Taillevent

Usually identified as Guillaume Tirel, this 14th-century French master cook was known by the nickname Taillevent and served in the kitchens of French kings. He is remembered as an important figure in the early history of French cuisine.

Taillevent is traditionally connected with Le Viandier, a celebrated medieval recipe collection that helped preserve and shape French culinary practice. Modern scholarship often notes that parts of the text may predate him, but his name remains firmly attached to the work and to the professionalization of court cooking in late medieval France.

Because he lived in the 1300s, surviving personal details are limited. What stands out is his lasting reputation: not just as a royal cook, but as a symbol of how cooking began to be recorded, refined, and passed on in written form.