Meat Matters: Butchers, Politics, and Market Culture in Eighteenth-Century Paris

In this book, Watts examines why meat mattered to a growing number of Parisians and explores the political, economic and cultural matters of the meat trade in order to illuminate more fully the changing world of Old Regime Paris.

In eighteenth century Paris, municipal authorities, guild officers, merchant butchers, stall workers, and tripe dealers pledged to provide a steady supply of healthful meat to urban elites and the working poor. Meat Mattersconsiders the formation of the butcher guild and family firms, debates over royal policy and regulation, and the burgeoning role of consumerism and public health. The production and consumption of meat becomes a window on important aspects of eighteenth-century culture, society, and politics, on class relations, and on economic change. Watts's examination of eighteenth-century market culture reveals why meat mattered to Parisians, as onetime subjects became citizens.

Sydney Watts is Associate Professor of history at the University of Richmond.