Tasting as a way of living: The life and mind of Brillat-Savarin

Good food doesn‘t go out of fashion. The same can be said about enjoying said food. This thought incited me to explore further the origins of gastronomy this week and I fell into a rabbit hole… as usual. That rabbit hole was the joy, knowledge and practical sense of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. You probably don‘t know his name but you know at least one thing he said. “Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are.“ Savarin was incredibly popular in the 19th century and stands tall among the first true gastronoms. Of course, Savarin was his own man. Yet, I now have a soft spot for his eccentricities and, most of all, his positive mindset. Let me share some of it.

First: aphorisms! We all like these short impactful sermons and the one above is definitely not the only one Savarin made. His aphorisms are often punchy and hilarious. Here are some of my favourites:

The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity than the discovery of a new star.
A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye.
The most indispensable quality of a good cook is promptness. It should also be that of the guests.
To invite a person to your house is to take charge of his happiness as long as he is beneath your roof.

Now, for the “piece of resistance“: food! Or, I should say: taste! For Savarin, taste has two uses. One: it invites us to sustain ourselves by provoking pleasure. Two: this pleasure guides us and helps us select what is most nourishing. I am happy to say that even with the food science breakthroughs we had since Savarin (and the ever-constant debates on diets) this view is still valid. Eat what you enjoy.

Going back to taste, for Savarin, moisture was THE most important aspect of food. His scientific view of taste saw it as a chemical process that dissolved “tasteful“ elements with fluids. As such, moisture is essential to taste. Controlling taste, therefore, is the art of balancing the proportions of liquids and solids. For solids, you can also play with texture, something way more impactful than we think. A meal combining a variety of “teeth movements“ (chewing, grinding, etc.) will make any meal more interesting. The opposite is also true: a meal requiring excessive chewing will be less tasteful for example. This definition of taste, Savarin explains, is the reason why you should balance and vary the taste of food you eat. He also recognizes the role of sight and smell on taste. Not convinced? Try to eat something with your nose blocked and your eyes closed: a very different experience. This is why Savarin took much effort to shape the presentation and preparation of what he ate.

Taste as a sensation can be separated into three “orders“ with which we can play with:

The direct sensation coming from the mouth, tongue and nose. That is the first taste you detect. In general, it will be sweet (due to the location of sweet taste buds) or linked to smell.
The complete sensation arises later “when the food impresses all the organs with both taste and perfume“
Finally, the reflected taste is what we would call the after-taste.

Take a peach for example. The direct sensation is dominated by its sweet smell. The complete sensation will be more acidic and fresh. Finally, the reflected taste would reveal the subtlety of its perfume and the finer peculiarities of its flavour.

Another interesting note: Savarin describes a substance called “oscmazôme“ that we should all learn to use according to him. In a word, it's the portion of flesh that is soluble in water - the basis of many soups actually! Going back to my post on Escoffier‘s mother sauces, they all use oscmazôme in the roux! Savarin‘s fascination for oscmazôme explains why he found the tradition of throwing away the first boiling water of meat (“bouillon“) a travesty.

Paradoxically, he also found that eating the “bouillon“ directly was a travesty. It should be prepared and served to maximize its potential! No proper gastronomer eats “bouillon“ alone. To him, four categories of deplorable eating habits led to eating “bouillon“. Let me describe them in his own words because I find them very amusing.

“Men of routine who eat by tradition and expect their children to do the same.“
“Impatient men who eat at once whatever is in front of them.“
“Innatentive men who eat what is in front of them, but as a labour to undergo.“
“Voracious men who seek only to appease their appetite, whatever it takes.“

Savarin also wrote extensively on the origins of household classic food including turkey, sugar, coffee and chocolate. If that sounds even a little interesting, I highly recommend you to look it up yourself. It‘s fascinating and in-depth. It‘s clear Savarin lived for and because of food in all aspects of his life. Few today can enjoy so thoroughly all expects of it.

Beyond his sense of humour and positivism, Savarin was also shockingly realist - not a quality very common in his time. For example, in his biography, he blatantly recognizes that someday it will become almost entirely indecipherable as “the French will have the same fate as Greek, and in the year 2825 if read, will be read with a dictionary“. His view on “the End of the World“ is another great example. He begins by stating that his contemporaries see signs of the End of the World everywhere and that he, personally, saw no cause to believe it. Besides, he gives two arguments for why such fate is unlikely. First, humankind is not worth the trouble of being utterly destroyed by godly powers (the religious view was still omnipresent). Then, even if such end of humankind was incoming he saw a very easy way to avoid its problems: take more naps. Just like that, you will drastically reduce the chances of being awake when it happens. But, my favourite insight he gave was this: we must accept that all things must change and that we can‘t control everything. So, better learn to appreciate what we have and live in the moment. Definitely explains his view on food, a view that has merit.

In any case, I hope that you can learn something from Savarin. Time is limited but doesn‘t have to be rushed. Besides, isn‘t savouring every moment sweeter?

Take your time today and see you soon.

References

The Physiology of Taste; or, Transcendental Gastronomy, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, translated by Robinson Fayette, Lindsay & Blakiston, 1854.