Brillat-Savarin: The Judge and His Stomach

By Giles MacDonogh

Book Overview

No one seriously interested in food need be reminded that Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin is the father of gastronomy, or that his book La Physiologie du go t, published in 1825 and never since out of print, is gastronomy's first great classic. Giles MacDonogh's book is likewise a first: the only full and authoritative biography of Brillat. Far from being just a gastronome, during perhaps the most interesting period of French history Brillat was also a lawyer, politician, emigr in flight from the guillotine, teacher of French in New York, first violin, hunter, secretary to the general staff of the French revolutionary army, judge, lover, and pornographer. Besides Brillat's life, Mr. MacDonogh presents a fascinating picture of provincial France under the ancien r gime and the dangerous years that followed its fall. His remarkable book adds greatly to our knowledge both of the art of cookery in a heroic age of gourmandise and of French life at its gamiest.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566630282
• ISBN13: 9781566630283
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.1" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Great food anecdotes

MacDonogh's biography of the 18th century French gastronome, public official and judge, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, spans the French Revolution and the Napoleanic Empire. Brillat-Savarin, best known for the book written in the last years of his life, "The Physiology of Taste," swam in the thick of French politics and upheaval. A provincial member of the revolutionary French Assembly, Brillat-Savarin was forced to flee to America during the worst of guillotine fever. In the midst of flight he met a sailor whose tongue had been cut out by pirates and was curious to know if he retained the ability to taste. McDonogh seasons Brillat-Savarin with such anecdotes - lavish feasts at pre-revolutionary abbeys where the young lawyer played violin with an ensemble of friends, turkey shoots in America, contests of gluttony in inns and restaurants, specialties discovered in cafes and homes during his extensive travels throughout Europe. After years of rocky fortunes, Brillat-Savarin found favor with Napolean and landed tenure as a judge. He recalls Napolean's abstemious habits and the groaning tables of some of his aides. In retirement, upon Napolean's defeat, he grew grapes and wrote about law, medicine and food. McDonogh's gastronomic anecdotes make better reading than the volatile politics. Not much is really know of Brillat-Savarin's days (his relatives destroyed many of his letters and stories) and the biography is filled with "probably's" and "may have done's." Sometimes humorous, sometimes dry, this is an interesting volume for the setting and the food.

A life torn between revolution ang gastronomy

Brillat-Savarin is without contest the nicest figure in french history. Far from beeing only a gourmet, he was also deeply involved in the events of the french revolution. Giles Mac Donogh renders perfectly the atmosphere of a life turned upside down by history, at a time when the cuisine itself experienced a deep change: the first restaurants were opened a few years before the revolution