Missing Fish and Fatal Feasts: Ritual and Ruin at the Sun King’s Table
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the gilded court of Louis XIV, 17th Century France, manners are everything. Where to sit, how to eat, what to wear - any misstep is costly. No one knows this better than François Vatel, the greatest party planner in all of France. Tonight, Vatel must deliver the ultimate banquet, a chance for his master to rise through the ranks and win the king's favor. But where there is opportunity there is danger, and even one mistake could prove deadly.
WARNING: This episode discusses death by suicide. If you are suffering emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, support is available - for example, from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US, or the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123
For a full list of show notes go to timharford.com, and to join our new Patreon, go to patreon.com/cautionaryclub.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:06.1 | Hello everyone. Tim Harford here to tell you we have just launched a brand new cautionary club. |
| 0:13.1 | It's on Patreon and it's a space for you and the cautionary tales team to get to know each other. |
| 0:19.6 | It's going to be full of exclusive bonus content. There'll be a |
| 0:23.1 | full-length cautionary tales episode every month and there'll also be an exclusive conversation |
| 0:28.4 | between me and one of the team. We're also writing a newsletter which will drop into your mailbox |
| 0:34.1 | full of the curiosities we uncovered while researching the show. You'll be the |
| 0:39.2 | first to know about upcoming events, plans for the show, and you'll get a chance to get your |
| 0:43.8 | questions and ideas to us. And of course, you'll have access to the entire archive ad-free. |
| 0:51.0 | You'll also be supporting us and all of the work that goes into making the show. |
| 0:55.7 | Head to patreon.com slash cautionary club to find out more. That's patreon.com |
| 1:01.5 | slash cautionary club. Pushkin |
| 1:11.2 | France 1671. |
| 1:16.6 | France 1671. |
| 1:21.1 | At the Chateau de Chantilly, home to the Prince of Conday, a party is underway. |
| 1:28.3 | Three whole days of moonlit hunts, |
| 1:32.3 | sumptuous feasts and spectacular entertainment. |
| 1:37.3 | This fairy tale palace, with its shimmering moat and stately gardens, |
| 1:43.3 | is the perfect setting for a grand celebration. |
| 1:48.0 | The party has been organised by the great Francois Vattel. |
| 1:52.9 | As Maitre d'Otel, head of the household, he is a maestro of hospitality, |
| 1:59.5 | famous among the great houses for his resourcefulness, efficiency, |
... |
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