The Physiology of Taste by Anthelme Jean Brillat-Savarin Read Free Book Online Page A

invasion of England, which never takes place. Napoleon crowns himself at Notre Dame, the pope attending the ceremony (2 December).
The story runs that the duc de Tallyrand set the young Antonin Carême – already a talented
pâtissier
, adept at creating replicas of classical architecture in pastry, marzipan and spun sugar – the task of devising a different menu for every day of the year, using ingredients of the season. Passing with flying colours, he is trained in the duke’s kitchen and goes on to become a culinary superstar, and one of the principal originators of
haute cuisine
. Napoleon would borrow him for special assignments.
Around this time the Café Hardy in Paris invents the
déjeuner à la fourchette
. David appointed court painter to Napoleon. Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony.
    DATE: 1805
    AUTHOR’S LIFE: In Paris during the winter, BS is a keen member of the Society for the Encouragement of Industry and the antiquarian society, the Académie Celtique. He continues practising the violin (he owns a Stradivarius) and even composes a Mass.
    LITERARY CONTEXT: Chateaubriand:
René
.
Wordsworth completes first version of
The Prelude
.
Birth of Tocqueville.
    HISTORICAL EVENTS: Napoleon king of Italy (May). Third Coalition formed (July). French victories at Ulm (October) and Austerlitz (December). Nelson defeats Franco-Spanish fleet at battle of Trafalgar (21 October).
Portrait of
Josephine de Beauharnais
by Prud’hon. American inventor Oliver Evans designs (but does not make) first refrigeration machine. Absinthe first manfuactured in France by Maison Pernod Fils, Franche-Comté.
    DATE: 1806
    AUTHOR’S LIFE: Observes with approbation the progress of Napoleon’s army. His brother Frédéric is commanding a battalion in Germany and two nephews are in Naples with Joseph Bonaparte. Acquires more land to add to his estates.
    LITERARY CONTEXT: Grimod de La Reyniere:
Journal des gourmands et des belles
.
Maria Eliza Rundel:
A New System of Domestic Cookery
.
    HISTORICAL EVENTS: Austria concludes humiliating Peace of Pressburg with France (January). Joseph Bonaparte king of Naples (March); Louis Bonaparte king of Holland (June). Confederation of the Rhine formed with Napoleon as its “Protector” (July); Holy Roman Empire dissolved (August). Prussian army defeated at Jena (October). Berlin Decrees (November): blockade of Britain declared. Arc de Triomphe commissioned (unfinished at the Restoration in 1814, when work is suspended).
    DATE: 1807
    AUTHOR’S LIFE: In gratitude for his frustrating her attempted suicide, Mme Récamier presents him with a terracotta bust of herself of which he is extremely proud.
    LITERARY CONTEXT: Mme de Stael:
Corinne
.
Hegel:
Phenomenology of Mind
.
    HISTORICAL EVENTS: Russians defeated at Friedland (June). France achieves European hegemony by Treaty of Tilsit with Russia and Prussia (July).
Napoleon orders construction of the Bourse in Paris: designed in neoclassical style by Brongniart, it is completed in 1825. Sir Humphrey Davy wins Napoleon Prize from Institut de France for his
On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity;
discovers sodium and potassium.
    DATE: 1808
    AUTHOR’S LIFE: Publishes a pamphlet,
Théorie judiciare
, concerning the selection of judges, evidently intending to follow it up with a longer work. Napoleon elevates the entire bench of the
Cour de cassation
to the new, imperial nobility, BS becoming
chevalier de l’Empire
.
    LITERARY CONTEXT: Grimod de La Reynière:
Manuel des amphitryons
.
Fourier:
Théorie des quatre mouvements et des destinies générales
.
Goethe:
Faust
(part 1).
    HISTORICAL EVENTS: Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain. Peninsular War begins. Napoleon starts to re-create a hereditary aristocracy: by the end of his rule he has created 3000 nobles. His court has already become a public spectacle of pomp and elegance, reviving ceremonies practised under the
ancien régime
. imperial University” founded to control education in