Brillat-Savarin: The Judge and His Stomach (Hardcover)

by Giles MacDonogh (Author) "SOME FIFTY MILES to the east of Lyon and about the same distance to the south of the departmental capital, Bourg-en-Bresse, lies the small city..." (more)
Key Phrases: des gourmands, Madame Récamier, New York, The Monarchist (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
An engaging and well-researched biography...Brillat-Savarin emerges as an enormously likeable man. -- Christina Hardyment, Independent

An excellent, absorbing, and very amusing book. -- Jennifer Patterson, Literary Review

Highly readable...a convincing portrait of this marvelous hedonist. -- Bruce Palling, Country Life

MacDonogh explores with elegance and scholarship the world of revolutionaries and gourmets. -- Robin Smyth, Observer

Product Description
The first full and authoritative biography of the father of gastronomy. MacDonogh not only chronicles Brillat's many pursuits, he also presents a fascinating picture of provincial France under the ancien regime and the dangerous years that followed its fall. "The world of revolutionaries and gourmets explored with elegance and scholarship."--Observer

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher (August 25, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566630282
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630283
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,750,230 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great food anecdotes, August 31, 2004

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life torn between revolution ang gastronomy, February 18, 2001

By	Pierre Cormon "[e-mail]" (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

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