Street View Street Food
Macarons
History
Macarons have been produced in the Venetian
monasteries since the 8th century A.D. During the
Renaissance, Catherine de’ Medici’s Italian pastry chefs
made them when she brought them with her to France
in 1533 upon marrying Henry II of France.Larousse
Gastronomique cites the macaron was created in 1791
in a convent near Cormery. In 1792, macarons began to
gain fame when two Carmelite nuns, seeking asylum in
Nancy during the French Revolution, baked and sold the
macaron cookies in order to pay for their housing.
48
Culture
The related macaroon is often confused with the
macaron. In English, most bakers have adopted the
French spelling of macaron for the meringue-based
item, to distinguish the two. In a Slate article on the
topic, Stanford professor of linguistics and computer
science Dan Jurafsky indicates that “macaron” (also,
“macaron parisien”, or “le macaron Gerbet”) is the
correct spelling for the confection.