Brillat-Savarin found his true passion in gastronomy, asserting that "the discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star." In his sparkling anecdotal style, he offers witty meditations on the senses, the science of gastronomy, the erotic virtue of truffles, hunting wild turkeys in America, Parisian restaurants, the history of cooking, corpulence, diets, the best ways of making coffee and chocolate, and a hundred other engaging topics. He also shares some of his best recipes, including tunny omelette, pheasant, and Swiss fondue. No cook, chef, gourmet, or lover of fine food should miss this landmark in the gastronomic literature, a timeless work that has charmed and informed two centuries of epicures.
Brillat-Savarin found his true passion in gastronomy, asserting that "the discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star." In his sparkling anecdotal style, he offers witty meditations on the senses, the science of gastronomy, the erotic virtue of truffles, hunting wild turkeys in America, Parisian restaurants, the history of cooking, corpulence, diets, the best ways of making coffee and chocolate, and a hundred other engaging topics. He also shares some of his best recipes, including tunny omelette, pheasant, and Swiss fondue. No cook, chef, gourmet, or lover of fine food should miss this landmark in the gastronomic literature, a timeless work that has charmed and informed two centuries of epicures.
The Physiology of Taste
The Physiology of Taste
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Brillat-Savarin found his true passion in gastronomy, asserting that "the discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star." In his sparkling anecdotal style, he offers witty meditations on the senses, the science of gastronomy, the erotic virtue of truffles, hunting wild turkeys in America, Parisian restaurants, the history of cooking, corpulence, diets, the best ways of making coffee and chocolate, and a hundred other engaging topics. He also shares some of his best recipes, including tunny omelette, pheasant, and Swiss fondue. No cook, chef, gourmet, or lover of fine food should miss this landmark in the gastronomic literature, a timeless work that has charmed and informed two centuries of epicures.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781412170772 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | eBooksLib |
| Publication date: | 04/21/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 283 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
ON THE SENSES
The senses are the organs by the use of which man communicates with his surroundings.
1. Their Number
The number of the senses is not fewer than six, namely:
Sight, which embraces space, and, through the medium of light, reveals the existence and colour of the bodies which surround us;
Hearing, which through the medium of the air receives the vibrations set up by noisy or sonorous bodies;
Smell, which enables us to discern the odours which certain bodies exhale;
Taste, by means of which we approve the sapidity and esculence of things;
Touch, which determines the consistency and surface of bodies; And lastly, the sense of physical desire, which brings the two sexes together, and procures the reproduction of the species.
It is astonishing to observe that this important sense was scarcely recognised before the time of Buffon, having been confounded until then with the preceding one of touch, or rather included as a part of it.
The truth is, however, that the two have nothing in common: the organism of the sixth sense is as complete as are the mouth or eyes; and it has this peculiarity, that although it exerts an equal influence upon either sex, they must be joined together before the end of nature can be attained. And if taste, on which the preservation of the individual depends, is indisputably one of the senses, a place must surely be found among them for that which brings about the preservation of the species.
Let us grant then to the sixth sense that sensual position which so clearly belongs to it, and bequeath to our heirs the responsibility of paying due respect to its rank.
2. Action of the Senses
If we may be allowed to go back, in imagination, to the earliest moments of the history of the human race, it is also allowable to fancy that the first sensations of man were purely direct, that is to say, that he saw without precision, smelt without selection, ate without discernment, and was brutal in love.
But all these sensations have a common centre in the soul, the special attribute of man and the ever active cause of perfectibility; and in the soul of man they were revolved, and weighed together, and their worth considered; and soon all the senses were made to help one another, for the use and benefit of the sensitive ego, or, which is the same thing, the individual.
Thus touch was employed to correct errors of sight; sound, by the instrument of the spoken word, became the interpreter of every sentiment; sight and smell gave added powers to taste; hearing compared sounds and was able to judge distance; and the influence of desire was felt by all the senses.
The stream of time, flowing onward over the human race, has brought new perfections without end, the cause of which, almost imperceptible but continually at work, will be found in the insatiable claims of our senses to be agreeably occupied.
Thus sight gave birth to painting, sculpture, and all artificial spectacles;
Sound, to melody, harmony, the dance, and music in all its branches and methods of execution;
Smell, to the discovery, cultivation, and use of perfumes;
Taste, to the growth, selection, and preparation of everything capable of being turned into food;
Touch, to all the arts and to every form of skilled labour and industrialism;
Physical desire, to all that can prepare for or embellish the union of the sexes, and since the days of Francis the First, to romantic love, coquetry, and fashion; especially coquetry, which was born in France and has no name in other tongues, so that even now it is for lessons in coquetterie that the choicest spirits from abroad come daily to the capital of the world.
Remarkable as this proposition may appear at first sight, it may easily be verified; for it would be impossible to discourse intelligibly upon those three essential diversions of society, as at present constituted, in any of the languages of antiquity.
I had composed a dialogue on the subject, which might not have been without its attractions; but I have suppressed it, in order to give my readers the pleasure of making one up for themselves; they will find a whole evening all too short for such a display of their own wit and learning.
We said above that the sense of physical desire had invaded the organs of all the other senses: its influence upon the sciences has been no less profound, for a close examination will show that all the most delicate and ingenious achievements of science are due to desire, that is to say, to the hope or determination of one sex to be united with the other.
Such then, in reality, is the genealogy of the sciences, not excepting the most abstruse; they are simply the immediate result of the continuous efforts which we have made to gratify our senses.
3. Gradual Perfection of the Senses
Our senses, to which we owe so much, are nevertheless far from being perfect, nor shall I waste time in proving the statement; I shall merely observe that sight, the most ethereal of them all, and touch, at the other end of the scale, have acquired in course of time a remarkable accession to their powers.
By means of spectacles the eye escapes, as it were, from the senile decay which afflicts the majority of our other organs.
The telescope has discovered stars previously unknown, and far beyond our native faculties of measurement; it has penetrated to distances so remote that vast luminous bodies are revealed which to our normal vision are no more than nebulous and almost imperceptible spots.
The microscope has given to us our knowledge of the interior configuration of bodies; it has shown us plants, and indeed a whole vegetation, whose very existence was unsuspected. We have seen animals a hundred thousand times smaller than anything which can be observed by the naked eye; and yet these tiny creatures move and feed and reproduce themselves, which presupposes the existence of organs minute beyond all conjecture.
On the other hand, machinery has multiplied strength; man has turned his grandest conceptions into fact, and removed massive obstacles designed by nature to withstand his feeble powers.
With the help of weapons and the lever, man has put nature beneath the yoke; he has made her minister to his pleasures, his needs, his lightest whim; he has turned the surface of the earth upside down, and a puny biped has become the lord of creation.
Sight and touch, with their powers so much enhanced, might well be attributes of some race far superior to man; or rather, the human race would be very different had all the senses improved likewise.
It is to be remarked that, although touch has so far developed by way of muscular power, yet civilisation has done almost nothing for it as a purely sensitive apparatus; but all things are possible, and it must be remembered that the human race is still quite young, and that of necessity much time passes before the senses can extend their dominion.
For example, no more than four centuries have elapsed since the invention of harmony, which is surely sublime among sciences, being to sound what painting is to colour.
Doubtless the ancients sang to the accompaniment of instruments played in unison; but their knowledge went no further; they had no notion of separating sound from sound, nor of enjoying the effect of one sound upon another.
It was not until the fifteenth century that the tonic scale was fixed, the arrangement of chords determined upon, and use made of the effects produced to extend the range and variety of vocal expression.
By this long-delayed but perfectly natural discovery the function of hearing has been doubled; it has been shown to include two faculties in some degree independent of each other, that which receives sound and that which appreciates its constituent qualities.
German doctors have even maintained that persons sensible to harmony possess an additional sense.
As for those to whom music is nothing but a medley of confused sounds, it is worthy of remark that they almost all sing out of tune; and we must conclude, either that their hearing apparatus is so constructed as only to receive short and waveless vibrations, or more probably, that their two ears are not in the same diapason, and their component parts, being of different length and sensibility, can transmit no more than an obscure and indeterminate sensation to the brain; just as two instruments, each tuned to a different scale and played in different time, could not produce any consecutive melody.
The last four centuries have also seen important advances in the sphere of taste; the discovery of sugar and its various uses, and of alcohol, ices, vanilla, coffee, and tea, has furnished our palate with sensations previously unobtainable.
Who knows but that touch may have its turn? There too some happy chance may disclose a source of new delights; indeed nothing is more likely, for the tactile sense exists all over the body, and is at all points capable of excitement.
4. Powers of Taste
We have seen how physical love has invaded the sciences, playing the tyrant according to its invariable wont.
The more prudent and temperate, but not less active, faculty of taste has attained the same end, but slowly and with a thoroughness which seals its triumphs.
At a later stage we shall consider its progress in detail; but for the present we will content ourselves with remarking that whoever has been a guest at a banquet on the grand scale, in a room adorned with pictures, sculpture, mirrors, and flowers, a room balmy with perfumes, filled with soft strains of music, gay with the presence of pretty women — that man, we say, requires no great effort of the imagination to be convinced that all the sciences have been laid under contribution to enhance and set off the pleasures of taste.
5. Ends accomplished by the Senses
Let us now review the system of our senses taken as a whole; we shall see that the Author of creation had two ends to accomplish, one of which is the consequence of the other, namely, the safety of the individual and the preservation of the species.
Such is the destiny of man, considered as a sensitive being; towards this dual goal all his activities are directed.
The eye perceives external objects, reveals the marvels with which man is surrounded, and teaches him that he is a part of a grand whole.
Hearing perceives sound, not only in the form of an agreeable sensation, but also as a warning of the movement of potentially dangerous bodies.
Feeling, in the form of pain, gives instant notice to the brain of all bodily wounds.
The hand, that faithful servant, not only helps man to withdraw out of danger, and protects him on his way, but also lays hold by choice of certain objects in which instinct suspects the property of making good the losses incident to active existence.
Smell investigates those objects: for poisonous substances have almost always an evil odour.
Then taste makes a favourable decision, teeth are set to work, tongue and palate play their savourous part, and soon the stomach begins its task of assimilation.
And now a strange languor invades the system, objects lose their colour, the body relaxes, eyes close; all is darkness, and the senses are in absolute repose.
When he awakes, man sees that his surroundings are unchanged; but a secret fire is aflame in his breast, a new faculty comes into play; he feels that he must bestow upon another a portion of his existence.
It is a disturbing and imperious summons, and one that is heard by both sexes; it bids the two come together, until they are made one; and when the seed of a new existence has been sown, they may sleep in peace; they have fulfilled their most sacred duty, and established the permanence of the species.
Such are the general and philosophical observations which I have thought fit to lay before my readers, before proceeding to our special examination of the organs of taste.
CHAPTER 2ON TASTE
6. Definition
Taste is that one of our senses which communicates the sapidity of things to us, by means of the sensation which it arouses in the organ designed to enjoy their savour.
Taste, which is roused to action by appetite, hunger, and thirst, is the seat of several operations, resulting in the growth, development, and preservation of the individual, and the making good of losses due to natural wastage.
Organised bodies do not all obtain nourishment after the same fashion: the Author of creation, Whose methods are not less various than sure, has provided them with different modes of subsistence.
Vegetables, at the lower end of the scale of living things, absorb nourishment through their roots, which are implanted in the native soil, and by the operation of a peculiar mechanism, select only such substances as have the property of stimulating growth.
Mounting a little higher, we encounter bodies endowed with animal life, but without means of locomotion; they are born in surroundings favourable to their mode of existence, and possess special organs for the extraction of whatever is needed to sustain them during their allotted span; they do not seek their food, their food seeks them.
A third method procures the preservation of those animals which move about the earth, and of which man is incontestably the most perfect. A peculiar instinct warns him that he is in need of food; he goes in search of it; he takes up objects in which he suspects the property of supplying his wants; he eats, and is restored, and so fulfils in life the career which is his lot.
Taste may be considered under three several heads:
In the physical man, it is the apparatus by means of which he enjoys whatever has savour.
In the moral man, it is the sensation aroused in the centre of feeling by the action, upon the organ concerned, of substances having savour; and lastly, in its material significance, it is the property possessed by a given substance of acting upon the organ and giving rise to the sensation.
It is apparent that taste has two principal uses:
1. It invites us, by way of the pleasure derived, to make good the losses which we suffer in the activities of life.
2. It helps us to choose, from the various substances offered to us by nature, those which are proper to be consumed.
In the exercise of this choice, taste has a powerful ally in smell, as we shall see hereafter; for it may be laid down as a general maxim, that nutritious substances are hostile to neither taste nor smell.
7. Operation of Taste
It is no easy matter to determine the precise nature of the organ of taste. It is more complicated than would appear at first sight.
Clearly, the tongue plays a large part in the mechanism of degustation; for, endowed as it is with a certain degree of muscular energy, it serves to crush, revolve, compress, and swallow foodstuffs.
In addition, through the numerous tentacles which form its surface, it absorbs the sapid and soluble particles of the substances with which it comes into contact; the sensation, however, is not thereupon complete, but requires the co-operation of the adjacent parts, namely the cheeks, the palate, and the nasal channel, especially the last, upon which physiologists have perhaps not enough insisted.
The cheeks furnish saliva, which is equally essential to mastication and to the binding of the food into a form convenient for swallowing; they, as well as the palate, are endowed to a degree with the faculty of appreciation; I am even inclined to believe that in certain cases the gums have a little of the same quality; and without the odoration which takes place in the pharynx, at the back of the mouth, the sensation of taste would be dull and incomplete.
Persons with no tongue, or whose tongue has been cut out, are not entirely deprived of the sensation of taste. With the former case we are familiar in the pages of text-books; I received some enlightenment concerning the latter from a poor wretch whose tongue had been cut out by the Algerians as a punishment for having attempted to escape from their hands, in company with some of his comrades in misfortune.
This man, whom I met in Amsterdam, where he gained a livelihood by executing commissions, had received a good education, and it was quite easy to carry on a conversation with him in writing.
I could see that all the loose part of his tongue, as far as the string, had been removed; and I asked him whether he still found any relish in what he ate, and if the sensation of taste had survived the cruel operation to which he had been subjected.
He replied that what caused him the greatest discomfort was the act of swallowing, which he only performed with considerable difficulty; that he could still enjoy what he ate, provided that the taste was not too strong; but that very acid or bitter substances caused him intolerable agony.
(Continues…)
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Table of Contents
The Physiology of Taste Introduction by Anne DraytonAphorisms by the Professor to serve as a prologue to his work and an eternal foundation for his Science
Dialogue between the author and his friend
Preface
Part One: Gastronomical Meditations
1. On the senses
2. On taste
3. On gastronomy
4. On appetite
5. On food in general
6. Specialities
7. The theory of frying
8. On thirst
9. On drinks
10. On the end of the world
11. On gourmandism
12. On gourmands
13. On gastronomical tests
14. On the pleasures of the table
15. On shooting-luncheons
16. On digestion
17. On rest
18. On sleep
19. On dreams
20. On the influence of diet on rest, sleep, and dreams
21. On obesity
22. Prevention and cure of obesity
23. On thinness
24. On fasting
25. On exhaustion
26. On death
27. Philosophical history of cooking
28. On restaurateurs
29. A model gourmand
30. Bouquet
Part Two
Transition
Miscellanea
Envoy to the Gastronomes of the Two Worlds