The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental GastronomyBrillat-Savarin
Philosophy
The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy
Brillat-Savarin
Gastronomy
Garum was dearer, and we know much less of it. It is thought that
it was extracted by pressure from the entrailles of the scombra or
mackerel; but this supposition does not account for its high
price. There is reason to believe it was a foreign sauce, and was
nothing else but the Indian soy, which we know to be only fish
fermented with mushrooms.
Certainly, people from their locality are forced to live almost
entirely upon fish. They also feed their working animals with it,
and the latter from custom gradually grow to like this strange
food. They also manure the soil with it, yet always receive the
same quantity from the sea which surrounds them.
It has been observed that such nations are not so courageous as
those that eat flesh. They are pale, a thing not surprising, for
the elements of fish must rather repair the lymph than the blood.
Among ichthyophages, remarkable instances of longevity are
observed, either because light food preserves them from plethora,
or that the juices it contains being formed by nature only to
constitute cartilages which never bears long duration, their use
retards the solidification of the parts of the body which, after
all, is the cause of death.
Be this as it may, fish in the hands of a skilful cook is an
inexhaustible source of enjoyment. It is served up whole, in
pieces, truncated with water, oil, vinegar, warm, cold; and is
always well received. It is, however never better than when
dressed en matilotte.
This ragout, though made a necessary dish to the boatmen on our
rivers, and made in perfection only by the keepers of cobarets on
their banks, is incomparably good. Lovers of fish never see it
without expressing their gratification, either on account of its
freshness of taste, or because they can without difficulty eat an
indefinite quantity, without any fear of satiety or indigestion.
Analytical gastronomy has sought to ascertain what are the effects
of a fish diet on the animal system. Unanimous observation leads
us to think that it has great influence on the genesiac sense, and
awakens the instinct of reproduction in the two sexes. This effect
being once known, two causes were at once assigned for it:
1st. The different manner of preparing fish, all the seasoning for
it being irritating, such as carar, hering, thon marine, etc.
2d. The various juices the fish imbibes, which are highly
inflammable and oxigenise in digestion.
Profound analysis has discovered a yet more powerful cause: the
presence of phosphorous in all the portions, and which
decomposition soon developes.
These physical truths were doubtless unknown to the ecclesiastical
legislators, who imposed the lenten diet on different communities
of monks, such as Chartreux, Recollets, Trappists, and the
Carmelites reformed by Saint Theresa; no one thinks that they
wished to throw a new difficulty into the way of the observance of
the already most anti-social vow of chastity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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