The taste of drunkenness

"Tell me what you drink, and I will tell you what you are," asserted the gastronome Brillat-Savarin at the beginning of the 19th century. Between the France of wine and that of beer, between cheap wine and fine wines, river water and medicinal waters, milk, juices, ancient garum or contemporary sodas, beverages are a vital gesture that reveals a culture, signifies a social status, involves an economic game. For over a millennium, Matthieu Lecoutre examines beverages from all angles to reveal their splendor and everyday significance. With the reader, he delves into the cellars of historical knowledge to trace step by step through sociability, excess, medicine, taste, education, aesthetics, pleasure, the sacred, the profane, differentiation, popular culture, gender, moral norms, political orientations, advertising, tradition or globalization. The author provides a precise analysis of French food roots and their evolution over time, inviting us to see in a new light how our practices, sometimes radically opposed, have been constructed, from binge drinking with strong alcohol to the "French gastronomic meal" based notably on the refined pairing of dishes and wines. A history professor in Lyon, Matthieu Lecoutre is a research associate with the Food Team at the University of Tours François-Rabelais and at the George Chevrier Center at the University of Burgundy "Knowledge: norms and sensibilities." He resides in Lyon.