The Physiology of Taste, Brillat Savarin [the best motivational books .txt] 📗
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younger than those ignorant of that science.
Painters and sculptors are well aware of this, for they never
represent those to whom abstinence is a matter of duty, such as
anchorites and misers, except as pale, thin, and wrinkled.
THE EFFECTS OF GOURMANDISE ON SOCIABILITY.
Gourmandise is one of the principle bonds of society. It gradually
extends that spirit of conviviality, which every day unites
different professions, mingles them together, and diminishes the
angles of conviviality.
This it is, which induces every amphitryon to receive his guests
well, and also excites the gratitude of the latter when they see
themselves well taken care of: here is the place to reprobate
those stupid masticators, who with the most guilty indifference to
the greatest luxuries, and who with sacrilegious indifference
inhale the odorous perfume of nectar.
GENERAL LAW.—Every display of high intelligence, makes explicit
praise necessary. Delicate praise is necessary, wherever a wish to
please is evident.
INFLUENCE OF GOURMANDISE ON CONJUGAL HAPPINESS.
When gourmandise is shared with another, it has the greatest
influence on conjugal happiness.
A gourmand couple have at least once a day a pleasant occasion to
meet, for even those who sleep apart (and there are many) dine
together. They talk of what they have eaten, of what they have
seen elsewhere, of fashionable dishes and of new inventions, etc.,
etc. We all know how full of charms this CHIT CHAT is.
Music, doubtless, has many charms for those who love it; but to
succeed, one must make a business of it.
Besides, sometimes one has a cold, misplaces the score, has the
sick headache or feels inert.
One necessity calls each of the couple to the table, where the
same feeling retains them. They exhibit naturally slight
attentions to each other, which evinces a desire to please, and
the manner in which they act to each other speaks loudly of the
manner of their lives.
This observation, though new in France, has not escaped the
attention of the English novelist, Fielding, who in Pamela gives
the well-known instance of the manner in which the heroine and her
husband lived on the one hand, and the more magnificent but
unhappy life of the elder brother and his wife.
Honour then to gourmandise as we present it to our readers,
inasmuch as it diverts man neither from occupation nor from duty;
for as the dissoluteness of Sardanapulus did not cause the world
to look on woman with horror, neither did Vitellius’ excesses
induce the world to turn aside from a well-ordered entertainment.
When gourmandise becomes gluttony, voracity or debauchery, it
loses its name and attributes, falling into the hands of the
moralist who will treat it by advice, or the medical man who will
treat it by remedy. Gourmandise, as the professor has described
it, has a name only in French; neither the Latin gula, English
“gluttony” nor German lusternheit, expresses it, and we recommend
all who attempt a translation of this instructive book to preserve
the word, changing the article which produces it only. Thus they
did with coquetterie.
NOTE OF A PATRIOT GASTRONOMER.
“I observe with pride, that gourmandise and coquettery, the two
great modifications which society has effected in our imperious
wants, are both of French origin.”
MEDITATION XII.
GOURMANDS.
ALL WHO WISH TO BE ARE NOT GOURMANDS.
THERE are individuals to whom nature has refused a fineness of
organs and a degree of attention, without which the most succulent
food passes unperceived.
Physiology has already recognized the first of these varieties, by
exhibiting the tongue of those unfortunate men who are badly
provided with the means of appreciating flavors and tastes. Such
persons have but an obtuse sensation, for to them taste is what
light is to the blind.
The second of these varieties is composed of absent minded men, of
ambitious persons, and others, who wish to attend to two things at
once, and who eat only to eat.
NAPOLEON.
Such was Napoleon; he was irregular in his meals and ate quickly.
When hungry, his appetite had to be satisfied at once, and he was
so completely served, that at any hour he could have fowl, game or
coffee.
GOURMANDS BY DESTINY.
There is however, a privileged class, which organic and material
organization invites to the enjoyments of the taste.
I was always a disciple of Lavater and Gall, and believe in innate
ideas.
As persons have been born who see, walk, and hear badly, because
they are near-sighted, lame, or deaf, why may there not be others
inclined to peculiar sensations.
To the most careless observer there will ever be presented faces
which bear the undeniable expression of some dominant sentiment,
such as disdainful impertinence, self-satisfaction, misanthropy,
sensuality, &c. A very meaningless face may express all this, but
when the face has a determined expression, one is rarely mistaken.
Passions agitate the muscles, and often when a man is silent, the
various feelings which agitate him may be read on his face. This
tension, though habitual leave sensible traces, and give the face
a permanent and well defined character.
SENSUAL PREDESTINATION.
The persons predestined to gourmandise are in general of medium
stature. Their faces are either round or square, and small, their
noses short and their chins rounded. The women are rather pretty
than beautiful, and they have a slight tendency to obesity.
Those who are fondest of friandises have delicate features,
smaller, and are distinguished by a peculiar expression of the
mouth.
Agreeable guests should be sought for among those who have this
appearance. They receive all that is offered them, eat slowly, and
taste advisedly. They do not seek to leave places too quickly
where they have been kindly received. They are always in for all
the evening, for they know all games, and all that is neccessary
for a gastronomical soiree.
Those, on the contrary, to whom nature has refused a desire for
the gratifications of taste, have a long nose and face. Whatever
be their statures, the face seems out of order. Their hair is dark
and flat, and they have no embonpoint. They invented pantaloons.
Women whom nature has thus afflicted, are very angulous, are
uncomfortable at the table, and live on lenten fare.
This physiological theory will, I trust, meet with not many
contradictions: any one may verify the matter. I will, however,
rely on facts.
I was sitting one day at a great entertainment, and saw opposite
to me a very pretty woman with a very sensual face. I leaned
towards my neighbor and said, that the lady with such features
must be gourmande. “Bah!” said he, “she is not more than fifteen;
she is not old enough—let us see though.”
The beginning was not favorable, and I was afraid of being
compromised. During the first two courses, the young woman ate
with a discretion which really amazed me. The dessert came, it was
brilliant as it was abundant, and gave me some hopes. I was not
deceived, for she not only ate what was set before her, but sent
for dishes which were at the other end of the table. She tasted
every thing, and we were surprised that so small a stomach could
contain so much. My diagnostics succeeded and science triumphed.
Two years after I met this same lady, who had been married a week.
She had become far more beautiful, was something of a coquette,
for fashion permitted her to exhibit her charms. Her husband was a
man worth looking at, but he was like one of those ventriloquists
who laugh on one side of the face and weep on the other. He was
very fond of his wife, but when any one spoke to her, quivered
with jealousy. The latter sentiment prevailed, for he took his
wife to one of the most remote departments of France, and I, at
least, can write no more of her biography.
I made a similar observation about the Duke of Decres, long
minister of marine.
We knew that he was large, short, dark and square; that his face
was round, that his chin protruded, that his lips were thick, and
that he had a giant’s mouth. I therefore had no hesitation in
proclaiming him fond of good cheer and of women.
This physiognomical remark I whispered to a woman I thought very
pretty and very discreet. I was mistaken though, for she was a
daughter of Eve, and my secret was made known. One evening his
excellency was informed of the idea I had deduced from his face.
I ascertained this the next day, by a pleasant letter which I
received from the Duke, in which he insisted that he had not the
two qualities I had attributed to him.
I confessed myself beaten. I replied that nature does nothing in
vain; that she had evidently formed him for certain duties, and
that if he did not fulfil them he contradicted his appearance.
That besides, I had no right to expect such confidence, etc., etc.
There the correspondence terminated, but a few days after all
Paris was amused by the famous encounter between the minister and
his cook, in which his excellency did not get the best of the
matter. If after such an affair the cook was not dismissed, (and
he was not,) I may conclude that the duke was completely overcome
by the artist’s talents, and that he could not find another one to
suit his taste so exactly, otherwise he would have gotten rid of
so warlike a servant.
As I wrote these lines, during a fine winter evening, Mr. Cartier,
once first violinist of the opera, entered my room and sat by the
fire. I was full of my subject, and looked attentively at him. I
said, “My dear Professor, how comes it that you, who have every
feature of gourmandise, are not a gourmand?” “I am,” said he, “but
I make abstinence a duty.” “Is that an act of prudence?” He did
not reply, but he uttered a sigh, a la Walter Scott.
GOURMANDS BY PROFESSION.
If there be gourmands by predestination, there are also gourmands
by profession. There are four classes of these: Financiers, men of
letters, doctors, and devotees.
FINANCIERS.
Financiers are the heroes of gourmandise. Hero is here the proper
name, for there was some contention, and the men who had titles
crowd all others beneath their titles and escutcheons. They would
have triumphed, but for the wealth of those they opposed. Cooks
contended with genealogists; and though dukes did not fail to
laugh at their amphitryon, they came to the dinner, and that was
enough.
Those persons who make money easily must be gourmands.
The inequality of wealth produces inequality of wants. He who can
pay every day for a dinner fit for an hundred persons, is often
satisfied after having eaten the thigh of a chicken. Art then must
use well its resources to revive appetite. Thus Mondar became a
gourmand, and others with the same tastes collects around him.
PHYSICIANS.
Causes of another nature, though far less baneful, act on
physicians, who, from the nature of things, are gourmands. To
resist the attractions set before them they must necessarily be
made of bronze.
One day I ventured to say, (Doctor Corvisart was at the end of the
table—the time was about 1806):—
“You are,” said I, with the air of an inspired puritan, “the last
remnant of a composition which once covered all France. The
members of it are either annihilated or dispersed. No longer do we
see farmers general, abbes, chevaliers, &c. Bear the
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