The Physiology of Taste by Brillat Savarin (suggested reading .TXT) 📕

brought back to Rome the tastes which had attended them in

foreign lands.

 

The Romans sent to Athens a deputation charged to bring back the

laws of Solon. They also sent them thither to study belles lettres

and philosophy. While their manners became polished they became

aware of the attractions of festivals. And poets, philosophers,

orators, etc., all came to Rome at once.

 

As time advanced, and as the series of events attracted to Rome

almost all the riches of the world, the luxury of the table became

incredible.

 

Every thing was eaten—the grass-hopper and the ostrich, the

squirrel and the wild-boar—all imaginable vegetables were put in

requisition.

 

Armies and travellers put all the world in requisition. The most

distinguished Roman citizens took pleasure, not only in the

cultivation of fruits once known, such as pears, apples, etc., but

sought out things Lucullus never dreamed of. These importations

which naturally had a great influence, prove at least that the

impulse was general, that each one sought to contribute to the

enjoyment of those around him.

 

Our drinks were not the object of less attention, nor of less

attentive cares. The Romans were delighted with the wines of

Italy, Greece, and Sicily. As they estimated their value from the

year in which they were made, we may understand Cicero’s much

abused line,

 

Oh tortuna tam, natura, me consule Roman.

 

This was not all. In consequence of an instinct hitherto referred

to, an effort was made to make them more highly perfumed, and

flowers, aromatics, etc., were infused. Such things which the

Romans called condita, must have had a very bad effect on the

stomach.

 

Thus the Romans came to dream of alcohol, which was not discovered

until long after they were born.

 

RESURRECTION OF LUCULLUS.

 

The glorious days of old might arise again, and nothing but a

Lucullus is needed, to bring this about. Let us fancy that any

man, known to be rich, should wish to celebrate any great act, and

give in this manner an occasion for a famous entertainment.

 

Let us suppose that he appeals to every one to adorn his

entertainment, and orders every possible resource to be prepared.

 

Let him make every imaginable preparation and Lucullus would be as

nothing compared with the civilized world as it is.

 

Both the Romans and the Athenians had beds to eat on. They

achieved the purpose but indirectly.

 

At first they used beds only for the sacred festivals offered to

the gods. The magistrates and principal men, adopted the custom,

and ere long, it became general and was preserved until in the

beginning of the fourth century.

 

These couches were at first, only boxes filled with straw, and

covered with skins. Gradually, however, they became more

luxurious, and were made of the most precious woods, inlaid with

ivory, and sometimes with gems. Their cushions were soft and their

covers magnificently embroidered.

 

People only laid down on the left elbow. Three usually slept

together.

 

This the Romans called lectisternium. It is not a very bad name.

 

In a physical point of view incubitation demands a certain

exhibition of power to preserve equlibrium, and is not without a

degree of pain; the elbow supporting an undue proportion of the

weight of the body.

 

In a physiological point of view, something also is to be said.

Imbuccation (swallowing) is effected in a less natural manner. The

food is passed with more difficulty into the stomach.

 

The ingestion of liquids, or drinking, is yet more difficult. It

required particular attention not to spill the wine from the large

cups on the tables of the great. Thence came the proverb:

 

“Between the cup and lip,

 

There is often time a slip.”

 

None could eat comfortably when reclining, especially when we

remember that many of the guests had long beards, and that

fingers, or at least only knives were used. Forks are an invention

of modern times, for none were found at Herculaeneum.

 

Some violations of modesty must also have occurred at repasts

which frequently exceeded the bounds of temperance, and where the

two sexes have fallen asleep, and were mingled together. A poet

says:

 

“Nam pransus, jaceo, et satur supinus,

 

Pertimdo tunicamque, palliumque.”

 

When Christianity had acquired some power, its priests lifted up

their voices against intemperance. They declaimed against the

length of meals which violated all prudence by surrounding persons

by every species of voluptuousness. Devoted by choice to an

austere regimen, they placed gourmandise in the list of capital

sins, and rigidly commented on the mingling of sexes and the use

of beds, a habit which they said produced the luxury they

deplored.

 

Their menacing voice was heard; couches disappeared, and the old

habit of eating sitting, was restored. Fortunately this did not

violate the demands of pleasure.

 

POETRY.

 

Convivial poetry then underwent a new modification, and in the

mouths of Horace and Tibullus assumed a languor the Greeks were

ignorant of.

 

Dulce ridentem Lalagem amabo,

 

Dulce luquentem.

 

HOR.

 

Quaeris quot mihi batiationes

 

Tuae, Lesbia, sint satis superque.

 

CAT.

 

Pande, puella, pande capillulos

 

Mavos, lucentus ut aurum nitidum.

 

Pande, puella, collum candidum

 

Productum bene candidis humeris.

 

GALLUS.

 

IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS.

 

The five or six centuries we shall run over in a few pages, were

glorious days for the cuisine; the irruption however of northern

men overturned and destroyed everything.

 

When the strangers appeared, alimentary art made its appearance,

as did the others that are its companions. The greater portion of

the cooks were massacred in the palaces they served. The

foreigners came and they were able to eat as much in an hour as

civilized people did in a week.

 

Although that which is excessive is not durable—conquerors are

always cruel. They united themselves with the victors, who

received some tints of civilization, and began to know the

pleasures of civilized life.

 

*

 

About the seventeenth century, the Dutch imported coffee into

Europe. Solyman Agu, a Turk, whom our great, great grandfathers

well remember, sold the first cups in 1760. An American sold it in

1670, and dealt it out from a marble bar, as we see now.

 

The use of coffee then dates from the eighteenth century.

Distillation, introduced by the crusades, remained arcana, with

few adepts. About the commencement of the reign of Louis XIV,

alambics became more common, but not until the time of Louis XV.,

did the drink become really popular.

 

About the same time the use of tobacco was introduced. So that

sugar, coffee and tobacco, the three most important articles of

luxury in Europe, are scarcely two centuries old.

 

[The translator here omits a whole Meditation. It would now be

scarcely pleasant.]

 

MEDITATION XXVIII.

 

RESTAURATEURS.

 

A restaurateur is one, the business of whom is to offer a dinner

always ready, and with prices to suit those that consume them.

 

Of all those who frequent restaurants, few persons cannot

understand that a restorateur is not necessarily a man of genius.

 

We shall follow out the affiliation of ideas which has led to the

present state of affairs.

 

ESTABLISHMENT.

 

About 1770, after the glorious days of Louis XIV., and the frolics

and tranquility of the regency of Cardinal Fleury, foreigners had

few means of good cheer.

 

They were forced to have recourse to inn-keepers, the cookery of

whom was generally very bad. A few hotels kept a table d’hote

which generally contained only what was very necessary, and which

was always ready at an appointed hour.

 

The people we speak of only ordered whole joints, or dishes, and

consequently such an order of things could not last.

 

At last a man of sense arose, who thought that an active cause

must have its effect. That as the same want sent people every day

to his house, consumers would come whenever they were satisfied

that they would be served. They saw that if a wing was cut from a

fowl for one person, some one would be sure to taste the thigh.

The separation of one limb would not injure the flavor of the rest

of the animal. More pay the least attention to the increase of

prices, when one considers the prompt service of what was served.

 

This man thought of many things, which we may now easily devise.

The one who did so was the first restaurateur and the inventor of

a business which is a fortune to all who exercise it promptly and

honorably.

 

[The translator here omits a whole chapter.]

 

From the examination of the bills of fare of different

restaurants, any one who sets down at the table, has the choice of

the following dishes:—

 

12 soups.

 

24 side dishes.

 

15 or 20 preparations of beef.

 

20 of mutton.

 

30 of fowl or game.

 

16 or 20 of veal.

 

12 of pastry.

 

24 of fish.

 

15 roasts.

 

50 side dishes.

 

50 desserts.

 

Besides the fortunate gastronomer has thirty kinds of wine to

select from, passing over the whole scale from Burgundy to Tokay,

and Constantia, and twenty various kinds of essences, without

taking into consideration such mixed drinks as punch, negus,

sillabubs and the like.

 

Of the various parts of a good dinner, many are indigenous, such

as butcher’s meat, fowl and fruits. Others for instance, the beef-stake, Welch rare-bit, punch, etc., were invented in England.

Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, all contribute, as does India,

Persia, Arabia, and each pay their quota, in sour-krout, raisins,

parmera, bolognas, curacao, rice, sago, soy, potatoes, etc. The

consequence is, that a Parisian dinner is perfectly cosmopolitan.

 

[The translator here omits two Meditations, which refer

exclusively to Paris is 1825. Few Frenchmen NOW would understand

them, and none but a Frenchman could.]

 

PHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE

 

PART SECOND.

 

TRANSITION.

 

If I have been read with the attention I wished, all must have

seen that I had a double purpose in view. The first was to

establish the theoretical basis of Gastronomy, so as to place it

among sciences where it should doubtless be. The second was to

define gourmandise, and to separate this social character, as free

from gluttony and intemperance, with which it is often confounded.

 

This equivoque has been introduced by intolerant moralists, who,

deceived by too much zeal, saw excesses where there was only

innocent enjoyment. The treasures of creation were not made to be

trodden under the feet. It was afterwards propagated by

grammarians who defined it as blind men do, and who swore in verba

magistri.

 

It is time that such an error should cease, for now all the world

understand each other. This is true, for there never was a person

who would not confess to some tincture of gourmandise, and even

would not boast of it, none however would not look on gluttony as

an insult, just as they do on intemperance and voracity.

 

About these two cardinal points, it seems that what I have

described should satisfy all those who do not refuse conviction. I

might then lay down my pen and look on the task I have imposed on

myself as finished. As however, I approached those subjects which

belong to every thing, I remembered many things which it did not

seem to me fit to write, such as anecdotes, bon mots, recipes, and

other odd things.

 

Had they been put in the theoretical portion of the book they

would have taken the connection; place them all together, they

will not be disadvantageous because they contain some experimental

truths and useful explanations.