Food expenses of the Spanish monarchy during the eighteenth-century (I): Problems with royal chefs’ contracts

Royal food upheld a large degree of symbolic importance during the eighteenth century. This importance stemmed not only from the satisfaction of the monarch, but also on its institutional function as a reflection of the power, riches and glory of the royalty.

Feeding the king and his family was the priority of the royal kitchen, in which the menu mainly depended upon royal preference on quantity and type of food. In that way, Felipe V’s ascension to the throne in the early eighteenth century entailed new eating habits reflective of his origin that resulted in a more cosmopolite and refined cuisine based on French gastronomy that was different from both the previous dynasty cookery and the food consumed by ordinary people.

However, although this culinary tendency became established during the eighteenth century, the food expenses suffered vast fluctuations, depending upon which monarch sat upon his indulgent throne. This is highlighted by the different contracts of the main royal chefs. These contracts regulated the terms of payment for the food that was served to the king as well as the food that was prepared for banquets, and it was stipulated that the amount of food costs should be paid in advance at the beginning of each month. Nevertheless, sometimes these costs exceeded the agreement, such as the private banquets that the King Carlos IV used to celebrate with his brother, Infante Don Antonio, and some courtiers. This particular situation provoked in February 1789 the complaints of the royal chef Pedro Luis Concelieu to the treasury inspector explaining that the payments laid down didn’t covered the cost of these excessive feasts. Thus, this request proved the need of a regulated relationship between the Royal House and the cookers specifying the quantity, quality and prices of the meals as well as the rights and duties of the cookers and the urgency of controlling the royal outlay on food in a new general contract that was approved in 1790.

In addition, it was also agreed that these contracts would be updated every year according to the food prices and, although in 1793 the cookers voluntarily decided to reduce the price per dish due to the food cost devaluation; since 1795 the requests for a revaluation of salaries in contracts started again through different proposals. In that way, from the first of these contracts, a report was signed by the two main chefs, Pedro Luis Concelieu and Manuel Rodríguez, who asked for a price increase of two reals per dish per day, these demands were progressively rising until November 1797 when, after a long negotiating process, they received a twelve percent increase according to their food expenses on that year.

References:

PÉREZ SAMPER, María de los Ángeles. La alimentación en la corte española

del siglo XVIII. Cuadernos de Historia Moderna. [En línea] 2003, Anejo II, pp. 153-197. [recuperado 3 de noviembre de 2013]. Disponible en: 

http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CHMO/issue/view/CHMO030322/showToc