Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [17]
Modern science tells us that chocolate is a natural mood booster, though unlikely to promote sexual interest. The word comes from the Mayan tchocolatl. Cacao beans were valuable enough in Central America at the time to be used as currency. Four bought a pumpkin, ten a rabbit, and twelve the favors of a prostitute.
Columbus was the first European to taste chocolate, on his fourth and last voyage to the New World in 1502. He was not impressed, but eventually others were. Once available only to royalty, chocolate eventually found its way into middle-class houses. Brillat-Savarin, who recommended it as a cure for lethargy and even hangovers, remarked, “People who habitually drink chocolate enjoy unvarying health and are least attacked by a host of little illnesses which can destroy the true joy of living.”
Consumed for the mildly stimulating effect of its caffeine, as well as its taste, it was served in liquid form until the art of solidifying it was perfected in the 19th century. Americans, on average, each now eat almost twelve pounds a year, but the United States ranks only eighth in the world. Switzerland leads with more than twenty pounds per person.
It has around ten grams of fat per ounce, but of a kind that doesn’t add to cholesterol. For those in need of a further excuse, dark chocolate has fifteen times the antioxidants found in broccoli.
LE GRAND VEFOUR
We rarely go to three-star restaurants. The prices and the reverence of the diners speaking in near-whispers dilute the pleasure. One February, however, at the end of a week in Paris spent largely at the Louvre, we decided, as a finale, to have lunch at Le Grand Vefour, “celebrated throughout the world,” as the Michelin put it, for its sumptuous late-18th-century decor as well as its food and service.
What else but a great monument could afford to close for all of August, from before Christmas until after New Year’s, and for a week in April, not to mention Thursday evening and every weekend of the year?
At the northern end of the Palais-Royal, its first incarnation was as the Café de Chartres, which became a meeting place for the French revolutionaries. Embracing the times as they changed, its clientele eventually became Bonapartists, and Josephine dined here with Napoleon. In 1820, after a number of owners, it was taken over by Jean Vefour, who gave it his name. Victor Hugo was one of the early patrons, followed, among others, by Colette more than a century later who, when her rheumatism made walking impossible, was carried downstairs to it from her Palais-Royal apartment.
A two-course prix fixe lunch is about eighty-five dollars, when the dollar is strong. It is well worth it. The combination of the rich cuisine and the midday wine made the coat check girl ask Jim as we left whether, given the purplish hue of his face, he was well. Nothing a stroll in the gardens wouldn’t cure, he managed to assure her.
He was reminded of hearing the late Warner LeRoy the vivid, well-fed owner of Tavern on the Green and the Russian Tea Room in New York, describe an experience at Le Grand Vefour. Having eaten a superb meal from appetizer through chateaubriand and its trimmings and on to dessert, coffee, and cognac, he was asked by the waiter, “Sir, is there anything else I can get for you?”
To which LeRoy answered, “Yes. Bring it all again.” It was not only delivered but also consumed.
RICE
The Japanese have the longest average life span in the world: 79.9 years, compared to 76.7 in the United States. And until the end, their bones are stronger, they have fewer strokes and less heart disease, and few are overweight. Genetics may play a role, but their diet certainly deserves some of the credit. Consisting mainly of rice, fish, and vegetables, it is low in calories, fat, and cholesterol.
A good source of carbohydrates and protein, rice not so long ago was eaten at every Japanese meal. Though now it is closer to two meals out of three, rice is still at the heart of Japanese cuisine. The word for rice, in fact—gohan—is the same as that for a meal. As a crop, rice