You see it everywhere, especially in media. The chef starts spitting cooking terms in French, pulling out French cooking techniques, and the audience goes "oh wow this guy is skilled." (I'm looking at you, Food Wars, with your bad French pronunciations and at least 2 French words in every sentence). Cooking is full of French words, terms, and techniques. But why? Why French, specifically? What made it so much more prestigious than English, Spanish, Italian, German, or even non-European cuisines like Chinese, Japanese, Indian, or Egyptian? How did French get so special?
Was there some change in French cuisine that caused this sudden rise in popularity among other European nations? Perhaps innovative new techniques or methods? If so, what caused those innovations to occur in France and not, say, England or Spain?
Additionally, was there a cuisine that preceded it in terms of widespread popularity, or was French the first style of cooking to gain such international prestige?
While you wait, this answer by u/red_fife discusses the influence of French chefs in foreign courts and the legacy of Escoffier specifically: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/d9lx7e/in_the_new_downtown_abbey_movie_king_george_v_has/f21two8/
Hullo hullo! I was summoned by the tag but don't have time to give an answer as detailed as I would like to give so I hope that this might help a tad and point you towards some enjoyable reading.
The simplest way to approach your question would be to say that various historians and food writers have claimed different 'jumping off points' for the French earning their gastronomical reputation as the top cuisine in Europe. Some point to Le Viandier de Taillevent (early 14th century if I recall correctly) as a first significant cookbook that testifies to the early existence of a strong French gastronomy. Others look to Catherine de' Medici (16th century) as having brought many Italian ingredients and techniques to France where they melded with various local cuisines to eventually create modern French gastronomy born of the best of Italian cuisine and the best of local French cuisines which were quite varied.
Others claim on a rather vague note that French cuisine developed organically sans Italian influence and that French cuisine was the product of ebbs and flows of French power throughout the centuries which in the best of times produced excellent ingredients in climactically varied regions and in the worst of times forced French cooks to adapt to poor ingredients into something tasty. Proponents of this argument contrast this with the UK or the US as examples where meat was generally more bountiful and of better quality because of rich pastures and so this luxurious access to quality meat meant that there were few efforts made to dress food up thus leading to relatively plain cuisines (frankly, I don’t really buy this.)
Some people attribute the popularity of French gastronomy to specific celebrity chefs, culinary artisans and the writings of gastronomes. For that we can look to Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Marie Antoine Carême (both from the (18th/19th centuries,) Alexis Soyer (19th century) or later Auguste Escoffier (19th-20th centuries) all of whom were significant culinary innovators who did impressive work raising the profile of French cuisine both at home and abroad.
These titans of French gastronomy were already operating from a position of privilege though. The rising prestige of French gastronomy had a lot to do with French power in the early modern and modern periods of European history. French was for a long while the language of international diplomacy being spoken in the fashionable courts of Europe. French architecture such as Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles set the tone for palace architecture across Europe and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert worked very hard to commodify French fashion, goods and culture, making it desirable abroad.
In post-revolutionary France the French government actually invested significant time, effort and money into marketing French gastronomy, for a look into this process I recommend taking a look at the work of historians Amy Trubek and Kolleen Guy. A good example of the success of these initiatives is that one can still find champagne bottles at fancy parties, New Year’s events, race tracks/sporting events, etc. around the world even to this day.
I would sum this up by saying that the answer to your main question is a highly complex one and, as with most historical phenomena, is very difficult to pin to a specific moment or person. To muddy the waters a tad more I’d also like to mention that that French culture, even on a very individual level is very food-oriented in terms of social mores and cultural constricts so this on a fundamental level went a long way in making a food that could be promoted. However, the French are hardly an exception as anyone who has ever enjoyed good Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Mexican, Indian or Chinese cuisine will tell you (to name a few.)
This actually bring us to your last question regarding globally recognized cuisine. French gastronomy became a top (many would argue the top) global cuisine, for two main reasons in my opinion. On the firsthand the factors noted above made it the top cuisine in Europe, the rest was, in part, due to timing. French cuisine was the dominant cuisine in Europe when Europe was at its most powerful, let’s situate ourselves broadly in the 19th century. In this period Europeans were benefiting from industrialization that originated in Europe (it did spread to the US and Japan early on and spread further afoot with time but to begin the European powers were first out of the gate.) This early industrialization gave the Europeans an edge which allowed them to hold the reins of global power for a bit. During this period a whole new wave of colonization occurred forcing much of the world under the boot of the Europeans. In these contexts European cultures gained a huge boost in prestige worldwide as they took over states around the world or forced them into colonial spheres of influence. In these colonial contexts the Europeans were at the top of the cultural pyramid and since French gastronomy was already at the top of Europe’s gastronomical pyramid it, by extension, became the top cuisine globally. French cuisine/wine/culinary culture became the best of the best for the upper classes who were succeeding in a Western-centric global economy. The French worked hard to be able to hold on to this position even as European power declined and while they’re losing ground to other cuisines (Japanese for instance) they’re still trying to maintain their position. As a sidenote, when China was the top power in much of Asia for centuries, Chinese cuisine was the dominant cuisine in many places and had a substantial influence in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and beyond. Chinese cuisine is on a similar level as French gastronomy (as argued by famous food writer Paul Levy) some would even say that it is better/more complex but it does not have the same cultural capital as French gastronomy for a variety of reasons that I don’t have time to dive into here.
As a final note, regarding French techniques/methods part of what made them transferable is the organization and standardized form given to them by chefs like Escoffier. The Brigade de Cuisine (the army like chain of command that you see in restaurant kitchens) various techniques and etc. were codified in writing and widely shared. This codification/standardized techniques & vocabulary made it easier to replicate and that is the root of the bastardization of the French language that you hear on Food Wars.
Ok, out of time, sorry for any typos and I hope this helps somewhat!