We all love it and it is the star of French bistros: the croque-monsieur. Behind this quick-to-make and tasty-tasting dish hides a most amusing name.
Le croque-monsieur was born in a bistro in Paris called “Le Bel Age”, located on boulevard des Capucines, in 1901. René Girard, historian, completes in his book History of French cooking words (1947) the anecdote. The boss of the “Bel Age”, Michel Lunarca, had inherited the cannibal nickname by its competitors, for which we do not really know the reason.
One day, when he ran out of baguette bread to make his sandwiches, Michel Lunarca improvised by taking sandwich bread to which he had added ham and cheese. After a passage in the oven to add crunch to its new sandwich, the bistro served this dish of the day to its customers. One of them asked: Michel, what meat is in it? To which the bistro owner, not without humour, replied: Gentleman’s meat, of course! »
This joke was unanimous with customers who asked the same thing. The next day, the sandwich was on the menu and Michel Lunarca wrote his name on his menu: “the croque-monsieur”.
