The Food Chain
Feb 27, 2025
John Laurenson explores the enduring appeal of stock. A century and a half ago, a butcher at the big Parisian food market Les Halles started selling beef broth – ‘bouillon’ in French - to the people who worked there. In a few years this had developed into what was perhaps the world’s first restaurant chain. By the end of the Nineteenth Century there were hundreds of ‘bouillons’ in Paris.
Today, with inflation making traditional French restaurants too expensive for many people, these big, affordable eateries are making a comeback.
The French aren’t, of course, the only people to discover the delights of this simple, warming, nourishing food. John learns how bouillon influenced Vietnam’s iconic dish, pho, as a result of the French colonial presence in the region in the 1800 and 1900s.
Producer/presenter: John Laurenson
(Image: A dish of stock with chicken and herbs with a ladle sticking out of it. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)
