Apple TV+’s new historical drama tells the story of Antonin Carême, considered the first celebrity chef.
Carême is set in France following the French Revolution. The chef, portrayed by Benjamin Voisin, is employed by French Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (Jérémie Renier) to create impressive pastries for diplomatic negotiations.
Here’s what you should know about the real-life chef who inspired Carême.
Antonin Carême’s Legacy
Ian Kelly, the creator of Carême and author of the book on which it’s based, Carême: the First Celebrity Chef, explains that Carême was the first chef to gain wealth and fame through publishing cookbooks. Kelly highlights Carême’s second cookbook, where he famously wrote, “you could try this yourself at home.”
Carême is also credited with popularizing the chef’s hat, sporting a tall, starched white hat that distinguished him from his cooks. In an early example of brand promotion, he even directed readers to a shop where they could purchase their own.
However, many of his renowned recipes are quite complex. Carême’s classic French dishes include vol-au-vent, a puff pastry filled with savory ingredients, and tournedos Rossini, a steak topped with foie gras. He famously declared, “My soul is utterly French, and I cannot live except in France.”
In France, food has historically been used as a diplomatic tool, showcasing the country’s finest offerings. Kelly describes Carême as a “passionate artist who wants to have food and being a chef taken seriously as an art form.”
An example from the show involves Carême presenting a large triangular structure covered in thin paper. When he sets the paper on fire, it reveals a triangular tray of pastries for a British ambassador with a sweet tooth. This scene embodies Carême’s belief: “I believe architecture to be the first amongst the arts, and the principal branch of architecture is confectionery.”
The turn of the 19th century, the period depicted in the show, significantly impacted French cuisine. According to Kelly, the French turned to food as a way to cope with the trauma following the revolution. He notes that restaurants were nonexistent in Paris before the revolution, and gastronomy emerged from this era.
The Enigma of Carême
The show offers plenty of intrigue beyond culinary matters.
In the series, Carême’s sexual appetite rivals his passion for food. He engages in numerous affairs, including one with Napoleon’s wife, Josephine. While their affair is a fictional element, it draws inspiration from history. Kelly confirms that Josephine’s inability to have children and her desire to prevent Napoleon from divorcing her are historically accurate. Carême becomes entangled in this situation when he begins cooking for Marie-Louise Habsburg, the woman brought in to marry Napoleon and provide him with an heir.
Regarding the extent to which his portrayal of a high sex drive is based on reality, Kelly states, “We don’t know much, but what we know points very definitively in that direction.”
Kelly emphasizes that there was considerable scope for creative interpretation due to the limited information available about Carême. While the chef often claimed medicinal properties for his food, especially his soups, the scene where he uses bitter herbs to cure Napoleon’s illness is fictional.
Accounts of his childhood are also difficult to confirm. Carême claimed that his family abandoned him at the age of nine, and he was subsequently taken in by a baker.
“He was a myth-maker,” says Kelly.
A Critical Voice
Kelly’s book is filled with insights from the chef. Carême considered documentation to be a chef’s most important legacy, writing in 1830, “Our only duty, after cooking, is to record and publish. If not, we will suffer such regrets.”
He strongly believed that dinner parties should last at least two hours, preferably three or more. He also expressed strong opinions about those with no appreciation for food, writing that “The rich man who is miserly only eats to live, lives his life in mediocrity, and dies in it too” and “a rich man who does not appreciate a good cook will never know ineffable joy.”
He reserved even harsher words for those who arrive late to restaurant reservations: “The guest whose tardiness delays the meal should have the dining-room door slammed in his face.”