François Vatel (1631 – April 24, 1671) was a French chef, famous for inventing Chantilly cream, a sweet, vanilla-flavoured whipped cream, for an extravagant banquet for 2,000 people hosted in honour of Louis XIV by Louis, the great Condé in April 1671 at the Château de Chantilly; hence the name crème Chantilly.

At this same banquet, Vatel, the consummate perfectionist, was supposedly so distraught about the lateness of the fish—the banquet was to be held on a Friday—and about other mishaps that he committed suicide by running himself through with a sword. According to some versions of the story, his body was discovered by an aide who came to tell him of the arrival of the fish. His death was treated as a national tragedy. ^[1]

This often-repeated story was described in a letter by the marquise de Sévigné. In more modern times, it was depicted in the 2000 film Vatel by Roland Joffé, with Gérard Depardieu playing the role of Vatel.

Vatel was already renowned for having served Nicolas Fouquet in the splendid inauguration of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (1656).

[edit] References

• Madame de Sévigné's account of Vatel's supposed suicide, in both English translation and the French original.

[edit] Further reading

• Dominique Michel 1999.Vatel ou la naissance de la gastronomie (Editions Fayard)
• Patrick Rambourg 1999. Recettes du Grand Siècle (Editions Fayard)
• Mathilde Mottoule 2006. Vatel ou l'origine d'un mythe.