BrillatSavarin

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (born 1755 in Belley, Ain, France; died 1826 in Paris) was a French lawyer, magistrate, politician, and gastronome. He is best known for his major work The Physiology of Taste (Physiologie du goût), published in 1825, which is regarded as a foundational text in the study of gastronomy.

The Physiology of Taste is a reflective, wide-ranging treatise on food, flavor, and eating. Brillat-Savarin combines philosophy, history, anecdote, and practical observations to explore how taste arises in the senses, how digestion influences appetite, and how cultural practices shape culinary traditions. The book emphasizes the social and moral dimensions of dining, the pleasures of good cuisine, and the idea that eating can be understood as an inquiry into human nature and culture. It is noted for its literary style and its influence on later culinary writing and thought.

Brillat-Savarin’s work helped establish modern gastronomy as a field that blends physiology, psychology, culture, and ethics. It contributed lasting ideas about the culinary arts, the sensory experience of eating, and the social rituals surrounding meals. The name Brillat-Savarin is sometimes written with a hyphen, and the aphorism “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are” (in French, “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, et je te dirai ce que tu es”) remains widely associated with him.