Max Shrem

Max Shrem is a cultural scholar who works specifically on the evolution of the gourmand in gastronomic history.

His doctoral thesis evaluates the complete historiography about Grimod de La Reynière and resituates him in French cultural history as the creator of the modern-day restaurant review.

Recently, he published an article entitled “The Emergence of Dining Societies and the Gastronomic Gesamtkunstwerk,” in which he explores the relationship between theater and cuisine in early-19^th-century dining societies and tasting juries.

Building upon Allen S. Weiss’s scholarship, Shrem researches the aesthetic development of gastronomy as the merging of the fine arts and the poeticizing of the crafts. Currently, he is putting together an annotated translation of correspondences between Grimod and his epicurean accomplice, the Marquis de Cussy, who was Napoleon’s former steward. Entitled Laments and Ruminations of a Timeworn Gourmand, this edited collection of letters will reveal an overlooked period in Grimod’s life between 1817 and 1837.

Contribution

Article

Gourmand Trickery and Grimod de La Reynière’s Supper of 1783. p-e-r-f-o-r-m-a-n-c-e, 3(1-2).