Palate In Revolution Grimod De La Reynie

This delighful biography of a marginally important 18th Century French food writer, Grimod de La Reyniere is worthwhile in part because it gives some account of the rise of the French view of their place in the world of gastronomy. The book is even more fun on account of the splendid aphorisms. On Tokay: Like many people of our acquiantance, the great reputation which is enjoyed by this wine seems unjustly acquired. On Frogs' legs: A gourmand has no false delicacy: his first duty is to sample everything andt to have an aversion to nothing. On Formality: All ceremony is to the detriment of dinner. And finally and with no irony whatsoever: if France has become the sovereign arbiter in matters of taste, it isto a great ex tent as a result of the care it takes not to reject any foreign discovery. . . . Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG