This Saturday is Bastille Day, celebrating the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris in 1789 and the beginning of the French revolution. Why did the people rise up against the monarchy? Was it for liberty? No! Was it for equality? No! Was it for fraternity? No. It was for mustard.
The peasants loved their meats, especially their rustic sausages. But what did they put on them? They desperately wanted mustard – moutarde – but the price of mustard was kept artificially high by a corrupt system that favored the rich and the royal. When the peasants protested and chanted, “Nous voulons la moutarde!” (“We want mustard!”), Marie Antoinette coldly replied, “Let them eat ketchup.”
In honor of Bastille Day, enjoy some great French mustards, France’s greatest contribution to civilization:
