Chemins du patrimoine en Finistère

In 2014, the Château de Kerjean lights its fireplaces and dusts down its crockery for a banquet. From the kitchens to the ceremonial rooms, visitors will be transported to the heart of the Renaissance culinary imagination and customs. Food plays a central part in olden day dreams of plenty, from the utopian land of milk and money to noble banquets. Food is also the reflection of a religious morality in crisis, where prohibitions are vociferously condemned, as well as theories of humours advocating a balanced diet. Progressively, from feast to feast, this part of our heritage was elaborated and now boasts international renown: gastronomy à la française.
From the kitchens to the ceremonial rooms, this exhibition makes use of the château and its architecture in a quest to explore the eating habits of nobles during the Renaissance. A veritable transition between Middle Ages dining and the 17th century, the Renaissance meal was affected by the spread of printed books – a vector of culinary innovations, but also by a humanism which re-positioned man at the heart of table manners. The discovery of distant lands also allowed for the introduction of new culinary produce, such as turkey for example, which was highly prized in the 16th century. How exactly did these different changes come about?
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey to the heart of the culinary imagination and eating habits of the Renaissance. An exploration of Renaissance food and dining reveals numerous social issues and dreams of plenty such as the utopian land of milk and honey, as illustrated by the profusion of noble banquets. Furthermore, the objects and documents on display pinpoint the contradictions of a religious morality in crisis but also dietary precepts based upon an original representation of the universe.
From religious restrictions to good table manners, from the food lovingly prepared by connoisseurs to the tables of the rich and powerful, this exhibition presents the public with a historic and appetizing vision of what would, in time, become a form of heritage in its own right – the beginnings of French gastronomy.