Page "Brioche" Paragraph 13

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his autobiography Confessions ( published posthumously in 1782, but completed in 1769 ), relates that " a great princess " is said to have advised, with regard to peasants who had no bread, " Qu ' ils mangent de la brioche ", commonly inaccurately translated as " Let them eat cake ".

This saying is commonly mis-attributed to Queen Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI.

In the contemporaneous " Encyclopédie " it says: " the taste for luxury and onerous magnificence of much of the world, having slipped into religious practice, the usage was introduced in large cities of giving in place of bread, some more or less delicate cake.

one would not believe what it costs the nation every year for this article alone.

We know that there are more than 40, 000 parishes in the kingdom where they distribute blessed bread "