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The Almanach des gourmands was a guide to the restaurants, pastry shops, and specialty food stores of Paris, edited and published by the French gastronome Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, known as Grimod, annually from 1803 to 1812. It was written by a group of restaurant critics and Grimod himself. Grimod is thus often considered the first restaurant critic.
The Almanach was written for Parisians rather than travelers, and for the first time, wrote for consumers who sought taste rather than cheap prices or convenience. When it was published, restaurants were gaining prominence in Paris, the first having opened in the 1770s. Its reviews of food and establishments were sometimes strongly critical. Roy Strong argues that the Almanach opened up the culture around food to anyone who was literate, and increased competition between restaurants.
The title was revived several times:
Nouvel almanach des gourmands, A.B. de Périgord (pseudonym for and ), from 1825-1827, continued the volume numbering although it was editorially distinct.
Le Nouvel Almanach des gourmands, Charles Monselet, 1865, together with Alexandre Dumas (père), Aurélien Scholl, , , Joseph Albert Alexandre Glatigny, Adrien Marx, , , Victor Cochinat, Vermesch. L'Almanach des gourmands, François-Guillaume Dumas, 1904, together with , Auguste Escoffier, and Prosper Montagné.
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