The Physiology of Taste (21 page)

When they reached this state, the Sultan had two odalisks of an overpowering beauty given to them as companions; but the women failed in their most skilful attacks upon the dervishes’ continence, and the two saints emerged from their subtle trial as unsullied as the Visapur diamond.

The Sultan still kept them in his palace, and seemingly to celebrate their triumph he submitted them for several weeks to a diet equally as luxurious as the first one, but made up exclusively of fish.

Finally the dervishes were submitted once again to the combined forces of youth and beauty; but this time nature won, and the too-happy ascetics succumbed … most magnificently, it must be added.

It is probable that, if the course of events brought about a resurgence of monastic foundations, the superiors who in these present days would be charged with organizing them would adopt a diet much better aimed at the accomplishment of monkish duties.
¹⁴

42: Fish, by which I indicate all species of it considered as a whole, is for a philosopher an endless source of meditation and of astonishment.
¹⁵

The varied forms of these strange creatures, the senses which they lack and the restrictions of those which they possess, their different means of existence, the influence upon this of the places in which they must live and breathe and move about: all these things extend the world of our ideas and the limitless modifications which spring from matter, from movement, from life itself.

As for myself, I feel something like a real respect for fish, which comes from my profound persuasion that they are plainly antediluvian creatures; for the great Flood, which drowned our granduncles toward the eighteenth century of the creation of the world, was for the fishes no more nor less than a period of joy, conquest, and festivity.

43: Whosoever pronounces the word
truffle
gives voice to one which awakens erotic and gastronomical dreams equally in the sex that wears skirts and the one that sprouts a beard.

This most honest sharing of emotions springs from the fact that the renowned tuber is not only delicious to the taste, but is believed to rouse certain powers whose tests of strength are accompanied by the deepest pleasure.

The beginnings of the truffle are not known: it can be found,
but none understands how it is born or how it develops. The cleverest men have devoted themselves to it: they have believed that the seeds were found, and that they could be sown at will. Useless efforts! Lying promises! Never yet has such a planting been followed by a harvest, and this is perhaps not too unfortunate; for, since the price of truffles depends largely on public whim, perhaps they would be less highly valued if they were abundant and inexpensive.

“Good news, my dear friend!” I said one time to Madame de V …; “we have just been presented in the Society for the Encouragement of Industry with a new method by which the most exquisite lace can be produced, and at practically no cost!”

“Heavens!” that beautiful lady answered with a bored look. “If lace were cheap, do you suppose that I would bother to wear such ragged-looking stuff?”

44: The Romans had a kind of truffle; but it does not seem probable that the French variety got as far as their tables. The ones which were so highly prized by them came from Greece, from Africa, and above all from Lybia; their flesh was white or reddish, and the Lybian truffles were at once the most sought after and the most delicate and odorous.

It is a long time from the Romans until now, and the renewal of a taste for truffles is fairly recent, for I have read several old pharmacy manuals where no mention of them was made: it could almost be said that the generation which lives and breathes at this moment of writing has witnessed that renaissance.

Truffles were rare in Paris as near ago as 1780; they could be found only at the
Hôtel des Américains
and the
Hôtel de Provence
, and then in but small amounts; and a truffled turkey was a luxurious item which could be seen only on the tables of the highest nobility or the best-paid whores.

We owe their increasing presence to the merchants of fine edibles, whose number also has increased greatly, and who,
seeing that this certain article was in high favor, have bought it up all over the kingdom and who, paying high prices and ordering it to be shipped to Paris by messenger and by fast coach express, have caused a general widespread hunt for truffles (this last being necessary since, impossible as they are to cultivate, it is only by careful search that the supply of them can be added to).

It can be stated that at this moment the glory of the truffle is at its peak. No man would dare assert that he had dined at a table where at least one truffled dish was wanting. The intrinsic excellence of an
entrée
counts for nothing if it is not enriched with truffles. And who has not felt his mouth water at the mention of
truffes à la provençale
?

A
sauté
of truffles is a plate which is concocted and served by the mistress of the house herself; in short, the truffle is the diamond of the art of cookery.

I have looked for a reason for this preference, for it has seemed to me that many other foods had an equal right to it, and I have found it in the general conviction that the truffle contributes to sexual pleasures; moreover, I have been led to conclude that the greatest part of our perfections, our predilections, and our admirations spring from the same cause, in so powerful and general an homage do we hold this tyrannical, capricious sense!

This discovery of mine led me on to wonder if the truffle’s amorous effects were real, and the opinion of it based on fact.

Such a research is doubtless shocking and could be snickered at by the sly; but evil be to him who thinks it! Any truth is good to know. First of all I talked with the ladies, because they possess both a clear eye and a delicate sense of tact; but it was soon plain to me that I should have begun this project some forty years earlier, and I could draw out only ironical or evasive answers.

A single friend took me in good faith, and I shall let her speak for herself: she is a sensitive unaffected woman, virtuous without being smug, and for whom passion is by now no more than a memory.

“Monsieur,” she said to me, “in the days when we still served early suppers, I once served one to my husband and a friend. Verseuil (which was the latter’s name) was a good-looking fellow, far from dull, who often came to our house; but he had never
said a word to me which might infer that he was my suitor: and if he flirted a little with me, it was in such a discreet way that only a fool could have misunderstood it. He seemed fated, that day, to keep me company, for my husband had a business appointment and soon left us. Our supper, although light enough, had however for its main dish a superb truffled fowl. The subdelegate of Périgueux had sent it to us. In those days that was truly a treat; and, knowing its origin, you can imagine how near perfection it came. The truffles above all were delicious, and you know how much I love them; still, I restrained myself; and I drank but one glass of wine; I had a flash of feminine intuition that the evening would not come to an end without some sort of disturbance. Soon after supper my husband left, and I was alone with Verseuil, whom he looked upon as quite without menace to our ménage. For a time the conversation flowed along without much excitement. Then it seemed to become more restricted and more absorbing. Verseuil showed himself successively as flattering, expansive, affectionate, caressing, and finally realizing that I did no more than lightly turn aside his prettiest phrases, he became so insistent that I could no longer hide from myself what he hoped would result. I awoke, then, as from a dream, and repulsed him all the more easily since I felt no real attraction to him. He persisted with an activity which could have become really offensive; I was hard put to it to bring him to his senses; and I admit to my shame that I succeeded in doing it only by pretending to him that there might still be some hope for him, another time. Finally he left me; I went to bed and slept like a babe. But the next morning was Judgment Day for me; I thought over my behavior of the night before, and I found it infamous. I ought to have stopped Verseuil at his first protestations and not have lent myself to a conversation which from the beginning promised ill. My pride ought to have awakened sooner, and my eyes should have frowned severely on him; I should have rung for help, cried out, become angry, done, in other words, everything that I did not do. What can I say to you, Monsieur? I blame the whole thing on the truffles; I am truly convinced that they had given to me a dangerous inclination; and if I did not renounce them completely (which would have been too stern a punishment for
me), at least I never eat them, now, that the pleasure they give me is not mixed with a little mistrust.”
¹⁶

One avowal, no matter how frank it may be, cannot form a whole doctrine. Therefore I continued my investigations; I searched through my own memories; I consulted the men who through their worth share most completely my confidence in them as individuals; I brought them together in a committee, in a tribunal, in a senate, in a sanhedrin, in an Areopagus, and we have rendered the following decision, to be commented upon by writers of the twenty-fifth century:

“The truffle is not a positive aphrodisiac; but it can, in certain situations, make women tenderer and men more agreeable.”

White truffles are found in Piedmont which are highly thought of; they have a little taste of garlic which does nothing to flaw their perfection, since it leaves no disagreeable aftertaste.

The best truffles of France come from Périgord and from upper Provence; it is toward the month of January that they hold all their flavor.

They grow in Bugey, as well, and of the highest quality; but this variety has the great fault of being hard to keep. I have tried four times to bring them in good shape to the people who would most appreciate them in Paris, and have succeeded but once; but at least my friends understood my good intentions and the merit of a difficulty nobly met.

The truffles of Burgundy and the Dauphiné are of an inferior quality; they are hard and lack flavor; thus it is that there are truffles and truffles, as with everything else.
¹⁷

Dogs and pigs which have been especially trained are most often used for truffle hunting; but there are men too whose glance is so keen that they can tell with some certainty by looking at a piece of land whether any truffles are to be found in it, and what will be their size and quality.

It remains for us only to investigate whether the truffle is hard to digest.

Our answer is no.

This official and final decision is founded on the following facts:

(1) The nature of the object itself (the truffle is a food which is easy to chew, and light in weight, and which contains nothing hard or leathery);

(2) Our observations during the past fifty years, which have unrolled without our ever having seen a truffle eater with indigestion;

(3) The testimony of the most famous physicians of Paris, a notably gourmand city and preeminently truffle loving;

(4) Finally, the daily behavior of the doctors of law, who, all things being equal, eat more truffles than any other class of citizens; witness, among others, Dr. Malouet, who absorbed enough of them to give indigestion to an elephant, and still lived to be eighty-six.

Therefore it can be regarded as a certainty that truffles as a food are as healthy as they are pleasant, and that if they are eaten in moderation they will be assimilated as smoothly as a letter falls into a mailbox.

This does not mean that it is impossible to be indisposed after a big meal where, among many other things, truffles were eaten; but such accidents happen only to those unfortunates who stuff themselves at the first course as if they are ramming heavy artillery, and then cram in still more at the second, for fear of letting any of the good things pass them by.

This is plainly not the fault of the truffles; and it is certain that there would be many more sufferers if, in the same circumstances, they had gobbled a like quantity of potatoes.

Let us end with a story which shows how easy it is to be mistaken when we do not watch carefully.

One day I had invited to dine with me a Monsieur S …, a most charming old gentleman, and a highly developed gourmand. Whether it was because I did not know his personal idiosyncrasies or simply because I wished to prove to all my guests that their satisfaction was my chief concern, I had not spared the use of truffles, which appeared in this case in the guise of a generously stuffed young turkey hen.

M.S…. ate of it energetically; and since I knew that he had lived at least until that moment without dying from it, I let him
continue, at the same time begging him not to hurry, since nobody had designs on the property legated in his will.

Everything went off very well indeed, and the party broke up rather late; but as soon as old M. S … reached his home he was seized with violent cramps in his stomach, a feeling of nausea, a convulsive cough, and a general illness.

This condition lasted for some time and gave rise to much anxiety. It was of course believed to be an indigestion from the truffles he had eaten. Then nature came to the aid of the victim. M. S … opened his capacious mouth, and violently belched out a single fragment of truffle, which flew against the wall hangings and bounced back with such force that it was not without danger to the people who were trying to make him more comfortable.

At the same instant all the unpleasant symptoms ceased, peace reigned again, digestion took up its interrupted duties, and the sick man fell asleep and awoke the next morning in good health and quite without resentment toward me.

The cause of this illness was soon known. M. S … had eaten for a great many years; his teeth had not been able to withstand the hard usage he had given them; several of these priceless little bones had fallen out, and the ones left in his mouth did not bite together as they should.