DESIGN FOR BEHAVIOUR: Restaurant. From the word 'restaurare' meaning "to restore or renew."

Restorative broth: The birth of the "restaurant".?

The year is 1765. Paris with almost 600?000 residents is now the second largest city in Europe?after London.??Whist the city is both beautiful and exciting, its also overwhelming, overcrowded and congested. A city of commerce and entertainment its?growth is fuelled?mostly by immigrants from?the Paris basin and the north and east of France. To cater for the rapid influx of people narrower taller buildings sprout to a record height of up to 6 storeys in the city. It is here where the traders, peddlers, craftsman entertainers, artists and servants now numbering more than 90% of the population, mingle, mix eat and drink in the narrow streets and boulevards.

With a mass exodus of nobles, the remaining aristocracy and wealthy retreat to the?Faubourg Saint-Germain?and the?Marais?districts?as the most fashionable residential neighbourhoods.?Whilst the classes are distinct and separated, the staple diet for almost all Parisians is bread, meat and wine.??Aristocracy and the merchant classes get the best cuts whilst brains, tripe, salted pork and other inexpensive cuts go to the poorer Parisians. The uneaten meat from the tables of the upper class is collected by?regrattiers?(literally meaning second hand dealers) and sold to the poorest of the poor on the streets.

Whist many live with the families they serve, most people are concentrated in the crowded maze of streets in the city centre and live in 1 or 2 roomed attics with no kitchens. This makes the many taverns all over Paris serving cheap food of dubious quality at large common tables and plates, very popular. In addition it also sees the birth of the?traiteurs—caterers who provide cooked food to people lacking a kitchen of their own.

Legend has it that Its against this background that an industrious Parisian named Monsieur Boulanger sees an opportunity and breaks tradition to serve what he calls?"bouillons restaurants"—that is, "restorative broths at private tables. He finds a suitable tenancy on rue des Poulies??and opens his Restaurer (French verb borrowed from the latin word?'restaurare,' meaning "to restore or renew).?" finally leading to the word restaurant borrowed into the english language.

His business model proves to be a massive success, so much so that the concept spreads rapidly, soon infringing on the domain of the traiteurs.?The?traiteurs?bandy together and?decide to take Boulanger to court, but loose, securing Boulanger's legacy to this day. The legacy of the traiteurs however famously live on as well. The word?traiteur?is subsequently borrowed into Italian as?trattore, the base of?the word?trattoria, a now common and well known Italian word for "restaurant"?