FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
DEJEUNER or DEJEUNER A LA FOURCHETTE
Adapted from: Dahl, J.O. 1945. Food and Menu Dictionary. The DAHLS, Haviland Road, Stamford, Conn.
is a lunch at mid-day meal.
Excerpted from Montagne, Prosper. 1961. Larousee Gastronomique. The Encyclopedia of Food, Wine & Cookery. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
is the French dejeuner (luncheon) means breaking fast or takeing the first meal of the day after a night of fasting.
Nowadays, in France, the first meal of the day (breakfast) is called the petit dejeuner or premier dejeuner (i.e. little or first dejeuner) to distinguish it from dejeuner which is taken in the middle of the day.
The institution of this midday meal in France dates back to the French Revolution. In the eighteenth century, the main meal of the day, dinner, was taken first at midday and later at one o'clock. The dejeuner, taken upon waking, consisted of a soup or coffee with milk.
The Constituent Assembly began its deliberations at about midday, to rise at about six o'clock. It was, therefore, necessary to change the dinner hour to six o'clock and since the Members could not sit fasting, they were obliged to take a second breakfast at about eleven o'clock in the morning. This second dejeuner was more substantial than the first, since it included eggs and cold meat. If the Goncourt brotehrs, Edmond (1822-1896) and Jules (1830-1870), are to be believed, it was Mlne. Handy who invented fork luncheons, by setting out cutlets, kidneys and sausages on a buffet in her café on the boulevards opposite the Comedie-Italienne, and pressing her clients to take these savouries with their meal.
Nowadays, in France, luncheon has largely usurped the place of dinner. It is made up of the same dishes and is eaten later and later in the day.
One could discourse at great length on the advantages and disadvantages of this state of affairs, if such discussion were likely to have any influence on accepted manners and customs. It is certain that a heavy dinner, especially when eaten very late at night, as is becoming more and more common in France, tends to be followed by an uncomfortable and restless night. On the other hand it can be argued that too elaborate a luncheon, too liberally washed down with wines and spirits, as many business luncheons' are, makes work almost impossible for the rest of the afternoon.
