Gourmet Rhapsody
It is a plain fact that if a critic appears in a book or movie, he (it鈥檚 almost always a he) will be a pretentious jerk. He may or may not be a fraud, but the pretension and the obnoxiousness are both givens. (He also will inevitably be portrayed as quite wealthy, which is actually pretty funny.)
Meet the Ma卯tre. The main character of French author Muriel Barbery鈥檚 Gourmet Rhapsody, says, quite simply, 鈥淚 am the greatest food critic in the world.鈥� He is also dying. And before he dies, there鈥檚 one elusive flavor he craves one last time, if only he could remember what it was.
Barbery won international acclaim for her philosophical novel, 鈥淭he Elegance of the Hedgehog,鈥� which recounted the unlikely friendship between a precocious 12-year-old girl and an elderly French concierge, who took delight in conforming outwardly to her wealthy clientele鈥檚 stereotypes, while her rich inner life vastly outstripped theirs. (Renee gets a cameo in 鈥淕ourmet Rhapsody,鈥� which made me miss her all over again.)
The Ma卯tre, to put it mildly, is a less sympathetic character. He has ignored his wife, Anna, for at least 20 years, and is proud of the fact that he doesn鈥檛 love the children 鈥渨ho emerged from his wife鈥檚 entrails.鈥� In fact, his relationship with food has been by far the most profound of his life, and, as he lies in his bed, trying to remember what he wants as his last meal, he recounts the most glorious viands of a life full of eating, Interestingly, elaborate, multicourse meals, such as he taught his disciples to extol, don鈥檛 figure prominently. Instead, he remembers the 鈥渁shy marine aroma鈥� of freshly grilled sardines, the freshness of a chunky orange sorbet, and the perfection of a warm tomato eaten fresh under a linden tree.
While 鈥淕ourmet Rhapsody鈥� is unlikely to appeal to as wide a reading swath as 鈥淭he Elegance of the Hedgehog,鈥� Barbery鈥檚 descriptions should have foodies salivating.
The Ma卯tre鈥檚 favorite adjective is 鈥渋nsolent,鈥� which is appropriate. Did you know that bell peppers are 鈥渦nctuous?鈥� No wonder I鈥檝e never liked them. The specificity she brings to the Ma卯tre鈥檚 sense memories bring them alive. Take a boyhood afternoon in his aunt鈥檚 garden: 鈥淔irst of all, the geranium leaves. I would lie on my stomach among the tomatoes and peas and, swooning with pleasure, rub the leaves between my fingers: slightly acid, sufficiently tart with a vinegary insolence, but not so tart that they could fail to evoke at the same time the delicately bitter scent of candied lemon, with a hint of the acrid odor of tomato leaves....鈥�
But there鈥檚 no generosity of spirit, such as the one that motivates, say, 鈥淏abette鈥檚 Feast.鈥� Cinematically speaking, the Ma卯tre is a colder version of 鈥淩atatouille鈥檚鈥� Anton Ego, and is just as serious about food as the man whose motto was: 鈥淚 love food. If I don鈥檛 love it, I don鈥檛 swallow.鈥� Older film buffs will recognize in his intellectual hauteur shades of Addison DeWitt, the imperious theater critic played by George Sanders in 鈥�All About Eve.鈥�
Other characters also briefly weigh in with memories of the Ma卯tre. (The chapter starring his cat, Rick, who actually says 鈥減urrfectly,鈥� marks the novel鈥檚 low point.) His daughter, for example, remembers a disastrous outing when her father bought her Greek loukamades, hot doughnuts trickled with honey. When he asks her what she thinks, and the little girl says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 good,鈥� his scorn is withering. Even Barbery鈥檚 choice of confection is infused with meaning: The Greek version of pat-a-cake, 鈥淧alamakia,鈥� is all about a doting father bringing home loukamades for his baby.
Some of Barbery鈥檚 gastrophilosophical observations could be boiled down into clich茅s such as 鈥渢he way to a man鈥檚 heart is through his stomach,鈥� and 鈥渁 man鈥檚 home is his castle,鈥� but that would be unfair. In the first instance, a young critic is overturning the Ma卯tre鈥檚 theory that his grandmother鈥檚 cooking was so wonderful because of her 鈥渟imple鈥� nature (grr!), instead building a feminist argument that declared that those meals 鈥減repared in their private laboratories鈥� were an unspoken call of superiority. 鈥淨uite simply, those men experienced paradise, and even if they could not admit it to themselves, they knew very well that they were incapable of offering it to their wives in return....鈥� When the Ma卯tre interrupts to ask how chefs, who clearly are not oppressed, fit into this analysis, the young critic replies, 鈥淣o chef can cook, nor has ever cooked, the way our grandmothers did.鈥�
And, remembering one grandmother鈥檚 pastitsio and avgolemeno soup and the other鈥檚 fried chicken and homemade egg noodles, I would be inclined to agree.
Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor.
