Brillat Savarin

The Physiology of Taste Brillat Savarin

ince its completion in 1825, this handbook has appeared in so many different guises - from 1889's Gastronomy as a Fine Art to The Philosopher in the Kitchen in 1970 - that much of its wisdom has become idiomatic. Brillat-Savarin was, for example, the first to coin the phrase: "You are what you eat" - item four in a long list of "Aphorisms of the Professor" intended as "a lasting foundation for the science of gastronomy." In fact, Brillat was no professor, but a judge who often worked on his magnum opus while presiding in court. His life (1755-1826) spanned perhaps the most turbulent period of France's history. It would be hard to place this book, which meanders from ruminations on the "inconveniences of obesity" to the philosophical history of cooking, in any one genre; it is perhaps best characterised as an intimate account of a man's passionate relationship with food. "The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star," Brillat insists and furthermore: "The destiny of nations depends on how they nourish themselves."