François Vatel (1631 – April 24, 1671) was a "Maître d'hôtel", 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.

Vatel was already renowned for having served Nicolas Fouquet in the splendid inauguration fête at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte that took place on 17 August 1661, the occasion of Fouquet's downfall.

[edit] Popular Culture

In more modern times, he was depicted in the 2000 film Vatel by Roland Joffé, with Gérard Depardieu playing the role of Vatel.

[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.