Berlin-Paris

Witty and Delicious

Ute Cohen is an accomplished author and a captivating entertainer. With wit, erudition and subtle humour, she knows how to create an evening that is as enriching as it is entertaining.

The Evening

As guests are served an exquisite five-course dinner, author Ute Cohen will read a chapter from her book Geschmack der Freiheit to accompany each course.

After the final course, Cohen will take guests on a literary and cultural-historical journey between the two cities she calls home: Berlin and Paris. What defines these two great European capitals? What connects them - and where do they differ?

Five Chapters - Five Culinary Perspectives

• The Emergence of Modern Restaurant Culture

• “Freedom on a Silver Platter” – the democratisation of culinary pleasure in the wake of the French Revolution

• Restaurants as Social and Intellectual Hotspots

• Cuisine and Eroticism – Cuisine and Social Utopias

• “Let the Words Melt in Your Mouth” – on language, pleasure and sensory perception

Historical Context

The way to the heart is through the stomach.

With the invention of the restaurant, cooking evolved from a mere means of satisfying hunger into an art form. Against the backdrop of the French Revolution, adventurous chefs and restaurateurs began competing for the favour of hungry guests, striving to outdo one another with ever more sophisticated creations.

Before the storming of the Bastille, Paris had only a few dozen restaurants. Twenty years later, there were already thousands. Refugees fleeing the Revolution eventually brought this new culinary culture to Germany as well, broadening the country’s gastronomic horizons.

The culture of dining out in style emerged with the rise of the bourgeoisie and became an expression of a new way of life and a new culture of pleasure. Restaurants evolved into places of social encounter, intellectual exchange and sensory experience.

To this day, dining out remains an integral part of our lives. Restaurant culture has continually given rise to new forms of preparation, presentation and sensory experience – from the opulence of eighteenth-century cuisine to the experimental world of modern molecular gastronomy.

Fine Dining in an Elegant Setting

Restaurant 1811 in Berlin-Charlottenburg offers refined German-French cuisine in an elegant setting. Its historic wood panelling from the 1920s lends the restaurant a warm and sophisticated atmosphere.

The name “1811” commemorates the year in which the Lutter & Wegner sparkling-wine cellar was founded. During the years of Berlin’s division, the premises now occupied by the restaurant housed the West Berlin branch of the long-established Lutter & Wegner restaurant, whose original location was in Berlin-Mitte.

The Author

Ute Cohen lives and works as a writer between Berlin and Paris. Her books and essays have appeared with renowned publishers and in leading media outlets.

In her book Geschmack der Freiheit (The Taste of Freedom), Cohen traces how social change finds its way “into the kitchen” and shapes our culture of food, dining and pleasure. With literary flair, she brings together cultural history, society and cuisine in a narrative that is both intellectually stimulating and deeply sensuous.