"The Physiology of Taste"

"Tell me what you eat and I shall tell you what you are" - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

You are what you eat, as the saying goes, and this is what The Physiology of Taste is all about. When I first started looking at the reading (it was translated from French and appeared on Gutenberg.org ) I was instantly overwhelmed.

The book is divided into "Meditations" which are similar to chapters and there are twenty-eight of them. Each of which are divided into subcategories talking about different aspects of food. Since the reading is online, I had a hard time determining what exactly would equal fifty pages, so I read through the first seven meditations with the idea that the book has a total of two hundred and twenty pages; that makes approximately four sections of fifty pages; twenty eight divided by four is seven.

The Physiology of Taste was originally published in France in 1825. I know very little about France during this time frame but hope to find out more about it on Wednesday. The language used in this book is clearly representative of the time. I cannot help but wonder if everything was translated perfectly or not.

Brillat-Savarin talks first about the senses. He caught my attention by saying that there are six senses instead of five. The addition sense mentioned in the passage is called "the genesiac sense" which is responsible for romantic loving feelings - driving humans to reproduce. He moved on to talk about taste and its function. The ideas of appetite, flavor, hunger and thirst are introduced. All topics important and necessary when discussing food.

When reading this passage, I felt as if I were reading from an old science text book. My interest faded quickly. My attention span felt shorter than ever before. I was distracted constantly and found myself skimming through more sections than I feel comfortable admitting. I absolutely do not enjoy this book. The description said it a hilarious classic, one of the most famous books ever written about food. I was intrigued at first. Now, unfortunately, I'm regretting my decision to read this book.

I may be changing my book selection to Five Quarters of the Orange. I'm looking for a book that is more modern, interesting, and easier to relate to and follow.