French cuisine reached the pinnacle of world cooking in the 20th century. Michelin and Gault Millau, the guidebooks for epicureans, are bibles in the culinary world today. Yet despite the image today, the glamour of French cooking did not necessarily exist long ago. French gastronomy in the 19th century consisted of overdecorated food-for-show. The French were content with serving themselves from huge piles of decorated food, not unlike ceremonial cakes, to be enjoyed with the eyes. Marie-Antoine Carême, a culinary chef from late 19th century, studied the characteristics of each ingredient and searched for delicate and ingenious combinations. But even he was not entirely free from older traditions, as seen in the elaborate presentation of his famous masterpiece "Piemonte." It was only around 1903, when talented expert Escoffier wrote Le Guide Culinaire (Culinary Guide), that the contemporary practice of serving portion meals on individual plates was established in France, as in the Russian tradition. The Industrial Revolution expanded production and gave birth to a wealthy social class; the new railroads made it possible for local foodstuffs to be distributed to the cities; the number of restaurants jumped; restaurants targeted exclusively at the snobbery hit the jack pot. Escoffier's invention of "Fond," or broth, culled a depth in flavor never savored before, and cuisine suddenly emerged as something solid and established. Chicken cooked in red wine, sauté of foie gras, wild duck with fruit sauce, and countless local dishes... Caviar from faraway Caspian Sea, truffles in season, and other diverse foodstuffs were transformed into top cuisine by Parisian chefs. With the start of the automobile age, more and more people began to make outings to the provinces. In 1900, Michelin Tire company, eyeing expansion in the car tire market, published a guidebook of restaurants and hotels in provincial cities. The taste of local gourmet became the talk of the town, and all of France transformed into an epicurean nation. It was, in fact, the year 1900 that saw the first light in the era of gastronomy.