FoodMuseum - Centrale Hal

LET THEM EAT BRIOCHE

EXHIBITION introduction

There’s no evidence that Marie-Antoinette, queen consort of France, ever said “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” translated in English as “Let them eat brioche”. It supposed to be her answer to the question what to do about the violent bread riots against skyrocketing grain and bread prices caused by poor harvests, population growth and a sudden liberalization of the grain markets in 1774, during the reign of her husband King Louis XVI.

During her life anti-monarchist revolutionary media spread a wave of fake news about her, aimed to destroy the authority of the monarchy. The last queen of France was accused of sexual excesses, incest, theft, and poisoning her own son. But the phrase “Let them eat brioche” was attributed to her half a century after her execution in 1793.

It acquired symbolic importance in subsequent historical accounts when pro-revolutionary commentators employed the phrase to denounce the upper classes of the Ancien Régime as oblivious and rapacious.

It was a particularly powerful phrase because the staple food of the French peasantry and the working class was bread. When the price of grain rose to unaffordable heights, in surrounding northern European countries like Germany, England, Ireland and the Netherlands, bread as a staple was replaced by potatoes. But in France the whole topic of bread became a political issue of obsessional national interest. Out of fear of bread riots, the price of bread is set by the government to this day.

Researchers have found variations of the same phrase across Europe and beyond. In sixteenth-century Germany there was a story of a noblewoman wondering why the hungry peasants didn’t eat Krosem (or Krosen), also a luxury sweet bread. And if we delve even further back into historical sources, in volume 4 of the Book of Jin, a 7th-century chronicle of the Chinese Jin Dynasty, there is the story about Emperor Hui (259–307). When he heard about people starving because there was no rice, he said, , in other words: "Why don't they eat meat porridge?”

There are a lot of contemporary examples that show extreme detachment and insensitivity of the elite towards people struggling with the costs of living: “Let them buy an electric vehicle” or ”Stop buying expensive to-go coffee, cancel Netflix then you can buy a house”.

In her biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001), which was adapted for the film Marie-Antoinette directed by Sofia Coppola (2006), Antonia Fraser sheds light on a different side of her personality. Fraser points out that the queen was a generous patron of charity and moved by the plight of the poor when it was brought to her attention. In a letter to her family in Austria she shows a contrary attitude to the spirit of "Let them eat brioche":

“It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. The King seems to understand this truth.”

Let us switch now from historical facts to the fictional world of this exhibition and interpret the phrase differently by assuming that the queen matches words to deeds. Imagine that Marie-Antoinette, who feels - as we can see from the images on the soft cushions she is leaning on - so deeply involved in the poverty of her subjects - , instructs her kitchen staff in Versailles to distribute as many brioches as possible among the poor…

Go to the GALLERY where you can find the entrance to the exhibition. Walk through the six museum rooms by following the arrows. Each room is inspired by a social realist painting showing a simple meal of the peasantry and working class in earlier times, supplemented with Marie-Antoinette’s generous gift.

And try making a spectacular Brioche Couronne du Roi yourself. Click on the brioche in Room 3 or 6 for the recipe.