WEBVTT
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.159
If that sounds familiar, it should.
00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:44.240
It's Chopin's first prelude, which I played last podcast, the prelude in G in C major.
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:48.000
But I am switching the format now and I thought I'd restart at one.
00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:58.479
For the next 24 podcasts, I will play a Chopin prelude at the start of the podcast and a Bach prelude in the same key at the end of the podcast.
00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:08.959
Choosing preludes in the same key allows the listener to compare a romantic sound with a classic sound while holding the tonality or key constant.
00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:17.760
Chopin finished his twenty four preludes in a monk's cell in the monastery of Valdemosa on the island of Majorca.
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:31.439
Similarly, Bach, a hundred and thirty years before, wrote much of the well tempered clavier, also consisting of twenty four preludes in the twelve major and twelve minor keys, in a prison cell.
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:40.239
He was in prison for obstinacy, having repeatedly demanded release from employment so he could take a better paying job.
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:50.000
In those days you had to ask permission of your employer to be fired from the job before accepting another job with another employer.
00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:56.560
We continue with Bien manger pour bien vivre eat well to live well.
00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:03.120
In this podcast I have translated the first chapter which is entitled Gastronomy.
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:05.359
So we begin.
00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:11.120
Gastronomy represents an entire world because it is both art and science.
00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:13.120
Gastronomy is an art.
00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:20.400
The concept will cause certain people to protest those who believe you have to eat to live and not live to eat.
00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.840
For them, the art of eating has no right to exist.
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:32.719
And my comment already of course by eat to live he means eating merely to survive and not for enjoyment.
00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.000
And so the art of eating is meaningless to such people.
00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.400
I don't believe there are such people.
00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:47.360
Even a die hard steak eater who limits his choices to meat and potatoes is driven by the taste, aroma, texture, and appearance of the food.
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:50.319
It's just that he has limited interests, that's all.
00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:57.280
There are even gastronomic principles at play with the one his limited taste.
00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.240
There is an art to cooking a steak, for example.
00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:02.800
There is also an art to baking a potato.
00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:04.319
And there is science.
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:12.479
To properly grill a steak, the art is knowing how to light a fire and to bank the coals in order to obtain an even heat.
00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:16.400
And the science is knowing what cuts of meat grill best.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:25.280
Those with higher fat contents from feedlot finished finishing undergo more Mayard Browning because of the lower water content in the flesh.
00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:26.800
That's the science.
00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:29.280
We could return to the book.
00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:40.960
This is the result of atavistic mortifications that reach back to the time of early Christianity, the result of not really thinking about gastronomy as an art.
00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:54.400
The triumph of Christianity over the religions associated with Roman decadence has introduced into Western cultures an austerity that is associated with the rise of the Christian religion.
00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:59.439
The initial austerity eventually became a virtue and then a dogma.
00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:11.120
And my comment there is truth to the idea that early Christians rebelled against the corruption of Rome, and it's easy to see how that would harden into dogma.
00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:15.919
But it's also true that monasteries became famous for their bon vivant attitudes.
00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:20.720
A lot of distilled spirits, cheeses and breads originated in monasteries.
00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.480
Medieval monks were famously depicted in paintings as plump and self satisfied.
00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:36.560
So I'm not convinced that atavistic mortifications and ancient yearning for suffering and austerity explains why some people as true the art of eating.
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:40.800
I think it's more explained by the psychology of individual differences.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.040
We return to the book.
00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:48.560
Meanwhile, little by little Christians needed to express their religious feelings using art.
00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:53.839
One began to see a rapid evolution of art from the catacombs to the Gothic era.
00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:58.079
Christian art was born on the ruins of Greco Roman art.
00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:00.800
The sense of taste followed the same slope.
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.040
Days of fasting became less frequent and lengths became shorter.
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Art is nothing then other than the cause and effect of the refinement of certain senses, such as vision, audition, and touch.
00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:19.519
Why deprive the sense of taste its rightful place in the genesis and triumph of art?
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Vision created painting and sculpture, audition created music, and taste created gastronomy.
00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:34.800
As will be exposed in the rest of this book, the sensation of pleasure caused by a good meal does not depend solely on taste.
00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.920
There are other senses that come into play vision, aroma, etc.
00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:47.920
Gastronomy therefore is not solely dependent on the palate, it also depends on mental processes and the interplay of the senses.
00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.040
Gastronomy is therefore a complete art.
00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.399
And here's my comment to what he said.
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I would go still farther.
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To me, gastronomy has five dimensions, making it the most complex of all the arts.
00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:15.279
The first dimension is taste, which is sensed by the taste buds found in four types of papillae on the tongue, which produce the so called Aristotelian tastes of sweet, bitter, salty, and sour.
00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:27.279
Second you have aroma sensed both through the nares of the nose as well as the back of the throat, making it possible to appreciate the pungency of blue cheese in two different ways.
00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:36.560
The third dimension is tactile, whereby you feel the food and judge where it is positioned in the mouth as well as its freshness and safety to eat.
00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:42.240
The fourth dimension is appearance, measured both in black and white and in color.
00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.160
And the fifth dimension is sound, which adds complexity to texture.
00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:53.439
Thus a cracker feels brittle and crumbly and at the same time this is confirmed by the sound it makes when it is chewed.
00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:56.160
We return to the book.
00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.600
Gastronomy is also a science, applied science.
00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:07.360
Some will belittle science's importance by claiming that it's merely technology or empiricism at play, not science.
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.759
But really, it's important to differentiate empiricism and science.
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:18.399
After all, empiricism is merely a step on the way to science, a passing step from ignorance to knowledge.
00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.680
The goal of the human spirit is to replace empiricism with science.
00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:41.839
And my comment to that, differentiating empiricism is not from science, actually, which is what he's doing, actually in the field of the philosophy of science, one can divide the scientific method into two human efforts, empiricism and theory.
00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:47.839
This division goes back to the fourth century BCE when Aristotle was Plato's student.
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Plato focused mainly on theory and Aristotle more on evidence.
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Taking a beach as an illustration, Aristotle walks along a beach and finds shells that he categorizes into muscles and clams, simply by the power of observation and knowledge he gained in his youth.
00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:16.399
Plato's, without walking the beach, might theorize that all life gets its character from some sort of predetermined code.
00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:25.199
And he might convey to Aristotle, who was his student, that variants in shape and color of the muscles and clams come from that code.
00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.720
And of course, at that time they didn't know about the genetic code.
00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:30.800
This would be a theory.
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:39.200
So Plato is theorizing that the differences between the two bivalves comes from some sort of a code.
00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:45.519
So, in a way, then the scientific method needs both empiricism and theory.
00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:52.399
That is Aristotle's observations on the beach and Plato's theory about predetermined code.
00:08:53.200 --> 00:09:13.200
The author, Depomion, seems to suffer from a common malady among scientists that there is something far more special about theorizing than there is about collecting data, and that empiricism is necessarily imperfect and it's a way on the path to true knowledge.
00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:19.840
One sees this kind of differentiation between empiricism and theorizing in universities.
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:30.000
Empiricists are often looked down on by theoreticians, even though it's far easier to develop theories when presented with empirically derived data.
00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.600
Okay, so we return to the book.
00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.120
Let's assume that gastronomy is only one technique.
00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:44.080
This technique is governed by real science, applied science, having areas in common with all other sciences.
00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:51.279
One can attribute to a book an artistic ability while denying him or her all scientific ability.
00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:57.679
Such a cook might blindly execute recipes, but he or she will never create a new technique.
00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:07.519
This cook will remain forever constrained by an infinitely small circle of abilities, not even aware that there might exist new combinations that could come into play.
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.879
Such a cook will always be a bad cook.
00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:15.919
And my response to that is once again I have to disagree with the author.
00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.799
History is replete with superb artisans who lack a scientific background.
00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.399
Take for example the legendary glass blowers of Murano.
00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:35.279
A glass blower might make a wealth of gorgeous art, but he or she may not be able to give a lecture or write a book about the science of silicon, the element from which glass is made.
00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:45.200
However, the glassmaker would know from experience and from the teachers that glass crazes when it is subjected to rapid cooling.
00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:55.759
A theoretician might go farther and talk about the intersilicon bonds that are involved in crazing during cooling.
00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:04.399
So a practitioner would take the theory and develop a new product, but you don't have to know about the bond angles to do that.
00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:10.080
You just have to apply cause and effect, uh that is through experience.
00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.279
The book continues.
00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:21.200
The discovery of a new dish does more for humanity than the discovery of a new star, so says Ria Savarin.
00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:29.679
Perhaps this is a bit exaggerated, however, it's arguably just as difficult to find a new planet as it is to find a new dish.
00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.399
A cook must be cultivated, well educated person, like the gourmet.
00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:47.039
Just remember that the combination of foie gras and truffles is the work of Rossini and the use of kidneys to heighten flavors of certain dishes was imagined by Meyerbear.
00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:57.600
So my answer response to this is I'm writing this just as we are being regaled with the fab fabulous new discoveries of the James Webb telescope.
00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:12.080
So it's hard for me to even imagine that a new dish is worthy of a new star just because of the breathtaking images that have been coming and then the notions of being able to see within 200 million years of the beginning of time.
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:21.039
But as for the three names that he mentions, Priya Savarin, Rossini, and Meyerbear, I'll give you a little background on each.
00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:34.720
Jean Antelme Priasavarin is best known for his book La Physiologie du Goût or the Physiology of Taste, and for his most notable quote Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are.
00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:44.879
Pria Savarin was a lawyer, and his favorite pastime when he wasn't in court was the writing and thinking about the glories of French cuisine.
00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:54.399
Giacono Antonio Rossino Rossini wrote thirty-nine operas, the most famous being The Barber of Seville.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:04.639
The last forty years of his life were devoted to a bon vivant lifestyle, which included consumption of one of his favorite dishes that he made up, the Tournado Rossini.
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:18.320
This is a one inch thick piece of tenderloin fried in butter, then perched on a buttery crouton topped with a slice of duck foie gras and a healthy slice of truffle, then surrounded by a couple tablespoons of Madeira sauce.
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.639
The combination makes it one of the very best dishes of Haute Cuisine.
00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:32.639
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a German Jewish opera composer whose works were popular throughout Europe during the 19th century.
00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:47.120
And another one of his creations besides the operas was Eggs Meyerbeer, which featured sherred or baked eggs next to grilled kidneys and topped with perigo sauce, which is a brown sauce with chopped truffles in it.
00:13:47.440 --> 00:14:02.080
Depomion holds up a steak with fatty foie gras and fatty Madeira sauce and fatty eggs with grilled kidneys and another fatty brown sauce as paragons of flavor combinations, education, and cultivated tastes.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:14.240
However, we now know that there are a lot of very good vegetables that are not fatty and have wonderful flavors, especially as you find in Mexican or in Chinese cuisine.
00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.039
So things have changed.
00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:18.720
Anyway, back to the book.
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:26.080
The gourmet, who must be a cook in his soul, must understand the how and why of what he and she does.
00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.879
From that day in his or her hands, cooking becomes a science.
00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:47.360
If one wants to physiologically understand how and why a well prepared and well served meal might give us tremendous satisfaction, it is important to have basic understanding of food, of digestion, of assimilation, and of their effects on our psyche.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:58.799
Does this mean that it is absolutely necessary to know the exact chemical composition of the tissues of an oyster, for example, to appreciate its uncuous texture and its flavor?
00:14:59.120 --> 00:14:59.440
No.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.639
One can be an artist without being a scientist.
00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:09.440
One can admire a cathedral without knowing stereotomy and the principle of material resistance.
00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:26.559
One must admit that an observer who has general ideas on the construction of faults and the load bearing of pillars will discover in the church's apps items to admire that would certainly escape the attention of a tourist armed with the latest travel guide from Bedeker.
00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.759
Every art has its scientific side.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.960
Art would not exist without the science of the builder.
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.399
Sculpture would be nowhere without the science of anatomy.
00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.919
Painting would be nothing without the concept of luminosity.
00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.000
The same is true of gastronomy.
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.240
It would be nothing without food science.
00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.360
Food science is the science of food preparation.
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Foods need to be made maximally digestible and presented in such a way that they are alluring and will provide the greatest psychic pleasure, thereby promoting a maximum secretion of digestive juices.
00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:11.039
Once these foods are digested and assimilated, that they become the active agent of tissue repair and also they become us.
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:19.679
In addition, digested foods are a source of energy and therefore animal heat, muscular force, and intellectual work.
00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.399
So this is my uh final comment.
00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.519
Well that's the end of the gastronomy chapter.
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:37.039
I want to say a few words about our progress with Project Hope and Fairness and its French cousin Proje Espoir Equite.
00:16:38.320 --> 00:17:07.279
David, the president of Soko Plan or Societe de Plantaur de Cacao, or otherwise known in English as Corporation for Cocoa Farmers, finally was able to retrieve the grading machine that was manufactured by Sunrise Machinery Company in Shanghai, China last November and was shaped, shipped via Antwerp and finally arrived seven months later, just a few weeks ago in Abijah.
00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:19.039
We at Project Hope and Fairness were able to make a bank transfer of$2,700 to pay for the customs duties that were charged on a machine worth$1,700.
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:28.319
So that's almost a uh two to one cost in customs duties for the value of the machine.
00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:34.400
And so that gives you an idea of some of what we're up against in doing this project.
00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:47.519
Um, and now David has just shipped me uh two kilograms of cocoa powder, which I will blend with organic sugar, malt extract, and dried banana powder to make a superb cocoa mix.
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:55.680
I've already tried it with another cocoa powder, and we'll find out how David's uh cocoa powder stacks up.
00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:03.200
Um, other cocoa beverages mixes that I'm thinking of making will include mango powder and baobab powder.
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.799
So they're truly African cocoa mixes.
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Umanas, mangoes, and baobab trees all grow in West Africa and are increasingly the source of foreign exchange for farmers and for the countries.
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:29.920
Our other business partner is SCAP, SCAP, or Société Corporative Agricole de Pesouan, um, in English Agricultural Co-op of Pesoin.
00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:44.880
They have finally uh gotten the all-important Declaration Fiscale d'existence or fiscal declaration of existence, which means this coming week, Cervando, the president of SCAP, will be able to open a bank account.
00:18:45.039 --> 00:19:03.519
We at Project Open Fairness will then be able to send him$1,000 that was donated by our rotary club in San Luis Obispo to install an air conditioner in the main production room and to buy a second refrigerator.
00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:16.160
At this point, Scaff will be able to start production of African Choco Fudge Bar, which comes in three flavors uh peanut, candied orange peel, and vanilla.
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:21.359
Next podcast, I should have even more exciting news.
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:26.960
Please help us in our mission to make the cocoa farmer in Africa self-sustaining.
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:32.319
And with that, the farmer will be able to treat his land better and cut down fewer trees.
00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.000
The solution to global warming lies with the farmer.
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:43.680
If we treat the farmer right, he or she will treat the land right and more carbon dioxide will be absorbed.
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:54.079
Because uh, when you uh treat the soil right, the soil will be uh will absorb carbon and hold carbon.
00:19:54.319 --> 00:20:15.839
And we need that because as you know, we are undergoing very rapid uh global warming caused by our inattention to uh how to uh uh treat the soil properly so that it will absorb carbon dioxide and also how to uh derive energy from uh non-carbon resources.
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:23.759
Okay, well that's the end of this podcast, and so we are finishing with box prelude number one.
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:26.240
See you next time,
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.159
If that sounds familiar, it should.
00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:44.240
It's Chopin's first prelude, which I played last podcast, the prelude in G in C major.
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:48.000
But I am switching the format now and I thought I'd restart at one.
00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:58.479
For the next 24 podcasts, I will play a Chopin prelude at the start of the podcast and a Bach prelude in the same key at the end of the podcast.
00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:08.959
Choosing preludes in the same key allows the listener to compare a romantic sound with a classic sound while holding the tonality or key constant.
00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:17.760
Chopin finished his twenty four preludes in a monk's cell in the monastery of Valdemosa on the island of Majorca.
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:31.439
Similarly, Bach, a hundred and thirty years before, wrote much of the well tempered clavier, also consisting of twenty four preludes in the twelve major and twelve minor keys, in a prison cell.
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:40.239
He was in prison for obstinacy, having repeatedly demanded release from employment so he could take a better paying job.
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:50.000
In those days you had to ask permission of your employer to be fired from the job before accepting another job with another employer.
00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:56.560
We continue with Bien manger pour bien vivre eat well to live well.
00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:03.120
In this podcast I have translated the first chapter which is entitled Gastronomy.
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:05.359
So we begin.
00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:11.120
Gastronomy represents an entire world because it is both art and science.
00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:13.120
Gastronomy is an art.
00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:20.400
The concept will cause certain people to protest those who believe you have to eat to live and not live to eat.
00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.840
For them, the art of eating has no right to exist.
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:32.719
And my comment already of course by eat to live he means eating merely to survive and not for enjoyment.
00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.000
And so the art of eating is meaningless to such people.
00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.400
I don't believe there are such people.
00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:47.360
Even a die hard steak eater who limits his choices to meat and potatoes is driven by the taste, aroma, texture, and appearance of the food.
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:50.319
It's just that he has limited interests, that's all.
00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:57.280
There are even gastronomic principles at play with the one his limited taste.
00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.240
There is an art to cooking a steak, for example.
00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:02.800
There is also an art to baking a potato.
00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:04.319
And there is science.
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:12.479
To properly grill a steak, the art is knowing how to light a fire and to bank the coals in order to obtain an even heat.
00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:16.400
And the science is knowing what cuts of meat grill best.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:25.280
Those with higher fat contents from feedlot finished finishing undergo more Mayard Browning because of the lower water content in the flesh.
00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:26.800
That's the science.
00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:29.280
We could return to the book.
00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:40.960
This is the result of atavistic mortifications that reach back to the time of early Christianity, the result of not really thinking about gastronomy as an art.
00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:54.400
The triumph of Christianity over the religions associated with Roman decadence has introduced into Western cultures an austerity that is associated with the rise of the Christian religion.
00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:59.439
The initial austerity eventually became a virtue and then a dogma.
00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:11.120
And my comment there is truth to the idea that early Christians rebelled against the corruption of Rome, and it's easy to see how that would harden into dogma.
00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:15.919
But it's also true that monasteries became famous for their bon vivant attitudes.
00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:20.720
A lot of distilled spirits, cheeses and breads originated in monasteries.
00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.480
Medieval monks were famously depicted in paintings as plump and self satisfied.
00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:36.560
So I'm not convinced that atavistic mortifications and ancient yearning for suffering and austerity explains why some people as true the art of eating.
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:40.800
I think it's more explained by the psychology of individual differences.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.040
We return to the book.
00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:48.560
Meanwhile, little by little Christians needed to express their religious feelings using art.
00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:53.839
One began to see a rapid evolution of art from the catacombs to the Gothic era.
00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:58.079
Christian art was born on the ruins of Greco Roman art.
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The sense of taste followed the same slope.
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.040
Days of fasting became less frequent and lengths became shorter.
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:13.439
Art is nothing then other than the cause and effect of the refinement of certain senses, such as vision, audition, and touch.
00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:19.519
Why deprive the sense of taste its rightful place in the genesis and triumph of art?
00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:26.879
Vision created painting and sculpture, audition created music, and taste created gastronomy.
00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:34.800
As will be exposed in the rest of this book, the sensation of pleasure caused by a good meal does not depend solely on taste.
00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.920
There are other senses that come into play vision, aroma, etc.
00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:47.920
Gastronomy therefore is not solely dependent on the palate, it also depends on mental processes and the interplay of the senses.
00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.040
Gastronomy is therefore a complete art.
00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.399
And here's my comment to what he said.
00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:56.319
I would go still farther.
00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:01.680
To me, gastronomy has five dimensions, making it the most complex of all the arts.
00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:15.279
The first dimension is taste, which is sensed by the taste buds found in four types of papillae on the tongue, which produce the so called Aristotelian tastes of sweet, bitter, salty, and sour.
00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:27.279
Second you have aroma sensed both through the nares of the nose as well as the back of the throat, making it possible to appreciate the pungency of blue cheese in two different ways.
00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:36.560
The third dimension is tactile, whereby you feel the food and judge where it is positioned in the mouth as well as its freshness and safety to eat.
00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:42.240
The fourth dimension is appearance, measured both in black and white and in color.
00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.160
And the fifth dimension is sound, which adds complexity to texture.
00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:53.439
Thus a cracker feels brittle and crumbly and at the same time this is confirmed by the sound it makes when it is chewed.
00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:56.160
We return to the book.
00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.600
Gastronomy is also a science, applied science.
00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:07.360
Some will belittle science's importance by claiming that it's merely technology or empiricism at play, not science.
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.759
But really, it's important to differentiate empiricism and science.
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:18.399
After all, empiricism is merely a step on the way to science, a passing step from ignorance to knowledge.
00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.680
The goal of the human spirit is to replace empiricism with science.
00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:41.839
And my comment to that, differentiating empiricism is not from science, actually, which is what he's doing, actually in the field of the philosophy of science, one can divide the scientific method into two human efforts, empiricism and theory.
00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:47.839
This division goes back to the fourth century BCE when Aristotle was Plato's student.
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Plato focused mainly on theory and Aristotle more on evidence.
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Taking a beach as an illustration, Aristotle walks along a beach and finds shells that he categorizes into muscles and clams, simply by the power of observation and knowledge he gained in his youth.
00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:16.399
Plato's, without walking the beach, might theorize that all life gets its character from some sort of predetermined code.
00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:25.199
And he might convey to Aristotle, who was his student, that variants in shape and color of the muscles and clams come from that code.
00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.720
And of course, at that time they didn't know about the genetic code.
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This would be a theory.
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:39.200
So Plato is theorizing that the differences between the two bivalves comes from some sort of a code.
00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:45.519
So, in a way, then the scientific method needs both empiricism and theory.
00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:52.399
That is Aristotle's observations on the beach and Plato's theory about predetermined code.
00:08:53.200 --> 00:09:13.200
The author, Depomion, seems to suffer from a common malady among scientists that there is something far more special about theorizing than there is about collecting data, and that empiricism is necessarily imperfect and it's a way on the path to true knowledge.
00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:19.840
One sees this kind of differentiation between empiricism and theorizing in universities.
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:30.000
Empiricists are often looked down on by theoreticians, even though it's far easier to develop theories when presented with empirically derived data.
00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.600
Okay, so we return to the book.
00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.120
Let's assume that gastronomy is only one technique.
00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:44.080
This technique is governed by real science, applied science, having areas in common with all other sciences.
00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:51.279
One can attribute to a book an artistic ability while denying him or her all scientific ability.
00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:57.679
Such a cook might blindly execute recipes, but he or she will never create a new technique.
00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:07.519
This cook will remain forever constrained by an infinitely small circle of abilities, not even aware that there might exist new combinations that could come into play.
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.879
Such a cook will always be a bad cook.
00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:15.919
And my response to that is once again I have to disagree with the author.
00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.799
History is replete with superb artisans who lack a scientific background.
00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.399
Take for example the legendary glass blowers of Murano.
00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:35.279
A glass blower might make a wealth of gorgeous art, but he or she may not be able to give a lecture or write a book about the science of silicon, the element from which glass is made.
00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:45.200
However, the glassmaker would know from experience and from the teachers that glass crazes when it is subjected to rapid cooling.
00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:55.759
A theoretician might go farther and talk about the intersilicon bonds that are involved in crazing during cooling.
00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:04.399
So a practitioner would take the theory and develop a new product, but you don't have to know about the bond angles to do that.
00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:10.080
You just have to apply cause and effect, uh that is through experience.
00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.279
The book continues.
00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:21.200
The discovery of a new dish does more for humanity than the discovery of a new star, so says Ria Savarin.
00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:29.679
Perhaps this is a bit exaggerated, however, it's arguably just as difficult to find a new planet as it is to find a new dish.
00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.399
A cook must be cultivated, well educated person, like the gourmet.
00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:47.039
Just remember that the combination of foie gras and truffles is the work of Rossini and the use of kidneys to heighten flavors of certain dishes was imagined by Meyerbear.
00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:57.600
So my answer response to this is I'm writing this just as we are being regaled with the fab fabulous new discoveries of the James Webb telescope.
00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:12.080
So it's hard for me to even imagine that a new dish is worthy of a new star just because of the breathtaking images that have been coming and then the notions of being able to see within 200 million years of the beginning of time.
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:21.039
But as for the three names that he mentions, Priya Savarin, Rossini, and Meyerbear, I'll give you a little background on each.
00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:34.720
Jean Antelme Priasavarin is best known for his book La Physiologie du Goût or the Physiology of Taste, and for his most notable quote Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are.
00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:44.879
Pria Savarin was a lawyer, and his favorite pastime when he wasn't in court was the writing and thinking about the glories of French cuisine.
00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:54.399
Giacono Antonio Rossino Rossini wrote thirty-nine operas, the most famous being The Barber of Seville.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:04.639
The last forty years of his life were devoted to a bon vivant lifestyle, which included consumption of one of his favorite dishes that he made up, the Tournado Rossini.
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This is a one inch thick piece of tenderloin fried in butter, then perched on a buttery crouton topped with a slice of duck foie gras and a healthy slice of truffle, then surrounded by a couple tablespoons of Madeira sauce.
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.639
The combination makes it one of the very best dishes of Haute Cuisine.
00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:32.639
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a German Jewish opera composer whose works were popular throughout Europe during the 19th century.
00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:47.120
And another one of his creations besides the operas was Eggs Meyerbeer, which featured sherred or baked eggs next to grilled kidneys and topped with perigo sauce, which is a brown sauce with chopped truffles in it.
00:13:47.440 --> 00:14:02.080
Depomion holds up a steak with fatty foie gras and fatty Madeira sauce and fatty eggs with grilled kidneys and another fatty brown sauce as paragons of flavor combinations, education, and cultivated tastes.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:14.240
However, we now know that there are a lot of very good vegetables that are not fatty and have wonderful flavors, especially as you find in Mexican or in Chinese cuisine.
00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.039
So things have changed.
00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:18.720
Anyway, back to the book.
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:26.080
The gourmet, who must be a cook in his soul, must understand the how and why of what he and she does.
00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.879
From that day in his or her hands, cooking becomes a science.
00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:47.360
If one wants to physiologically understand how and why a well prepared and well served meal might give us tremendous satisfaction, it is important to have basic understanding of food, of digestion, of assimilation, and of their effects on our psyche.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:58.799
Does this mean that it is absolutely necessary to know the exact chemical composition of the tissues of an oyster, for example, to appreciate its uncuous texture and its flavor?
00:14:59.120 --> 00:14:59.440
No.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.639
One can be an artist without being a scientist.
00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:09.440
One can admire a cathedral without knowing stereotomy and the principle of material resistance.
00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:26.559
One must admit that an observer who has general ideas on the construction of faults and the load bearing of pillars will discover in the church's apps items to admire that would certainly escape the attention of a tourist armed with the latest travel guide from Bedeker.
00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.759
Every art has its scientific side.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.960
Art would not exist without the science of the builder.
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.399
Sculpture would be nowhere without the science of anatomy.
00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.919
Painting would be nothing without the concept of luminosity.
00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.000
The same is true of gastronomy.
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.240
It would be nothing without food science.
00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.360
Food science is the science of food preparation.
00:15:47.600 --> 00:16:01.679
Foods need to be made maximally digestible and presented in such a way that they are alluring and will provide the greatest psychic pleasure, thereby promoting a maximum secretion of digestive juices.
00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:11.039
Once these foods are digested and assimilated, that they become the active agent of tissue repair and also they become us.
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:19.679
In addition, digested foods are a source of energy and therefore animal heat, muscular force, and intellectual work.
00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.399
So this is my uh final comment.
00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.519
Well that's the end of the gastronomy chapter.
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:37.039
I want to say a few words about our progress with Project Hope and Fairness and its French cousin Proje Espoir Equite.
00:16:38.320 --> 00:17:07.279
David, the president of Soko Plan or Societe de Plantaur de Cacao, or otherwise known in English as Corporation for Cocoa Farmers, finally was able to retrieve the grading machine that was manufactured by Sunrise Machinery Company in Shanghai, China last November and was shaped, shipped via Antwerp and finally arrived seven months later, just a few weeks ago in Abijah.
00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:19.039
We at Project Hope and Fairness were able to make a bank transfer of$2,700 to pay for the customs duties that were charged on a machine worth$1,700.
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:28.319
So that's almost a uh two to one cost in customs duties for the value of the machine.
00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:34.400
And so that gives you an idea of some of what we're up against in doing this project.
00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:47.519
Um, and now David has just shipped me uh two kilograms of cocoa powder, which I will blend with organic sugar, malt extract, and dried banana powder to make a superb cocoa mix.
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:55.680
I've already tried it with another cocoa powder, and we'll find out how David's uh cocoa powder stacks up.
00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:03.200
Um, other cocoa beverages mixes that I'm thinking of making will include mango powder and baobab powder.
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.799
So they're truly African cocoa mixes.
00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:17.839
Umanas, mangoes, and baobab trees all grow in West Africa and are increasingly the source of foreign exchange for farmers and for the countries.
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:29.920
Our other business partner is SCAP, SCAP, or Société Corporative Agricole de Pesouan, um, in English Agricultural Co-op of Pesoin.
00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:44.880
They have finally uh gotten the all-important Declaration Fiscale d'existence or fiscal declaration of existence, which means this coming week, Cervando, the president of SCAP, will be able to open a bank account.
00:18:45.039 --> 00:19:03.519
We at Project Open Fairness will then be able to send him$1,000 that was donated by our rotary club in San Luis Obispo to install an air conditioner in the main production room and to buy a second refrigerator.
00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:16.160
At this point, Scaff will be able to start production of African Choco Fudge Bar, which comes in three flavors uh peanut, candied orange peel, and vanilla.
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:21.359
Next podcast, I should have even more exciting news.
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:26.960
Please help us in our mission to make the cocoa farmer in Africa self-sustaining.
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:32.319
And with that, the farmer will be able to treat his land better and cut down fewer trees.
00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.000
The solution to global warming lies with the farmer.
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:43.680
If we treat the farmer right, he or she will treat the land right and more carbon dioxide will be absorbed.
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:54.079
Because uh, when you uh treat the soil right, the soil will be uh will absorb carbon and hold carbon.
00:19:54.319 --> 00:20:15.839
And we need that because as you know, we are undergoing very rapid uh global warming caused by our inattention to uh how to uh uh treat the soil properly so that it will absorb carbon dioxide and also how to uh derive energy from uh non-carbon resources.
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:23.759
Okay, well that's the end of this podcast, and so we are finishing with box prelude number one.
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:26.240
See you next time,
