The Importance of French High Cuisine

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French cuisine became the standard of sophistication and high dining. It's lost some of its cachet I'd say in the last 50 years but it still remains a standard of high dining. The old cuisines of spiced food that ultimately stemming from Persia were displaced by this new northern European cuisine. We live with the results of that.

Rachel Laudan, visiting scholar at the University of Texas and author of Cuisine and Empire, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of food. Topics covered include the importance of grain, the spread of various styles of cooking, why French cooking has elite status, and the reach of McDonald's. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the appeal of local food and other recent food passions.