--- title: The True Story Behind Carême description: A new period drama on Apple TV+ serves up the story of the first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême canonical: https://time.com/7281753/careme-true-story-apple-tv/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-04-30T22:10:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:51:21.385Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The True Story Behind Carême og:description: A new period drama on Apple TV+ serves up the story of the first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême og:url: https://time.com/7281753/careme-true-story-apple-tv/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae7629e2dc51ce4d/6998c63ad32e930ff5cd6f65/Careme.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Careme og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The True Story Behind Carême twitter:description: A new period drama on Apple TV+ serves up the story of the first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae7629e2dc51ce4d/6998c63ad32e930ff5cd6f65/Careme.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Real Chef Who Inspired the Spicy Drama _Carême_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 30, 2025 10:10 PM CUT  Benjamin Voisin in Carême. Benjamin Voisin in Carême.Courtesy of Apple  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 30, 2025 10:10 PM CUT A new period drama on Apple TV+ is serving up the story of the first [celebrity chef](https://time.com/6992427/celebrity-cameos-the-bear-season-3/ "undefined"), Antonin Carême. _Carême_ takes place during the [reign](https://time.com/3926318/waterloo-failures-napoleon/ "undefined") of [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://time.com/6337581/napoleon-obsession-essay/ "undefined") after the French Revolution. The chef, played by Benjamin Voisin, is hired by a French foreign minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (Jérémie Renier) to make creative pastries that will impress the people with whom he’s negotiating. Here’s what to know about the real chef who inspired _Carême._ ## **What the real Carême is known for** “He’s the first chef ever to become rich and famous publishing [cookbooks](https://time.com/6132460/most-anticipated-cookbooks-2022/ "undefined"),” says Ian Kelly, the creator of _Carême_ who wrote the book that inspired the show, _Carême: the First Celebrity Chef._ “Carême coined the phrase in his second cookbook, ‘you could try this yourself at home.'” He also pioneered the chef’s hat, wearing a stiff white hat that was taller than the white caps worn by the cooks that worked for him. In an early example of a [celebrity chef](https://time.com/6313153/mory-sacko-restaurant-empire/ "undefined") endorsement, he directed readers to a shop where they could buy one for themselves. Many of his famous recipes are hard to DIY, however. Classic French dishes Carême pioneered included vol-au-vent, filling a puff pastry with savory foods, and tournedos Rossini, a French steak topped with foie gras. He once said, “My soul is utterly French, and I cannot live except in France.  Antonin Carême wanted a chef's work to be taken seriously as an art form Courtesy of Apple Food has long been a form of diplomacy in France, a way of showcasing the best of the country with its allies. And Carême was a “passionate artist who wants to have food and being a chef taken seriously as an art form," according to Kelly. In the show, for example, Carême brings out a large triangular structure covered in thin paper, and when he lights that paper on fire, it reveals a triangular tray of pastries for a British ambassador with a big sweet tooth. This stunt exemplifies something that Carême once said: “I believe architecture to be the first amongst the arts, and the principal branch of architecture is confectionery.” The period in which the show takes place, the turn of the 19th century, greatly shaped French cuisine. According to Kelly, as on way to cope with the trauma after the revolution, the French turned to food. “There weren't restaurants in Paris before the revolution, and the idea of gastronomy was born of this period,” Kelly explains. ## **The mystery of Carême** There’s plenty of dish in the show beyond the kitchen. In the show, the only thing bigger than Carême’s appetite for food is his sexual appetite. He’s a hit with the ladies, having flings left and right, including seducing [Napoleon](https://time.com/3648713/napolen-united-states-what-if/ "undefined")’s beloved Josephine. Their affair is a creative liberty taken by the show, but the story is inspired by [Josephine’s life](https://time.com/6338563/napoleon-movie-true-story/ "undefined"). In reality, Josephine couldn’t bear children, and wanted to ban divorce in France to prevent [Napoleon ](https://time.com/6338326/napoleon-movie-review/ "undefined")from leaving her. “That’s all historically accurate,” Kelly says. Carême gets caught up in that mess because he ends up cooking for Marie-Louise Habsburg, a woman who is brought to marry [Napoleon](https://time.com/6837057/ridley-scott-napoleon-history/ "undefined") and give him an heir to the throne. As to how much his high sex drive in the show is based on real life, Kelly says, “We don't know much, but what we know points very definitively in that direction.” Kelly says there was a lot of room for creative license because so little is known about Carême. While the chef would boast that his foods have medicinal properties—especially his soups and consommés—the scene in which he uses bitter herbs to cure [Napoleon](https://time.com/3714089/napoleon-exile-history/ "undefined") when he’s ill is fictional. Stories he told about his childhood are also hard to verify. The chef claimed that his family abandoned him when he was nine years old, and he was taken in by a baker. “He was a myth-maker,” says Kelly .  There’s plenty of dish in Carême beyond the kitchen. Courtesy of Apple ## **A sharp tongue** Kelly’s book is chock full of nuggets of wisdom from the chef. Carême saw [cookbooks](https://time.com/6263099/alison-roman-sweet-enough-interview/ "undefined") as a chef’s greatest legacy, writing in 1830, three years before his death, “Our only duty, after cooking, is to record and publish. If not, we will suffer such regrets.” He was a firm believer that dinner party meals should last at least two hours, ideally three or more. And he did not hold back when talking about people who don’t like food, once writing, “The rich man who is miserly only eats to live, lives his life in mediocrity, and dies in it too” and “a rich man who does not appreciate a good cook will never know ineffable joy.” He had even harsher words for people who show up late to a restaurant reservation: “The guest whose tardiness delays the meal should have the dining-room door slammed in his face.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7281753/careme-true-story-apple-tv/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7281753/careme-true-story-apple-tv/"},"headline":"The Real Chef Who Inspired the Spicy Drama Carême","datePublished":"2025-04-30T22:10:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:51:21.385Z","description":"A new period drama on Apple TV+ serves up the story of the first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême","url":"https://time.com/7281753/careme-true-story-apple-tv/","keywords":["Television","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae7629e2dc51ce4d/6998c63ad32e930ff5cd6f65/Careme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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