The Physiology of Taste or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy - Softcover

Fisher, M. F. K.

4.05

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9781582431031: The Physiology of Taste or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582431035 ISBN 13: 9781582431031

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2000

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Published in 1825 after some three decades of consuming research, The Physiology of Taste is the most famous book ever written about food. It remains among the most comprehensive, stimulating, and just plain enjoyable works ever published on the subject of the senses and their pleasures. In a work spiced with style and wisdom, Brillat-Savarin declares that "Animals feed themselves; men eat; but only wise men know the art of eating."

M.F.K. Fisher's translation of Brillat-Savarin's masterpiece, originally published in 1825, is a true marriage of minds and sensibilities, a classic against which all subsequent gastronomical writing must be measured. Published in 1825 after some three decades of consuming research, The Physiology of Taste is the most famous book ever written about food. Witty and elegant, it is a classic in the grandest sense. Brillat-Savarin set out to write about food and cookery, but his interests and enthusiasms ranged so widely over matters of the human spirit that they could hardly be contained, and his work-here in its greatest translation-sits on the shelf of masterpieces of world literature. Its treasures include: observations on feasting and fasting and on the advantages of gourmandism, including its influence on marital happiness discourses on obesity and its cure and on the calamity of thinness, particularly in women, with prescriptions for fattening them up Brillat-Savarin's twenty famous aphorisms, including, "Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are."

A work spiced with style and wisdom, The Physiology of Taste remains among the most comprehensive, stimulating, and enjoyable works ever published on the subject of the senses and their pleasures. Epicureans by vocation and avocation will want this beautiful hardcover edition for their reference shelves. This elegant and witty book is a classic in the grandest sense. Brillat-Savarin set out to write about food and cookery, but his interests and enthusiasms ranged so widely over matters of the human spirit that they could hardly be contained, and his work-here in its greatest translation-sits on the shelf of masterpieces of world literature. As translator, M.F.K. Fisher proved to be Brillat-Savarin's twentieth-century spiritual companion. Her lively footnotes and commentaries constitute nearly a quarter of the text, a seductive dialogue of romance between two great lovers of life and style. Its treasures include: observations on feasting and fasting and on the advantages of gourmandism, including its influence on marital happiness analysis and definition of the senses, with a gastronomical test to measure the degree of one's gift for taste discourses on obesity and its cure and on the calamity of thinness, particularly in women, with prescriptions for fattening them up talk of truffles and their possible erotic effect, of coffee and its stimulative powers, of chocolate, and omelets, and eels Brillat-Savarin's twenty famous aphorisms, including, "Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are." a philosophic survey of the history of cooking anecdotes of unforgettable meals and the stratagems by which they were obtained, elaborate practical jokes, and culinary challenges met and surmounted.

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Review:

You can't properly call yourself a gourmand (or even a minor foodie) until you've digested Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's delectable 1825 treatise, The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. Brilliantly and lovingly translated in 1949 by M.F.K. Fisher (herself the doyenne of 20th-century food writing), the book offers the Professor's meditations not just on matters of cooking and eating, but extends to sleep, dreams, exhaustion, and even death (which he defines as the "complete interruption of sensual relations"). Brillat-Savarin, whose genius is in the examination and discussion of food, cooking, and eating, proclaims that "the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star."

Chocoholics will be satisfied to know that "carefully prepared chocolate is as healthful a food as it is pleasant ... that it is above all helpful to people who must do a great deal of mental work...." He examines the erotic properties of the truffle ("the truffle is not a positive aphrodisiac; but it can, in certain situations, make women tenderer and men more agreeable"), the financial influence of the turkey (apparently quite a prize in 19th-century Paris), and the level of gourmandise among the various professions (bankers, doctors, writers, and men of faith are all predestined to love food). Just as engrossing as the text itself are M.F.K. Fisher's lively, personal glosses at the end of every chapter, which make up almost a quarter of the book. These two are soulmates separated by centuries, and Fisher's fondness for the Professor comes through on every page. As she notes at the end, "I have yet to be bored or offended, which is more than most women can say of any relationship, either ghostly or corporeal." --Rebecca A. Staffel

About the Author:

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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