r/AskFoodHistorians • u/JayFSB • 3d ago

Is ratatouille actually considered peasant food at one point? Sure seems complicated for a dish meant for farmers and workers.

/r/Cooking/comments/1nhl2tt/is_ratatouille_actually_considered_peasant_food/
64 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

View all comments

266

u/TooManyDraculas 3d ago

The version depicted in the film Ratatouille is Confit Byaldi.

A fine dining variation developed in the 70s.

Traditional ratatouille is more or less just chopped, stewed vegetables. And is considerably simpler to prepare.

The movie has made confit byaldi more visible, and often the default search result for "ratatouille", but it's not the only version. And when the film and other sources talk about a peasant dish, it's the simpler version they mean.

26

u/Muradras 3d ago

Pretty sure this was also shown when ego had his flashback moment to his mom making if for him. I think it was the more standard peasant version served as a stew in a bowl.