Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin | |
|---|---|
 Posthumous portrait, 1848 | |
| Born | 2 April 1755 Belley, France |
| Died | 2 February 1826 (aged 70) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Notable works | Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste) |
"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
Aphorism IV, Physiologie du goût[1]
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ ɑ̃tɛlm bʁija savaʁɛ̃], (2 April 1755 – 2 February 1826) was a French lawyer and politician, who, as the author of Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste), became celebrated for his culinary reminiscences and reflections on the craft and science of cookery and the art of eating.
Rising to modest eminence in the last years of France's Ancien Régime, Brillat-Savarin had to escape into exile when the Reign of Terror began in 1793. He spent nearly three years in the United States, teaching French and playing the violin to support himself, before returning to France when it became safe to do so, resuming his career as a lawyer, and rising to the top of the French judiciary.
The Physiology of Taste was the product of many years' writing in the author's spare time. Published weeks before his death in 1826, the work established him alongside Grimod de La Reynière as one of the founders of the genre of the gastronomic essay.
- ^ Brillat-Savarin, p. 13