The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental GastronomyBrillat-Savarin
Philosophy
The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy
Brillat-Savarin
Gastronomy
In Paris there are always more magnificent suppers, which begin
just after the play. The persons who usually attend them are
pretty women, admirable actresses, financiers, and men about town.
There the events of the day were talked of, the last new song was
sung, and politics, literature, etc., were discussed. All persons
devoted themselves especially to making love.
Let us see what was done on fast days:
No body breakfasted, and therefore all were more hungry than
usual.
All dined as well as possible, but fish and vegetables are soon
gone through with. At five o'clock all were furiously hungry,
looked at their watches and became enraged, though they were
securing their soul's salvation.
At eight o'clock they had not a good supper, but a collation, a
word derived from cloister, because at the end of the day the
monks used to assemble to comment on the works of the fathers,
after which they were allowed a glass of wine.
Neither butter, eggs, nor any thing animal was served at these
collations. They had to be satisfied with salads, confitures, and
meats, a very unsatisfactory food to such appetites at that time.
They went to bed, however, and lived in hope as long as the fast
lasted.
Those who ate these little suppers, I am assured, never fasted.
The chef-d'oeuvre of a kitchen of those days, I am assured, was a
strictly apostolic collation, which, however, was very like a good
supper.
Science soon resolved this problem by the recognition of fish,
soups, and pastry made with oil. The observing of fasting, gave
rise to an unknown pleasure, that of the Easter celebration.
A close observation shows that the elements of our enjoyment are,
difficult privation, desire and gratification. All of these are
found in the breaking of abstinence. I have seen two of my grand
uncles, very excellent men, too, almost faint with pleasure, when,
on the day after Easter, they saw a ham, or a pate brought on the
table. A degenerate race like the present, experiences no such
sensation.
ORIGIN OF THE REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION IN FASTING.
I witnessed the rise of this. It advanced by almost insensible
degrees.
Young persons of a certain age, were not forced to fast, nor were
pregnant women, or those who thought themselves so. When in that
condition, a soup, a very great temptation to those who were well,
was served to them.
Then people began to find out that fasting disagreed with them,
and kept them awake. All the little accidents man is subject to,
were then attributed to it, so that people did not fast, because
they thought themselves sick, or that they would be so. Collations
thus gradually became rarer.
This was not all; some winters were so severe that people began to
fear a scarcity of vegetables, and the ecclesiastical power
officially relaxed its rigor.
The duty, however, was recognised and permission was always asked.
The priests were refused it, but enjoined the necessity of extra
alms giving.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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