production, so too were caterers, roasters, pork butchers, and other food workers licensed members of guilds. An innkeeper, in order to serve meals to guests, had to buy the various menu items from those operations that were licensed to provide them. Guests had little or no choice and simply ate what was available for that meal.