Exciting announcement: I’ve been asked to host A Siege of Paris dinner…154 years after the Siege

A beautiful allegorical menu created ca. 1871 by Jean Gauchard, during or shortly after the Siege of Paris. Among other things, there are zoo animals as well as squirrels, and a strangely brain-like depiction of a loaf of the infamous Siege bread. The drawings and the menu itself are full of jokes and references to contemporary events. Featured items include gutter rabbit stew and Krupp ice cream balls (a reference to cannon balls shot by the Prussians’ famous Krupp canons during the bombardment). (image source)

One day about a year ago, I got an email with a very strange request. It was from Andrew Morris, Chairman of an organization known as The Buckland Club, whose motto is Semper in ventrem aliquid novi (Always something new in the stomach).

The Buckland Club meets twice a year in Birmingham, England, for a dinner party featuring strange and unusual food. Previous dinners’ themes have ranged from Lewis Carroll (with a menu appropriately written backwards) to Ancient Roman cuisine.

While Andrew was coming up with ideas for the Club’s next dinners, he thought of the Siege of Paris, and began Googling. It was my luck that this brought him to my blog, most notably to the post where I wrote about trying (and failing!) to create a rice pudding recipe from La Cuisinière assiégée, a collection of recipes for besieged Parisians, published, likely, in the Siege’s final days.

Andrew’s email asked if I’d like to be the sponsor of The Buckland Club’s Siege of Paris dinner. The role meant that I’d present the dinner, explaining the different courses the Club members would be eating and their connection to life and dining during the Siege of Paris.

I’d also get to help come up with the menu!

I was honored and elated! I couldn’t believe I’d get a chance to bring some more Siege of Paris recipes back to life….

…not that anyone who lived through the Siege would have wanted that. In fact, as you may know if you follow this blog, in addition to food shortages and having to eat horses, rats, cats, and dogs, as well as zoo animals (for those who could afford it), Parisians had to endure bread that was so notoriously disgusting that hard, dried pieces of it became an iconic souvenir of that time.

But The Buckland Club is all about curiosity. Andrew assured me that no matter how disgusting, members would be intrigued.

That being said, the menu will rely on historical recipes and menus, but won’t be totally gross. A few recipes will be followed to a T, while others will be a more merciful interpretation of food during the Siege.

The dinner is scheduled for April 3, at the Edgbaston Golf Club, in Birmingham, England. We’re just putting the finishing touches on the menu, so I don’t want to give anything away, but I will update you all when it’s officially posted on the Club’s website.

I can’t fully express how excited I am about this dinner — and, again, how honored. I’ve been away from this blog for a while, working on another novel that takes place in a different time period. But the Siege has never left my heart. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging about it — I need to leave it, just a little, in order to better get into this other era.

It’s funny that when I came upon Victor Debuchy’s amazing book La vie à Paris pendant le siège 1870–1871 more than a decade ago, and discovered so much about the Siege, I was interested immediately, but not yet aware just how much this short time period would soon intrigue and enrapture me.

So, while I’ve tried to focus on another time period for my next novel, the Siege has still very much been present in my life over the past year. In addition to continuing to read about and research it, I’ve also been lucky enough to find and buy a souvenir token of presence, as well as one of the most iconic souvenirs of the Siege, which it turns out has a touching personal story and family history tied to it. I’m going to be blogging about this soon.

And of course, there’s this dinner I’ve been planning with Andrew and other members of The Buckland Club. The idea of being able to taste dishes that were eaten during the Siege — or, in some cases, interpretations of them — is the stuff of dreams for me. Every time I think of it, I get a little spring in my step.

Again, I’ll keep you all updated about the menu — and report on the dinner itself when the evening arrives.

I hope you’re all doing well. I know this new year hasn’t had an easy start for many of us, but I hope that, whenever possible, you’ve been able to find humor in hard situations, like many Parisians did during the Siege. For instance, in addition to the satirical menu at the start of this post, there are countless funny drawings and cartoons about the difficult conditions during that time. Here’s one of my favorites, by the cartoonist Cham.

Its caption translates to “The risk of eating mice is that your cat might chase after them.”

I assure you this in no way reflects what will be on the menu at The Buckland Club Siege of Paris Dinner.