In 1992/3, I taught at a cheque-book-university in Lucerne and Strasbourg. I sought to liaise with local communities in the context of interest in university life.
Lucerne and Strasbourg were introduced to university “town and gown” lectures which focused on the life of Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826). He was a French lawyer and politician, and gained fame as an epicure and gastronome. Savarin was the first extensively to write about gastronomy and is considered to be its father. more
Considering the importance of gastronomy within France, the lectures were well attended (average 30) and animated. I spoke in French in Strasbourg and French-speaking areas of Switzerland (with occasional translations). Translations took place elsewhere in Switzerland.
At the end of the lecture series, I was approached by a small group of attendees. The upshot was an invitation to become a professor. My response was that my next two years were spoken for in terms of my role as a tourism specialist working in numerous countries. Undeterred, those in the group subsequently presented me with a statement to the effect of the title being given on an honoris causa basis. Within the UK, the term is explained in the context of degrees here. more more
pagetop here To education - providers here
may link from here - 1.3 in the context that my Prof title awarded in Switzerland.
Here is material from the lecture series.
pagetop here To education - providers here
SAVARIN APHORISMS
“to serve as prolegomena* to his work and eternal basis to the science. "
* prologue
This list puts the aphorisms in groups and with the more important ones first. That, of course, is a personal view. The Roman numerals have been changed for ease of reading.
The groups have been formed in the awareness that not everyone wants to read the aphorisms in the order in which they were first presented in 1826, the time factor being prominent.
“The Aphorisms …” page, however, gives the original order. If that is the prelude to an essay, you should do the reading!
The group headings are the product of reasoning. The word "philosophy" should not be taken too seriously.
Higher Philosophy
4. Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are.
This is the most-quoted aphorism and in the form – “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”
Hospitality
20. To invite a person to your house is to take charge of his happiness as long as he be beneath your roof.
17. To wait too long for a dilatory guest, shows disrespect to those who are punctual.
Here, Savarin puts the majority of his guests before the one who arrives late.
16. The most indispensable quality of a good cook is promptness. It should also be that of the guests.
Savarin demonstrates that the first person singular is an important component of ‘donated hospitality’. The second person plural is involved in ‘received hospitality’. These terms will be developed elsewhere.
18. He who receives friends and pays no attention to the repast prepared for them, is not fit to have friends.
19. The mistress of the house should always be certain that the coffee be excellent; the master that his liquors be of the first quality.
Pleasure
9. The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.
Savarin does not delve into Gastronomy in relation to Astronomy.
7. The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all areas; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure.
5. The Creator, when he obliges man to eat, invites him to do so by appetite, and rewards him by pleasure.
Diplomat
3. The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed.
A man before his time. The changing fortune of certain African and other countries bears him out.
Lower Philosophy
15. A cook may be taught, but a man who can roast, is born with the faculty.
14. A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye.
Truisms
1. The universe would be nothing were it not for life and all that lives must be fed.
2. Animals fill themselves; man eats. The man of mind alone knows how to eat.
10. Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking.
6. Gourmandise is an act of our judgment, in obedience to which, we grant a preference to things which are agreeable, over those which have not that quality.
Disputable
9. The order of food is from the most substantial to the lightest.
The modern nutritionist would recommend moving from light to heavy dishes.
12. The order of drinking is from the mildest to the most foamy and perfumed.
There were more foamy and perfumed drinks in Savarin's time than today.
13. To say that we should not change our drinks is a heresy; the tongue becomes saturated, and after the third glass yields but an obtuse sensation.
This is more irrelevant than disputable today. Savarin was not considering beer drinkers who drink gallons of the same brew all evening. Wine drinkers may be classed as being more adventurous.
8. The table is the only place where one does not suffer, from ennui(boredom) during the first hour.
Savarin must have forgotten his visits to the theatre and other places.
