MEDITATION ON GASTRONOMY

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The Origin of Sciences

16: THE SCIENCES ARE not like Minerva, who sprang fully armed from the brain of Jupiter; they are the daughters of time, and take shape very gradually, at first by the assembling of methods developed through experience, and then later by the discovery of principles which have been deduced from the combining of these methods.

Thus the old men of ancient tribes, whose wisdom called them to the bedsides of the sick, whose human pity drew them to succor the wounded, were the first doctors.

The Egyptian shepherds who observed that certain stars, after set periods, swung back to the same places in the sky, were the first astronomers.

The man who first expressed by symbols the very simple proposition that two plus two equals four created mathematics, that most powerful of sciences, which has truly elevated mankind to the throne of the universe.

In the course of the past sixty years several new sciences have come to take their places in our system of knowledge, among them stereotomy or the geometry of solids, descriptive geometry, and the chemistry of gases.

All these, nurtured during an infinite number of generations, will make a progress doubly assured by the art of printing, which releases them from the danger of retrogression. Who knows, for instance, that the chemistry of gases may not finish by conquering those elements which until now have been so unruly; may not succeed in combining them, mixing them in proportions never before attempted, and obtaining from them new substances and new effects which will enormously enlarge our powers?

Origin of Gastronomy

17: The science of gastronomy appeared like the others in her turn, and all her sisters drew near to cede a proper place to her.

Naturally! How could anything be refused to one who succors us from our birth to our burial, who adds to the delights of love and the strength of friendship, who disarms hatred, makes business easier, and offers us in our short span of life the sole pleasure which, since it is not followed by fatigue, remains to comfort us when the others no longer can?

Obviously while cooking was practiced solely by paid servants, while its secrets stayed below ground in the kitchens, while the cooks kept their knowledge to themselves and wrote only books of directions, the results of their labors could be no more than the products of an art.

At last, however, and perhaps even too late, scientists lent themselves to a study of gastronomy.

They examined, analyzed, and classified the alimentary substances, and reduced them to their simplest elements.

They studied the mysteries of assimilation, and, considering inert matter in all its changes, they saw how it could come to life.

They watched the passing or permanent effects of diet, over periods of days or months or a lifetime.

They studied its effect on human thought, whether it be that the soul finds itself influenced by the senses or that it feels without depending on those organs; and from all these labors they evolved a lofty theory which concerns man himself and every living thing capable of being assimilated.

While all this happened in the scientists’ private workrooms, it was being said aloud in the world’s drawing rooms that a science which nourishes men is worth at least as much as one which teaches them to kill each other; poets sang of the pleasures of the table, and books which had good living for their subject began to show a more profound view of it than heretofore, and to set forth maxims for it of a more thoughtful tenor.1

Such, then, are the events which preceded the coming of Gastronomy.

Definition of Gastronomy

18: Gastronomy is the intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man’s nourishment.

Its purpose is to watch over his conservation by suggesting the best possible sustenance for him.

It arrives at this goal by directing, according to certain principles, all men who hunt, supply, or prepare whatever can be made into food.

Thus it is Gastronomy, to tell the truth, which motivates the farmers, vineyardists, fishermen, hunters, and the great family of cooks, no matter under what names or qualifications they may disguise their part in the preparation of foods.

Gastronomy is a part of:

 Natural history, by its classification of alimentary substances;

Physics, because of the examination of the composition and quality of these substances;

Chemistry, by the various analyses and catalyses to which it subjects them;

Cookery, because of the art of adapting dishes and making them pleasant to the taste;

Business, by the seeking out of methods of buying as cheaply as possible what is needed, and of selling most advantageously what can be produced for sale;

Finally, political economy, because of the sources of revenue which gastronomy creates and the means of exchange which it establishes between nations.

 It rules over our whole life; for the cries of the newborn babe beg for his wet nurse’s breast; and the dying man still receives with some pleasure his final potion, which, alas, it is too late for him ever to digest!

It concerns also every state of society, for just as it directs the banquets of assembled kings, it dictates the number of minutes needed to make a perfectly boiled egg.

The subject matter of gastronomy is whatever can be eaten; its direct end is the conservation of individuals; and its means of execution are the culture which produces, the commerce which exchanges, the industry which prepares, and the experience which invents means to dispose of everything to the best advantage.

Various Concerns of Gastronomy

19: Gastronomy considers taste in its pleasant as well as its unfortunate aspects; it has uncovered the gradual excitation of which taste is capable; it has regulated that activity, and has set certain limits to it which any man who respects his own dignity will never pass.

It has also considered the action of foods on man’s morale, on his imagination, his spirit, his judgment, his courage and perceptions, whether he be awake, asleep, active, or resting.

It is gastronomy which decides the point of fitness of every nourishing substance; for not all of them are desirable in the same way.

Some of them must be used before having reached their final stage of development, like capers, asparagus, suckling pigs, squabs, and other creatures which are eaten in their early days; others must be enjoyed at the moment when they have attained the peak of their growth, like melons, most fruits, mutton, beef, and all adult animals; still others when they begin to decompose, like medlars, woodcocks, and above all pheasants; others, finally, when all the arts of gastronomy have removed their noxious qualities, as with potatoes, the cassava plant, and others.

It is gastronomy which classifies these things according to their different qualities, which indicates those agreeable in combination, and which, by measuring their various degrees of edibility, separates those which can form the basis of our meals from those which are no more than accessories; that is, those which, without being really necessary, are nonetheless a pleasant distraction, and which become the obligatory accompaniment of any convivial celebration.

Gastronomy takes an equal interest in the liquids we consume, following the time, the place, and the weather. She teaches us how to prepare them, to keep them, and above all to present them in a pattern so well calculated that the enjoyment which results grows steadily deeper, to the moment where true pleasure ends and its abuse begins.

It is gastronomy which so studies men and things that everything worth being known is carried from one country to another, so that an intelligently planned feast is like a summing-up of the whole world, where each part is represented by its envoys.

Advantages of Gastronomical Knowledge

20: Gastronomical knowledge is necessary to every man, because it tends to add to the sum of his predestined pleasure; its usefulness increases in proportion to the social rank of the individual; and in the end it becomes indispensable to those men who, blessed with enormous fortunes, entertain a great deal, whether for reasons of political protocol, their own inclinations, or their obedience to fashion.

There is this special advantage in their gastronomical knowledge, that they attain through it a completely personal note in the way their table is maintained; they are able to supervise up to a certain point the arrangements which they must then entrust to others, and they may even direct them occasionally.

The Prince of Soubise planned to give a great party one time; it was to end with a supper, and he asked for the menu.

His steward appeared at his morning conference with a handsomely decorated sheet of paper, and the first notation the prince’s eyes fell upon was this: fifty hams.

“Look here, Bertrand,” he said, “it seems to me you are dreaming! Fifty hams! Are you trying to treat my whole regiment?”

“Not at all, sir! Only one ham will appear on the table, but the rest are essential for my sauce espagnole, my white sauces, my garnishes, my …

“Bertrand, you’re thieving from me, and I shan’t let you get away with it.”

“Ah, my lord,” the artist said, hardly able to hold back his wrath, “you know very little of our resources! Command me, and I can put these fifty hams which seem to bother you into a glass bottle no bigger than your thumb!”

What was there to say to such a positive assertion? The prince smiled, nodded his head, and the menu was approved.

Influence of Gastronomy on Business

21: It is well known that among men who are still somewhat primitive any affair of importance is settled at the table; it is in this atmosphere of feasting that savages decide to make either war or peace; and even without going so far away from home we see that our own villagers carry on most of their business in their taverns.

This observation has never been ignored by men with great interests at stake; they have observed that a well-fed man is not at all the same as a hungry one; that the table constitutes a kind of tie between the bargainer and the bargained-with, and makes the diners more willing to receive certain impressions, to submit to certain influences: from this is born political gastronomy.2 Meals have become a means of governing, and the fate of whole peoples is decided at a banquet. This is neither a paradox nor even real news, but a simple observation of the facts. Let one open any book of history, from Herodotus to our own days, and he will see that, without even excepting conspiracies, not a single great event has occurred which has not been conceived, prepared, and carried out at a feast.3

An Academy of Gastronomers

22: Such is, at first glance, the kingdom of gastronomy, a domain fertile in every kind of results, which can only grow mightier by the discoveries and the labors of the wise men who till it; for it is inconceivable that gastronomy, before too many years, will not have its own academicians, its professors, its yearly courses and its contests for scholarships.

First of all a rich and zealous enthusiast must organize in his own home a series of periodical gatherings, where the best-trained theoreticians will meet with the finest practitioners, to discuss and penetrate the different branches of alimentary science.

Then (and this is the story of all such schools) the government will step in, to regulate, protect, subsidize, and finally to seize one more chance to give back to the people some compensation for all the orphans its cannons have made, and all the women who have wept because of them.

How happy will be the man of might who gives his name to this essential institution! It will be repeated from century to century with those of Noah, of Bacchus, of Triptolemus4 and of other benefactors of the human race; he will be among ministers what Henry IV is among the kings, and his eulogy will be on every tongue,5 without any law to force putting it there.

Written by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (translated by M.F.K. Fisher) in "The Physiology of Taste or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy", Everyman's Library, New York/London/Toronto, 2009, excerpts chapter 2. Digitized, adapted and illustrated do be posted by Leopoldo Costa.