The French have always been known for their cuisine, so much so that the word cuisine itself is French. I’ve always found this a bit wild, considering that if you poll 100 people about the most popular French food, 90 of them will probably say “snails.”
But seriously, it’s undeniable that many of the best chefs in the world are from France. And for all the surrender jokes I’ve made at their expense, there was one time they took not surrendering to the extreme—even to the point of putting out some culinary creations that might not exactly earn a Michelin star.
The Franco-Prussian War is almost completely forgotten today, and for obvious reasons. It was short, it only involved a confederation of German states and the French Empire, and the major outcome was just the transfer of a couple of provinces to the Prussians.
Still, it was a war involving some very famous names, including Napoleon III and Otto von Bismarck. It was also brutal, and the Germans engaged in total warfare. By conscripting soldiers from nearly every Germanic state, they managed to muster a much larger force and marched to Paris only two months after the first shots were fired. From there, it was just a waiting game.
The Siege of Paris
The Siege of Paris officially began in mid-September 1870. The livestock and food stores within the city lasted about as long as you’d expect in a city of 2 million. By October, the horses were next on the chopping block. Meals like consommé de cheval au millet (horse consommé with millet) were featured at local bistros, but those supplies ran out quickly.
By November, family pets were finding their way onto menus. Dishes such as civet de chat aux champignons (cat stew with mushrooms) and brochettes de foie de chien (dog liver skewers) could be found in cafés.
The large Parisian rat population also made its debut on the plate in meals like salamis de rats (rat salami), or served alongside Fido in a hearty gigots de chien flanqués de ratons (leg of dog served with baby rats). Don’t worry, the last one came with a pepper sauce to help you choke it down.
From what we know, the starving locals didn’t seem to mind much. One wrote that “dog is not a bad substitute for mutton.” Then again, he also claimed you could mistake cat for rabbit, so maybe we shouldn’t take his word for it.
Dog and cat meat reportedly sold for between 20 and 40 cents per pound, with rat being closer to 50. The canine population soon dwindled, and rat meat was far too expensive for soldiers making only 1.50 francs per day. So the frantic Parisians searched high and low for any remaining source of protein—eventually landing at the zoo.
No Surrender Food
Three months into the siege, the zoo became the next source of sustenance. It started with the more docile animals—yaks, kangaroos, antelope, and camels.
This gave the world some culinary creations like tête d’âne farcie (stuffed donkey’s head) and terrine d’antilope aux truffes (antelope terrine with truffles). Soon after, more dangerous animals met the same fate, including bears and wolves, leading to the delicacy cuissot de loup à la sauce chevreuil (haunch of wolf with deer sauce).
Finally, Paris’s only two elephants, Castor and Pollux, found themselves on the menu for local brasseries on Christmas Day of 1870 as consommé d’Éléphant.
As the Germans intensified their artillery in January 1871, defeat was imminent. As if to remain the butt-end of all future surrender jokes, on January 28, the city fell with a decisive German victory.
On one of the final days of the war, former U.S. Secretary of State and then Minister to France, Elihu Washburne, attended a meal where autruche rôtie àl’allemande 
(German-style roasted ostrich) was served. What made it “German-style,” I would love to know.
But, to screw up an old saying: “all’s food in love and war.”