Brillat-Savarin

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Brillat - Savarin's unique, exuberant collection of dishes, experiences, reflections, history and philosophy raised gastronomy to an art form. First published in France in 1825, this remarkable book reflected a new era in French cuisine: the advent of the restaurant, which gave the bourgeoisie the opportunity to select their dishes with precision and anticipation. Yet the author also gives his views on taste, diet and maintaining a healthy weight, on digestion, sleep, dreams and being a gourmand. Witty, shrewd and anecdotal, The Physiology of Taste not only contains some remarkable recipes, it an elegant argument for the pleasures of good food and a hearty appetite.

Physiology of Taste

Physiologie du goût

in large print

The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy

A culinary classic on the joys of the table—written by the gourmand who so famously stated, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are”—in a handsome new edition of M. F. K. Fisher’s distinguished translation and with a new introduction by Bill Buford. First published in France in 1825 and continuously in print ever since, The Physiology of Taste is a historical, philosophical, and ultimately Epicurean collection of recipes, reflections, and anecdotes on everything and anything gastronomical. Brillat-Savarin, who spent his days eating through the famed food capital of Dijon, lent a shrewd, exuberant, and comically witty voice to culinary matters that still resonate today: the rise of the destination restaurant, diet and weight, digestion, and taste and sensibility.

Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy with Recipes

The Physiology of Taste

La Physiologie du goût est un recueil de mémoires. Mémoires d'humour, dans le ton héroï-comique, ou comment traiter de matières familières avec un rien de noblesse, un zeste de pompe ou de solennité. Cela pourrait lasser, si tout ne baignait dans la modestie et la gaieté. Brillat-Savarin est l'auteur le plus aimable qui soit. Mais il est question de cuisine. Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) inaugure avec génie cette intellectualisation de la gastronomie qui ne devait pas cesser jusqu'à nos jours. Il est témoin de l'époque où s'impose le restaurant, lieu pour manger, au détriment de l'auberge, refuge du voyageur sans feu ni lieu, où l'on ne faisait guère que boire et se nourrir. La cuisine se professionnalise et toute profession suscite discours ; se mettre à table est affaire de langage. Au-delà du besoin de manger, le plaisir de la table est comme une mise en scène : le luxe du désir. La nourriture désirée est une sorte de cérémonie ethnographique par laquelle l'homme célèbre son pouvoir, sa liberté de brûler son énergie "pour rien". "En ce sens, dit Roland Barthes, le livre de Brillat-Savarin est de bout en bout le livre du "proprement humain", car c'est le désir (en ce qu'il se parle) qui distingue l'homme".

Perhaps the most influential food writer of his day, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s gastronomic essays are founding documents in the food-writing genre. This great classic of gastronomy is a witty and authoritative compendium on the art of dining, and it has never been out of print since first publication in 1825. The philosophy of Epicurus stands behind every page, and the simplest meal satisfied Brillat-Savarin, as long as it was executed with artistry. The sometimes wordy text is filled with aphorisms and axioms, and it has been endlessly analyzed and quoted. In a series of meditations that have the rhythm of an age of leisured reading and the confident pursuit of educated pleasures. Brillant-Savarin expounds on the delights of eating, which he considers a science, with witty anecdotes and observations such as:“Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking.”“A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.”“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”“The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all eras; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure.” This edition of The Physiology of Taste was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the life of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The Society collects, preserves, and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection includes approximately 1,100 volumes.

Or, Transcendental Gastronomy

The Physiology of TasteorTranscendental GastronomybyJean Anthelme Brillat-SavarinTranslated from the last Paris edition by Fayette Robinson.Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin; 1 April 1755, Belley, Ain - 2 February 1826, Paris, was a French lawyer and politician, and gained fame as an epicure and gastronome: "Grimod and Brillat-Savarin. Between them, two writers effectively founded the whole genre of the gastronomic essay."His famous work, Physiologie du go�t (The Physiology of Taste), was published in December 1825, two months before his death. The full title is Physiologie du Go�t, ou M�ditations de Gastronomie Transcendante; ouvrage th�orique, historique et � l'ordre du jour, d�di� aux Gastronomes parisiens, par un Professeur, membre de plusieurs soci�t�s litt�raires et savantes. The book has not been out of print since it first appeared, shortly before Brillat-Savarin's death. Its most notable English translation was done by food writer and critic M. F. K. Fisher, who remarked "I hold myself blessed among translators." Her translation was first published in 1949.The body of his work, though often wordy or excessively - and sometimes dubiously - aphoristic and axiomatic, has remained extremely important and has repeatedly been re-analyzed through the years since his death. In a series of meditations that owe something to Montaigne's Essays, and have the discursive rhythm of an age of leisured reading and a confident pursuit of educated pleasures, Brillat-Savarin discourses on the pleasures of the table, which he considers a science. His French models were the stylists of the Ancien R�gime: Voltaire, Rousseau, F�nelon, Buffon, Cochin and d'Aguesseau.

Transcendental Gastronomy

Fayette Robinson

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826) was a French lawyer and politician who gained unlikely fame as a master of the art and science of good eating and fine cuisine. He effectively started the whole genre of books on gastronomy and cooking with this great work THE PHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE, which has since become famous, first published in 1825, two months before his death. The book has not been out of print since it first appeared.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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