Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
![Posthumous portrait, 1848](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Brillat-Savarin-1848-image.png)
Rising to modest eminence in the last years of France's Ancien Régime, Brillat-Savarin had to escape into exile when the Reign of Terror began in 1793. He spent nearly three years in the United States, teaching French and playing the violin to support himself, before returning to France when it became safe to do so, resuming his career as a lawyer, and rising to the top of the French judiciary.
''The Physiology of Taste'' was the product of many years' writing in the author's spare time. Published weeks before his death in 1826, the work established him alongside Grimod de La Reynière as one of the founders of the genre of the gastronomic essay. Provided by Wikipedia
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