On restaurants, Paris, 1825
- Written
- published December 1825 (looking back to about 1770)
- Place
- Paris
- Language
- French
- Kind of source
- essay
- Reading time
- 7 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Intensity
- Low: nothing graphic; brief hints of drunkenness and of casual affairs
Inns, hotels and restaurantsCooking and recipesFood, farming and hunger
In a Paris restaurant of the 1820s, a married couple sit under the hat and shawl they have hung on the wall, with nothing left to say to each other. A few tables away, two lovers choose their dinner with great care.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was born in 1755 in Belley, in eastern France, and became a country lawyer there. In 1789 he was sent as a deputy to the National Assembly. During the Terror he fled to Switzerland and then to the United States, where he spent about two years before coming home. After Napoleon took power in 1799, he became a judge of the Court of Cassation, France’s highest appeal court. His Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste), a book of essays, stories and advice about eating, came out in Paris in December 1825, with 1826 on its title page. He died there two months later, in February 1826. The book is divided into “meditations.” The twenty-eighth is about restaurants.
Brillat-Savarin had eaten in Paris restaurants for many years, and his picture of the dining room is an eyewitness sketch. His story of how restaurants began is another matter, written some fifty years after the date he gives. He says himself that he is tracing the ideas that “must have” led to the first one, not the record of what happened.
Historians tell the story differently. The word restaurant first meant a restoring meat broth. Rebecca Spang’s history of the restaurant names Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau as the first restaurateur; in 1769 he listed his shop in a business directory among the caterers and innkeepers of Paris. By 1786 restaurant meant the place itself. Brillat-Savarin’s date fits, but his man of genius has no name, and the steps he traces are his own reasoning.
He wrote for comfortable readers who knew Paris, and he wrote to amuse. His diners are types, not people he names, and his English guests are a stock joke. Watch how his four advantages are all about freedom: of time, of price, of choice. Then notice his worry at the end, that eating alone makes people selfish.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note.
137A restaurateur is someone whose business is to offer the public a feast that is always ready. The dishes are sold one by one, in portions at a fixed price, as customers ask for them.
The place is called a restaurant,1 and the person who runs it is the restaurateur. The list of dishes with their prices is simply called the carte [menu]. The bill, which lists what was served and what it cost, is the carte à payer.
Of all the crowds who hurry to restaurants, few suspect that the man who created the restaurant must have been a genius and a deep observer.
We will help the lazy by tracing, step by step, the chain of ideas that must have led to this common and handy institution.
How it began
138Around 1770,2 the glorious days of Louis XIV were over,3 and so were the rakish tricks of the Regency4 and the long calm of Cardinal Fleury’s ministry.5 Yet visitors to Paris still had very few places to eat well.
They had to rely on innkeepers’ cooking, which was usually bad. There were a few hotels with a table d’hôte.6 With few exceptions, these served only the bare necessities, and at a fixed hour besides.
There were the traiteurs, it is true.7 But they sold only whole pieces [of meat or fowl], and anyone who wanted to treat a few friends had to order ahead. So visitors who were not lucky enough to be invited to some wealthy house left the great city without knowing the riches and delights of Parisian cooking.
A state of affairs that harmed such everyday interests could not last. Already some thinkers dreamed of something better.
At last a man with a good head appeared. He reasoned that an active cause could not stay without effect. The same need comes back every day at about the same hours. So customers would crowd to any place where they were sure it would be pleasantly met. If he cut a chicken wing for the first customer, a second would surely come who would be happy with the leg. Cutting the first slice out of sight in the kitchen would not spoil the rest of the roast. People would not mind paying a little more if they were served well, quickly, and cleanly. A business selling so many small portions could never be run if diners could haggle over the price and quality of the dishes they ordered. And a wide choice of dishes at fixed prices could suit every purse.
This man also thought of many other things that are easy to guess. He was the first restaurateur. He created a trade that wins a fortune every time it is practiced with honesty, order, and skill.
What restaurants offer
139Restaurants have spread from France all over Europe. They are a great benefit to every citizen and of great importance for the science [of gastronomy].8
First, anyone can now dine at the hour that suits him, whenever his business or his pleasures allow.
Second, he is sure not to spend more than he has decided on for his meal, because he knows ahead of time the price of every dish served to him.
Third, once he has settled things with his purse, the diner can have whatever meal he likes: hearty, delicate, or full of treats. He can wash it down with the best French or foreign wines, add the aroma of mocha coffee, and finish with the liqueurs of both worlds.9 His only limits are the strength of his appetite and the size of his stomach. A restaurant’s dining room is the Eden of gourmets.
Fourth, restaurants are also very handy for travelers and foreigners, and for people whose families are away in the country for a while. In a word, they serve everyone who has no kitchen at home, or who is without one for a time.
Before the time we spoke of (1770), the rich and powerful had two great privileges almost to themselves: they traveled fast, and they always ate well.
The new coaches that cover fifty leagues in twenty-four hours10 have wiped out the first privilege. Restaurants have destroyed the second. Thanks to them, the finest food is now within everyone’s reach.
Any man with fifteen or twenty francs to spend can sit down in a first-class restaurant. There he is treated as well as at a prince’s table, or even better. The feast set before him is just as splendid. And since he can order any dish he likes, he need not defer to anyone.
A look at the dining room
140Look closely at a restaurant’s dining room, and the philosopher’s searching eye finds a scene worth his attention. It brings together all sorts of people in all sorts of situations.
The back of the room is filled with a crowd of diners eating alone. They order loudly, wait impatiently, eat in a hurry, pay, and leave.
You see families on their travels. They are content with a plain meal, but they liven it up with a few dishes they have never tried. They seem to delight in a scene that is completely new to them.
Nearby sit a Parisian husband and wife. You can tell them by the hat and the shawl11 hanging above their heads. Clearly they have had nothing to say to each other for a long time. They have planned an outing to some small theater, and you can bet that one of them will fall asleep there.
Farther on are two lovers. You can tell by his eagerness, her little coaxing ways, and the greed of both. Pleasure shines in their eyes. The way they choose their meal lets you guess their past and foresee their future.
In the center is a table of regulars. Most of them get a discount and dine at a fixed price. They know all the waiters by name, and the waiters tell them in secret what is freshest and newest. They are part of the house’s stock, a center around which groups gather. Or better, they are like the tame ducks used in Brittany to lure wild ones.12
You also meet people whose faces everyone knows but whose names no one knows. They are as much at ease as if they were at home, and they often try to start a conversation with their neighbors. They belong to certain species found only in Paris. They have no property, no capital, and no trade, yet they spend a great deal all the same.
Finally, here and there you see foreigners, above all the English. They stuff themselves with double portions of meat, order the most expensive things there are, and drink the strongest wines. They do not always leave without help.
Anyone can check the accuracy of this picture any day. It may stir curiosity, but it might also distress a moralist.
Drawbacks
141No doubt the chance of the moment, and the overwhelming pull of what is right in front of them, lead many people to spend more than they can afford. Perhaps delicate stomachs owe some indigestion to restaurants, and the lowest Venus some ill-timed offerings.13
But there is something far more harmful to the social order. We are certain that eating alone strengthens selfishness. It teaches a person to think only of himself, to cut himself off from everything around him, and to stop showing others consideration. In ordinary company, you can easily pick out the guests who usually eat in restaurants by how they behave before, during, and after the meal.14
Notes
- The word first meant a “restoring” meat broth, served in small cups to customers who wanted to regain their strength. Only later did it name the place. back
- This is Brillat-Savarin’s own account. The historian Rebecca Spang names Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau as the first restaurateur; he advertised his restaurant in 1769. back
- Louis XIV reigned from 1643 to 1715. back
- Philippe, Duke of Orléans, ruled for the boy king Louis XV from 1715 to 1723. His court was famous for drinking and loose living; his companions were called roués, “rakes.” back
- André-Hercule de Fleury, a cardinal, was Louis XV’s chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, years of orderly government and growing wealth. back
- The “host’s table”: one shared meal at an inn, served at a set hour and price, with no choice of dishes. back
- Caterers, cooks whose guild gave them the right to sell cooked dishes such as ragouts. back
- Brillat-Savarin treats gastronomy, the knowledge of eating well, as a science throughout his book. back
- Europe and the Americas, the Old World and the New. back
- A French league was about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), so fifty leagues is about 200 kilometers (125 miles). back
- He spells it schall, as the first edition does; the usual spelling became châle. back
- Decoy ducks: tame birds kept to draw wild ducks into nets or traps. back
- Venus, goddess of love, here in her lowest form: paid or casual sex. He hints that restaurant meals led some diners into ill-timed affairs. back
- Brillat-Savarin’s own note: “Among other things, when a plate of pieces already cut is passed round, they help themselves and set it down before them without passing it to their neighbor, whom they seldom think about.” back
137. — Un restaurateur est celui dont le commerce consiste à offrir au public un festin toujours prêt, et dont les mets se détaillent en portions à prix fixe, sur la demande des consommateurs.
A restaurateur is he whose trade consists in offering to the public a feast always ready, and whose dishes are retailed in portions at a fixed price, at the request of the consumers.
A restaurateur is someone whose business is to offer the public a feast that is always ready. The dishes are sold one by one, in portions at a fixed price, as customers ask for them.
L'établissement se nomme restaurant, celui qui le dirige est le restaurateur. On appelle simplement carte l'état nominatif des mets, avec l'indication des prix, et carte à payer la note de la quantité des mets fournis et de leur prix.
The establishment is named restaurant; he who directs it is the restaurateur. One calls simply carte the nominal list of the dishes, with the indication of the prices, and carte à payer the note of the quantity of dishes furnished and of their price.
The place is called a restaurant, and the person who runs it is the restaurateur. The list of dishes with their prices is simply called the carte [menu]. The bill, which lists what was served and what it cost, is the carte à payer.
- The word first meant a “restoring” meat broth, served in small cups to customers who wanted to regain their strength. Only later did it name the place.
Parmi ceux qui accourent en foule chez les restaurateurs, il en est peu qui se doutent qu'il est impossible que celui qui créa le restaurant ne fût pas un homme de génie et un observateur profond.
Among those who run in crowds to the restaurateurs’, there are few who suspect that it is impossible that he who created the restaurant was not a man of genius and a profound observer.
Of all the crowds who hurry to restaurants, few suspect that the man who created the restaurant must have been a genius and a deep observer.
Nous allons aider la paresse, et suivre la filiation des idées dont la succession dut amener cet établissement si usuel et si commode.
We are going to help laziness, and follow the filiation of the ideas whose succession must have brought about this establishment so usual and so convenient.
We will help the lazy by tracing, step by step, the chain of ideas that must have led to this common and handy institution.
138. — Vers 1770, après les jours glorieux de Louis XIV, les roueries de la régence et la longue tranquillité du ministère du cardinal Fleury, les étrangers n'avaient encore à Paris que bien peu de ressources sous le rapport de la bonne chère.
Toward 1770, after the glorious days of Louis XIV, the roueries [rakish tricks] of the regency and the long tranquillity of the ministry of Cardinal Fleury, foreigners [outsiders?] still had in Paris only very few resources in the matter of good cheer.
Around 1770, the glorious days of Louis XIV were over, and so were the rakish tricks of the Regency and the long calm of Cardinal Fleury’s ministry. Yet visitors to Paris still had very few places to eat well.
- This is Brillat-Savarin’s own account. The historian Rebecca Spang names Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau as the first restaurateur; he advertised his restaurant in 1769.
- Louis XIV reigned from 1643 to 1715.
- Philippe, Duke of Orléans, ruled for the boy king Louis XV from 1715 to 1723. His court was famous for drinking and loose living; his companions were called roués, “rakes.”
- André-Hercule de Fleury, a cardinal, was Louis XV’s chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, years of orderly government and growing wealth.
Ils étaient forcés d'avoir recours à la cuisine des aubergistes, qui était généralement mauvaise. Il existait quelques hôtels avec table d'hôte, qui, à peu d'exceptions près, n'offraient que le strict nécessaire, et qui d'ailleurs avaient une heure fixe.
They were forced to have recourse to the cooking of the innkeepers, which was generally bad. There existed some hotels with table d’hôte, which, with few exceptions, offered only the strict necessary, and which besides had a fixed hour.
They had to rely on innkeepers’ cooking, which was usually bad. There were a few hotels with a table d’hôte. With few exceptions, these served only the bare necessities, and at a fixed hour besides.
- The “host’s table”: one shared meal at an inn, served at a set hour and price, with no choice of dishes.
On avait bien la ressource des traiteurs; mais ils ne livraient que des pièces entières, et celui qui voulait régaler quelques amis était forcé de commander à l'avance, de sorte que ceux qui n'avaient pas le bonheur d'être invités dans quelque maison opulente quittaient la grande ville sans connaître les ressources et les délices de la cuisine parisienne.
One had indeed the resource of the traiteurs; but they delivered only whole pieces, and he who wanted to treat some friends was forced to order in advance, so that those who did not have the good fortune to be invited into some opulent house left the great city without knowing the resources and the delights of Parisian cooking.
There were the traiteurs, it is true. But they sold only whole pieces [of meat or fowl], and anyone who wanted to treat a few friends had to order ahead. So visitors who were not lucky enough to be invited to some wealthy house left the great city without knowing the riches and delights of Parisian cooking.
- Caterers, cooks whose guild gave them the right to sell cooked dishes such as ragouts.
Un ordre de choses qui blessait des intérêts si journaliers ne pouvait pas durer, et déjà quelques penseurs rêvaient une amélioration.
An order of things which wounded interests so daily could not last, and already some thinkers were dreaming of an improvement.
A state of affairs that harmed such everyday interests could not last. Already some thinkers dreamed of something better.
Enfin il se trouva un homme de tête qui jugea qu'une cause active ne pouvait rester sans effet; que le même besoin se reproduisant chaque jour vers les mêmes heures, les consommateurs viendraient en foule là où ils seraient certains que ce besoin serait agréablement satisfait; que, si l'on détachait une aile de volaille en faveur du premier venu, il ne manquerait pas de s'en présenter un second qui se contenterait de la cuisse; que l'abscision d'une première tranche dans l'obscurité de la cuisine ne déshonorerait pas le restant de la pièce; qu'on ne regarderait pas à une légère augmentation de paiement quand on aurait été bien, promptement et proprement servi; qu'on n'en finirait jamais dans un détail nécessairement considérable, si les convives pouvaient discuter sur le prix et la qualité des plats qu'ils auraient demandés; que d'ailleurs la variété des mets, combinée avec la fixité des prix, aurait l'avantage de pouvoir convenir à toutes les fortunes.
At last there was found a man with a head who judged that an active cause could not remain without effect; that, the same need reproducing itself each day toward the same hours, the consumers would come in crowds where they would be certain that this need would be agreeably satisfied; that, if one detached a wing of fowl in favor of the first comer, there would not fail to present himself a second who would content himself with the leg; that the abscission of a first slice in the obscurity of the kitchen would not dishonor the rest of the piece; that one would not look at a slight increase of payment when one had been well, promptly and cleanly served; that one would never finish in a retail [trade] necessarily considerable, if the diners could dispute over the price and the quality of the dishes they had ordered; that besides the variety of the dishes, combined with the fixity of the prices, would have the advantage of being able to suit all fortunes.
At last a man with a good head appeared. He reasoned that an active cause could not stay without effect. The same need comes back every day at about the same hours. So customers would crowd to any place where they were sure it would be pleasantly met. If he cut a chicken wing for the first customer, a second would surely come who would be happy with the leg. Cutting the first slice out of sight in the kitchen would not spoil the rest of the roast. People would not mind paying a little more if they were served well, quickly, and cleanly. A business selling so many small portions could never be run if diners could haggle over the price and quality of the dishes they ordered. And a wide choice of dishes at fixed prices could suit every purse.
Cet homme pensa encore à beaucoup de choses qu'il est facile de deviner. Celui-là fut le premier restaurateur, et créa une profession qui commande à la fortune toutes les fois que celui qui l'exerce a de la bonne foi, de l'ordre et de l'habileté.
This man thought also of many things that it is easy to guess. That one was the first restaurateur, and created a profession which commands fortune every time that he who exercises it has good faith, order and skill.
This man also thought of many other things that are easy to guess. He was the first restaurateur. He created a trade that wins a fortune every time it is practiced with honesty, order, and skill.
139. — L'adoption des restaurateurs, qui de France a fait le tour de l'Europe, est d'un avantage extrême pour tous les citoyens, et d'une grande importance pour la science.
The adoption of restaurateurs, which from France has made the tour of Europe, is of an extreme advantage for all citizens, and of a great importance for the science.
Restaurants have spread from France all over Europe. They are a great benefit to every citizen and of great importance for the science [of gastronomy].
- Brillat-Savarin treats gastronomy, the knowledge of eating well, as a science throughout his book.
1° Par ce moyen, tout homme peut dîner à l'heure qui lui convient, d'après les circonstances où il se trouve placé par ses affaires ou ses plaisirs.
1st. By this means, every man can dine at the hour that suits him, according to the circumstances in which he finds himself placed by his business or his pleasures.
First, anyone can now dine at the hour that suits him, whenever his business or his pleasures allow.
2° Il est certain de ne pas outrepasser la somme qu'il a jugé à propos de fixer pour son repas, parce qu'il sait d'avance le prix de chaque plat qui lui est servi.
2nd. He is certain not to exceed the sum he has judged fit to fix for his meal, because he knows in advance the price of each dish that is served to him.
Second, he is sure not to spend more than he has decided on for his meal, because he knows ahead of time the price of every dish served to him.
3° Le compte étant une fois fait avec sa bourse, le consommateur peut, à sa volonté, faire un repas solide, délicat ou friand, l'arroser des meilleurs vins français ou étrangers, l'aromatiser de moka et le parfumer des liqueurs des deux mondes, sans autres limites que la vigueur de son appétit ou la capacité de son estomac. Le salon d'un restaurateur est l'Éden des gourmands.
3rd. The account being once made with his purse, the consumer can, at his will, make a meal solid, delicate or dainty, water it with the best French or foreign wines, aromatize it with mocha and perfume it with the liqueurs of the two worlds, without other limits than the vigor of his appetite or the capacity of his stomach. The salon of a restaurateur is the Eden of gourmands.
Third, once he has settled things with his purse, the diner can have whatever meal he likes: hearty, delicate, or full of treats. He can wash it down with the best French or foreign wines, add the aroma of mocha coffee, and finish with the liqueurs of both worlds. His only limits are the strength of his appetite and the size of his stomach. A restaurant’s dining room is the Eden of gourmets.
- Europe and the Americas, the Old World and the New.
4° C'est encore une chose extrêmement commode pour les voyageurs, pour les étrangers, pour ceux dont la famille réside momentanément à la campagne, et pour tous ceux, en un mot, qui n'ont pas de cuisine chez eux, ou qui en sont momentanément privés.
4th. It is also a thing extremely convenient for travelers, for foreigners, for those whose family resides for the moment in the country, and for all those, in a word, who have no kitchen at home, or who are for the moment deprived of it.
Fourth, restaurants are also very handy for travelers and foreigners, and for people whose families are away in the country for a while. In a word, they serve everyone who has no kitchen at home, or who is without one for a time.
Avant l'époque dont nous avons parlé (1770), les gens riches et puissants jouissaient presque exclusivement de deux grands avantages : ils voyageaient avec rapidité et faisaient constamment bonne chère.
Before the epoch of which we have spoken (1770), rich and powerful people enjoyed almost exclusively two great advantages: they traveled with rapidity and constantly made good cheer.
Before the time we spoke of (1770), the rich and powerful had two great privileges almost to themselves: they traveled fast, and they always ate well.
L'établissement des nouvelles voitures qui font cinquante lieues en vingt-quatre heures a effacé le premier privilège; l'établissement des restaurateurs a détruit le second : par eux, la meilleure chère est devenue populaire.
The establishment of the new carriages which make fifty leagues in twenty-four hours has effaced the first privilege; the establishment of the restaurateurs has destroyed the second: through them, the best cheer has become popular.
The new coaches that cover fifty leagues in twenty-four hours have wiped out the first privilege. Restaurants have destroyed the second. Thanks to them, the finest food is now within everyone’s reach.
- A French league was about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), so fifty leagues is about 200 kilometers (125 miles).
Tout homme qui peut disposer de quinze à vingt francs et qui s'assied à la table d'un restaurateur de première classe, est aussi bien et même mieux traité que s'il était à la table d'un prince; car le festin qui s'offre à lui est tout aussi splendide, et ayant en outre tous les mets à commandement, il n'est gêné par aucune considération personnelle.
Every man who can dispose of fifteen to twenty francs and who sits at the table of a restaurateur of the first class is as well and even better treated than if he were at the table of a prince; for the feast which offers itself to him is quite as splendid, and, having besides all the dishes at command, he is hindered by no personal consideration.
Any man with fifteen or twenty francs to spend can sit down in a first-class restaurant. There he is treated as well as at a prince’s table, or even better. The feast set before him is just as splendid. And since he can order any dish he likes, he need not defer to anyone.
140. — Le salon d'un restaurateur, examiné avec un peu de détail, offre à l'œil scrutateur du philosophe un tableau digne de son intérêt par la variété des situations qu'il rassemble.
The salon of a restaurateur, examined with a little detail, offers to the scrutinizing eye of the philosopher a picture worthy of his interest by the variety of the situations it assembles.
Look closely at a restaurant’s dining room, and the philosopher’s searching eye finds a scene worth his attention. It brings together all sorts of people in all sorts of situations.
Le fond est occupé par la foule des consommateurs solitaires, qui commandent à haute voix, attendent avec impatience, mangent avec précipitation, paient et s'en vont.
The back is occupied by the crowd of solitary consumers, who order in a loud voice, wait with impatience, eat with precipitation, pay and go away.
The back of the room is filled with a crowd of diners eating alone. They order loudly, wait impatiently, eat in a hurry, pay, and leave.
On voit des familles voyageuses qui, contentes d'un repas frugal, l'aiguisent cependant par quelques mets qui leur étaient inconnus, et paraissent jouir avec plaisir d'un spectacle tout à fait nouveau pour elles.
One sees traveling families who, content with a frugal meal, whet it however with some dishes which were unknown to them, and appear to enjoy with pleasure a spectacle quite new for them.
You see families on their travels. They are content with a plain meal, but they liven it up with a few dishes they have never tried. They seem to delight in a scene that is completely new to them.
Près de là sont deux époux parisiens : on les distingue par le chapeau et le schall suspendus sur leur tête; on voit que, depuis longtemps, ils n'ont plus rien à se dire : ils ont fait la partie d'aller à quelque petit spectacle, et il y a à parier que l'un des deux y dormira.
Near there are two Parisian spouses: one distinguishes them by the hat and the shawl hung above their head; one sees that for a long time they have had nothing more to say to each other: they have made the party of going to some little show, and it is a wager that one of the two will sleep there.
Nearby sit a Parisian husband and wife. You can tell them by the hat and the shawl hanging above their heads. Clearly they have had nothing to say to each other for a long time. They have planned an outing to some small theater, and you can bet that one of them will fall asleep there.
- He spells it schall, as the first edition does; the usual spelling became châle.
Plus loin sont deux amants; on en juge par l'empressement de l'un, les petites mignardises de l'autre et la gourmandise de tous les deux. Le plaisir brille dans leurs yeux; et, par le choix qui préside à la composition de leur repas, le présent sert à deviner le passé et à prévoir l'avenir.
Further on are two lovers; one judges it by the eagerness of the one, the little coaxings of the other and the gourmandise of both. Pleasure shines in their eyes; and, by the choice which presides over the composition of their meal, the present serves to guess the past and to foresee the future.
Farther on are two lovers. You can tell by his eagerness, her little coaxing ways, and the greed of both. Pleasure shines in their eyes. The way they choose their meal lets you guess their past and foresee their future.
Au centre est une table meublée d'habitués qui, le plus souvent, obtiennent un rabais et dînent à prix fixe. Ils connaissent par leur nom tous les garçons de salle, et ceux-ci leur indiquent en secret ce qu'il y a de plus frais et de plus nouveau; ils sont là comme un fond de magasin, comme un centre autour duquel les groupes viennent se former, ou, pour mieux dire, comme les canards privés dont on se sert en Bretagne pour attirer les canards sauvages.
In the center is a table furnished with regulars who, most often, obtain a discount and dine at a fixed price. They know by their name all the waiters, and these point out to them in secret what there is freshest and newest; they are there like a stock of the shop, like a center around which the groups come to form, or, to say better, like the tame ducks which one uses in Brittany to attract the wild ducks.
In the center is a table of regulars. Most of them get a discount and dine at a fixed price. They know all the waiters by name, and the waiters tell them in secret what is freshest and newest. They are part of the house’s stock, a center around which groups gather. Or better, they are like the tame ducks used in Brittany to lure wild ones.
- Decoy ducks: tame birds kept to draw wild ducks into nets or traps.
On y rencontre aussi des individus dont tout le monde connaît la figure, et dont personne ne sait le nom. Ils sont à l'aise comme chez eux, et cherchent assez souvent à engager la conversation avec leurs voisins. Ils appartiennent à quelques-unes de ces espèces qu'on ne rencontre qu'à Paris, et qui, n'ayant ni propriété, ni capitaux, ni industrie, n'en font pas moins une forte dépense.
One meets there also individuals whose face everyone knows, and whose name no one knows. They are at ease as at home, and seek fairly often to engage conversation with their neighbors. They belong to some of those species which one meets only in Paris, and which, having neither property, nor capital, nor industry [occupation], nonetheless make a heavy expense.
You also meet people whose faces everyone knows but whose names no one knows. They are as much at ease as if they were at home, and they often try to start a conversation with their neighbors. They belong to certain species found only in Paris. They have no property, no capital, and no trade, yet they spend a great deal all the same.
Enfin, on aperçoit çà et là des étrangers, et surtout des Anglais; ces derniers se bourrent de viandes à portions doubles, demandent tout ce qu'il y a de plus cher, boivent les vins les plus fumeux, et ne se retirent pas toujours sans aides.
Finally, one perceives here and there foreigners, and above all English; these last stuff themselves with meats in double portions, ask for all that is most dear, drink the most heady wines, and do not always withdraw without helpers.
Finally, here and there you see foreigners, above all the English. They stuff themselves with double portions of meat, order the most expensive things there are, and drink the strongest wines. They do not always leave without help.
On peut vérifier chaque jour l'exactitude de ce tableau, et, s'il est fait pour piquer la curiosité, peut-être pourrait-il affliger la morale.
One can verify each day the exactness of this picture, and, if it is made to prick curiosity, perhaps it could grieve morality.
Anyone can check the accuracy of this picture any day. It may stir curiosity, but it might also distress a moralist.
141. — Nul doute que l'occasion et la toute-puissance des objets présents n'entraînent beaucoup de personnes dans des dépenses qui excèdent leurs facultés. Peut-être les estomacs délicats lui doivent-ils quelques indigestions, et la Vénus infime quelques sacrifices intempestifs.
No doubt the occasion and the all-power of the objects present drag many persons into expenses which exceed their means. Perhaps delicate stomachs owe it [the restaurant? the occasion?] some indigestions, and the lowest Venus some untimely sacrifices.
No doubt the chance of the moment, and the overwhelming pull of what is right in front of them, lead many people to spend more than they can afford. Perhaps delicate stomachs owe some indigestion to restaurants, and the lowest Venus some ill-timed offerings.
- Venus, goddess of love, here in her lowest form: paid or casual sex. He hints that restaurant meals led some diners into ill-timed affairs.
Mais ce qui est bien plus funeste pour l'ordre social, c'est que nous regardons comme certain que la réfection solitaire renforce l'égoïsme, habitue l'individu à ne regarder que soi, à s'isoler de tout ce qui l'entoure, à se dispenser d'égards; et par leur conduite avant, pendant et après le repas, dans la société ordinaire, il est facile de distinguer parmi les convives ceux qui vivent habituellement chez le restaurateur.
But what is much more fatal for the social order is that we regard as certain that solitary refection [eating, a meal] reinforces egoism, accustoms the individual to regard only himself, to isolate himself from all that surrounds him, to dispense himself from regards [courtesies]; and by their conduct before, during and after the meal, in ordinary society, it is easy to distinguish among the guests those who live habitually at the restaurateur’s.
But there is something far more harmful to the social order. We are certain that eating alone strengthens selfishness. It teaches a person to think only of himself, to cut himself off from everything around him, and to stop showing others consideration. In ordinary company, you can easily pick out the guests who usually eat in restaurants by how they behave before, during, and after the meal.
- Brillat-Savarin’s own note: “Among other things, when a plate of pieces already cut is passed round, they help themselves and set it down before them without passing it to their neighbor, whom they seldom think about.”
Questions a reader might ask, with short answers and the sections they rest on. Checked in a separate review.
What happens
What is a restaurateur, according to Brillat-Savarin?
Someone whose business is a feast always ready, with dishes sold in portions at a fixed price, as customers ask for them. The list of dishes is the carte, and the bill is the carte à payer.
Where could a visitor to Paris eat before about 1770?
At inns, whose cooking was usually bad; at a few hotels with a table d'hôte that served only the bare necessities at a fixed hour; or by ordering whole joints from the traiteurs in advance.
What four advantages do restaurants offer?
A diner can eat at whatever hour suits him; he knows every price ahead of time and so does not overspend; he can order whatever meal and wines he likes; and travelers, foreigners and people without a kitchen can eat well.
Who does he see in a restaurant dining room?
Lone diners who eat fast and leave, traveling families trying new dishes, a bored married couple, two lovers, regulars who get a discount, people whose faces everyone knows but not their names, and foreigners, above all the English.
Read sections 140.2, 140.3, 140.4, 140.5, 140.6, 140.7, 140.8
Thinking further
Which two privileges of the rich does he say were lost, and how?
Traveling fast and always eating well. New coaches that cover fifty leagues in a day ended the first, and restaurants ended the second, so that anyone with fifteen or twenty francs could eat as well as at a prince's table.
What worries him about restaurants?
That people spend more than they can afford, and some eat too much. Worse, eating alone makes people selfish, and in company you can pick out those who usually eat in restaurants because they do not pass the plate.
How reliable is his story of the first restaurateur?
He says he is tracing the ideas that must have led to the restaurant, not telling what happened, and he wrote about fifty years after the date. The notes say a historian names Roze de Chantoiseau, who advertised his restaurant in 1769.
Who and what this source names, in the original. Each name links to every source in the library that mentions it. Not yet checked.
Ideas
- Inns, hotels and hospitality Lodging and feeding travelers and guests: a monastery's guest rooms, Roman roadside inns, the Great Khan's post houses, Paris restaurants and the first great city hotels. Sections 137, 138.2.
- Rich and poor Wealth, poverty and rank: whether an epidemic struck rich and poor alike, and how money and standing shaped who was helped, served or welcomed. Sections 139.6.
- Travel Journeys by road, river and sea, and what they cost in time, money and comfort, from Horace's barge to the first pleasure cruises by steamship. Sections 139.5, 139.7.
People
- Cardinal Fleury André-Hercule de Fleury, chief minister of Louis XV from 1726 until his death in 1743, a time of peace at home. Sections 138.
- Louis XIV King of France from 1643 to 1715, whose reign was remembered as France's age of glory. Sections 138.
- Philippe, Duke of Orléans Regent of France for the boy king Louis XV from 1715 to 1723. His court was famous for drinking and loose living. Sections 138.
- Venus (Aphrodite) The Roman goddess of love, identified with the Greek Aphrodite and honored as the mother of Aeneas. Some said April was named for her. Sections 141.
Peoples
Places
- Brittany The peninsula of northwestern France, where, Brillat-Savarin says, tame decoy ducks were used to draw wild ones. Sections 140.6.
- Europe The continent from which explorers, colonists and, later, pleasure travelers set out, and to which American tourists sailed in 1867. Sections 139.
- France The kingdom whose kings sent Cartier and Champlain to the St. Lawrence and claimed the lands they explored. Sections 139.
- Paris The capital of France and its largest city, home of Brillat-Savarin's restaurants, Zola's great department store and Jean de Venette's chronicle of the plague of 1348. Sections 138, 138.3, 140.4, 140.7.
Dates
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût, Paris: Flammarion, 1879, vol. 2
University of Ottawa, via Internet Archive. vol. 2, pp. 137–143. No rights statement on the record; published 1879 (public domain in the US by date).
The edition our text follows.
Wellcome Collection, London, via Internet Archive. vol. 2, pp. 187–196. Public Domain Mark, as the record states.
The first edition, where these are sections 132–136.
Difficulty: Moderate, witty and often ironic, with French food words explained in the notes.
Fits these units
- Selling comfort. How did inns, hotels, restaurants, cruises and stores sell comfort and pleasure? (Checking In)
- Being a guest. How were travelers and guests treated, and what did hosts owe them? (Checking In)
- New ways to travel, eat and shop. Who gained from new ways of serving travelers, diners and shoppers, and what changed for them? (Innovation in History)
Key terms
- restaurateur
- the keeper of a restaurant; Brillat-Savarin also uses the word for the place itself
- carte
- French for the menu, the list of dishes with their prices
- table d'hôte
- the "host's table," one shared meal at an inn, served at a set hour and price, with no choice of dishes
- traiteurs
- caterers, cooks whose guild gave them the right to sell cooked dishes such as ragouts
- gastronomy
- the knowledge of eating well, which Brillat-Savarin treats as a science
- gourmet
- a person who knows a great deal about good food and enjoys it
- league
- an old measure of distance, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles)
Questions
- Comprehension
According to Brillat-Savarin, what was hard about eating well in Paris around 1770, and what four advantages do restaurants offer?
- Analysis
Brillat-Savarin says restaurants destroyed one of the great privileges of the rich and powerful. What does he mean? Using his own details, who could and could not reach the finest food?
- Analysis (reliability)
Brillat-Savarin had eaten in Paris restaurants for many years, but he wrote his story of the first restaurateur some fifty years after the date he gives. Which parts of this text work best as evidence of what he saw, and which need more care? Why?
- Connection
In Opening day of the great sale, Émile Zola's store owner sells rare carpets for almost what he paid and puts cheap rugs in a corner, from fifteen francs. Compare this store with Brillat-Savarin's restaurants. Who is each business trying to attract, and what does each writer seem to think of it?
Activity
Each group takes one table from the dining room scene, such as the lone diners, the traveling family, the married couple, the lovers, the regulars, or the English. The group writes the bill (the carte à payer) that table might receive, inventing items that fit the clues in the text and underlining the clue behind each item, and reads it aloud while the class guesses which table it belongs to. The class then discusses which of the portraits seem drawn from life and which seem to be stock jokes.
A printable worksheet for this source · More on Hearth Learning
New translation from the French text of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s Physiologie du goût (Paris: E. Flammarion, 1879), volume 2, pages 137–143. Sections 137–141 of Meditation 28 complete, about half of the meditation; it goes on with the rivalry among restaurateurs, cheap fixed-price restaurants, and famous restaurateurs such as Beauvilliers. The first edition (Paris: Sautelet, 1826 [December 1825]) numbers these sections 132–136 and differs in a few words, none of which changes the sense; they are listed in Compare.
His section numbers are kept, and his four subheadings are translated. He uses restaurateur both for the keeper and, in phrases like “chez les restaurateurs,” for his establishment; we write “restaurant” where he means the place. Étrangers means anyone not from Paris as well as foreigners: in section 138, about outsiders who could not find a good meal, it is “visitors”; where he lists them beside travelers or the English, it is “foreigners.” His long chain of “that … that …” clauses in section 138 is broken into sentences. For the lovers, the French says only “the one … the other”; “his … her” is our choice.
His own footnote to section 141 is given as the last footnote and marked as his.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût (Paris: E. Flammarion, 1879), 2 vols., vol. 2, Méditation XXVIII, sections 137–141, pp. 137–143. Digital text: Internet Archive item physiologiedugo02bril (University of Ottawa copy), OCR text, extracted by code and read word by word against the page images. Compared with the first edition (Paris: A. Sautelet, 1826, vol. 2, pp. 187–196; Internet Archive b28748177_0002, Wellcome Library copy). The author’s text and his own footnote only; the edition has no editor’s notes in this passage.
- Transliterated
- Not needed: the original is in the Latin alphabet
- Close English
- Close translation drafted by Claude (Anthropic), kept as a working draft
- Simplified English
- Drafted by Claude (Anthropic) from the original and checked unit by unit against the original in a separate review, then compared with earlier translations and tested for borrowed wording.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Specialist review
- Not yet. Readings a specialist should confirm are listed for later review.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: public domain. Our translations and notes: CC BY-SA 4.0; credit “Hearth Library, hearthinteractive.com” with a link.
Sources for the notes
- Brillat-Savarin, Jean Anthelme. Physiologie du goût. 2 vols. Paris: E. Flammarion, 1879. Vol. 2, pp. 137–143, text and page images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/physiologiedugo02bril
- Brillat-Savarin, Jean Anthelme. Physiologie du goût. 2 vols. Paris: A. Sautelet, 1826. Vol. 2, title page and pp. 187–196, text and page images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/b28748177_0002
- Preface to Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût, vol. 1, pp. i–iv. Paris: E. Flammarion, 1879. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/physiologiedugo01bril (Belley; country lawyer; the Constituent Assembly; flight to Switzerland and two years in the United States; Court of Cassation after 1799; death in Paris, February 2, 1826).
- “Brillat-Savarin, Anthelme.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. 4, 571. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911. Wikisource transcription (born April 1, 1755; deputy in 1789; exile; died February 2, 1826).
- “Fleury, André Hercule de.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. 10, 500–501. 1911. Wikisource transcription (chief minister from 1726; died January 29, 1743; orderly government and prosperity).
- Prinet, Léon. “Orleans, Philip II., Duke of.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. 20, 286. 1911. Wikisource transcription (regency from 1715 to 1723).
- Grieve, Alexander James. “Louis XIV.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. 17, 42–43. 1911. Wikisource transcription (born 1638; king from May 14, 1643; died 1715).
- Visser, Margaret. “Twenty-Two Different Ways of Cooking Veal.” Review of Rebecca L. Spang, The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000). London Review of Books 22, no. 23 (November 30, 2000). https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n23/margaret-visser/twenty-two-different-ways-of-cooking-veal (restaurant as a restoring broth; Roze de Chantoiseau and his directory of 1769; the word meaning the place by 1786; the table d’hôte; traiteurs’ guild rights to ragouts). Spang’s book itself not read.
- Littré, Émile. Dictionnaire de la langue française. Paris: Hachette, 1873–1874. Entries “lieue,” “châle,” “canard,” “roué,” “restaurant,” “traiteur.” https://www.littre.org (the league; châle from Arabic schâl; the tame decoy duck; roués as the regent’s companions; restaurant as a strong broth, then the place).
- Christie’s. Lot note for Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût (Paris: A. Sautelet, 1826 [i.e. 1825]). https://www.christies.com.cn/lot/lot-629012 (the book appeared at the beginning of December 1825).