Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Who coined the name nouvelle cuisine?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
nouvelle cuisine
Grilled dry-aged Wagyu rib eye steak with asparagus and charred onions.
The term nouvelle cuisine was popularized by the food critics Henri Gault and Christian Millau.1
While young French chefs began experimenting with lighter menus and new techniques in the 1960s to break away from the rigid traditions of grande cuisine, these innovations were formally christened nouvelle cuisine by 1972. Gault and Millau, who founded the publication Le Nouveau Guide in 1969, were instrumental in promoting this movement, which emphasized freshness, lightness, and the natural flavors of ingredients. In 1973, Gault further solidified the movement's identity by publishing "The Ten Commandments of Nouvelle Cuisine," which provided a set of guiding precepts for the style.12