The trend traces back centuries, but some trace the latest evolution to the mid-1990s and two highly lauded restaurants, Chef Ferran Adrià's El Bulli in Spain, and Chef Thomas Keller's French Laundry, in Napa Valley, north of San Francisco in the U.S., that offered tasting menus of 40 courses or more.
A longstanding pattern has its origins in centuries past, but some pinpoint the mid-1990s as a key moment, when two highly regarded establishments, El Bulli and French Laundry, under the direction of Chef Ferran Adrià and Chef Thomas Keller, respectively, introduced extensive tasting menus consisting of 40 courses or more.