It may seem stranage to speak about 'the art of eating' especially when in so many parts of the world, just getting enough food is a matter of survival. But for those of us lucky enough to have the resources of the modern world, where virtually every type of food is now globally available, I do feel that it is my duty to share with you the are of eating well. It is a sin, I think to thoghtlessly plunder one's tastebuds with food that is composed of inorganic chemicals.
As the title suggests I am a lover of good food; a gourmet (though not in the strictest sense of the title). The gourmand may be tempted, in their relishing in the shining joy of wonderful taste experiences to overindulge (indeed the word gourmand has a connotation of excessive eating - which we must guard against!) While we all have our moments of overindulgence, the true value in food lies not in over-eating but in making the choice to eat discriminatingly. Balance is the key here.
The result will certainly seem as if you are being all the more indulgent. Let me try to explain: Simplicity compliments complexity in cooking and in food's taste. Having less of something truely divine tasting often means more enjoyment if you take the trouble to savour the moment.
Now I don't mean to sound regimental. Au contraire savouring means to derive more enjoyment from one's food. And even this is a dicipline- but one that allows you to become a gourmet!
And if you do anything in excess, let it be giving yourself over to relishing the moment you take your first bight of something delicious. Or let it be to the excessive pleasure that providing good food for those you love (and even those you don't so much) around you can bring.
In this blog I will share with you some of my thoughts about food and some of my favourite recipes, some of them simple (and these are often the ones I like best) as well as more complicated and daring ones, which lend a certain amount of excitement to the palate. I will discuss wines and food combinations, gathering people together for meals, preparing for dinner parties and little tricks that make such gatherings work, as well as various texts that I have read on food and cooking.
More than anything though, I hope that I can awaken in you a new sensation: an enthusiasm for good food and the joy that this can bring into your life; as the gourmand, already knows, if food is the source of life, then to love food is to love life.
Mon Bonne
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