Microsoft PowerPoint - CLASSIC FRENCH CUISINE GENERAL KNOWLE

Salt

• Peasants resented the gabelle, a tax on salt that was particularly unfair to the poor. • Gabelle, form of tax in France before the Revolution of 1789—in particular, from the 15th century onward, the tax on salt. • In 14 th C the gabelle denoted any tax on the sale of consumer goods; an ordinance of 1360 made it a permanent tax. • In 15 th C the gabelle began to mean specifically the salt tax; a tax on consumption of salt. • The nobility, the clergy, and certain other privileged persons were exempted. • The high rate and unequal distribution of the gabelle provoked widespread contraband dealing in salt by smugglers. • The gabelle’s unpopularity was forcefully expressed in the lists of grievances drawn up for the Estates-General of 1789 on the eve of the revolution. • The gabelle was abolished in March 1790.