Excess

I was delighted to note, on one of my neighbourhood wanderings (incurable flâneur that I am) that a local street is named after M. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

It tickled me that he is described as “magistrat et gastronome”: only in France, I suspect, would the two be considered of equal importance.

“Oh yes, he was a brilliant lawyer and politician. But his real claim to fame, bien entendu, is that he really loved his food.”

I first came across the name of this renowned epicure in the beautiful burgundian village of Époisses. We were tasting the local cheese, a rich-runny marvel of pungent creaminess, its dusk orange rind washed lovingly with marc de Bourgogne. Our host proudly told us that Brillat-Savarin himself had proclaimed Époisses the King of cheeses. (Not the Baby Cheeses, then?)

Having done some research, I now realise what a high honour it was to have been thus described by such a fromagophilic giant of gastronomy. This is the man who wrote: "Dinner without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye." He obviously took food very seriously indeed; another famous quote of his asserts that "The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star."

Riiight.

Perhaps the street sign should read: “magistrat, gastronome et hyperboliste”.