* The Physiology of Taste, Jean A. Brillat-Savarin, translated by M. F. K. Fisher, Knopf, 1971.
M. F. K. Fisher, my favorite writer on food in the English language, must have been born to translate Brillat-Savarin’s historic book of dissertations on dining. The book is essential for a fine library concerning food but you may find certain sections of it a little tedious, a bit like War and Peace or the works of Marcel Proust. There are many enchanting sections, however. His chapters about hunting in Connecticut during a visit to America (he played piano in a Manhattan theater during his days of exile here) and his essays on oysters would make the volume worth owning for their sake alone.
