You first parents of the human race...who ruined yourself for an apple, what might you have done for a truffled turkey?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the concept of human greed and the consequences of choices.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's quote uses the metaphor of the first parents in the human race who ruined their place in paradise for a simple apple to illustrate the idea that even greater temptations could lead to even worse outcomes. By juxtaposing the temptation of an apple with the thought of a 'truffled turkey', Savarin prompts us to consider the foolishness of our desires and the substantial consequences that can arise from them, serving as a commentary on human nature and the pitfalls of indulgence.
In practice
In a discussion about the pitfalls of human greed, this quote illustrates our poor choices.
It has been shown as proof positive that carefully prepared chocolate is as healthful a food as it is pleasant; that it is nourishing and easily digested... that it is above all helpful to people who must do a great deal of mental work.
The limits of pleasure are as yet neither known nor fixed, and that we have no idea what degree of bodily bliss we are capable of attaining.
Place a substantial meal before a tired man and he will eat with effort and be little better for it at first. Give him a glass of wine or brandy, and immediately he feels better: you see him come to life again before you.
Gourmandism is an act of judgment, by which we prefer things which have a pleasant taste to those which lack this quality.
In the hands of an able cook, fish can become an inexhaustible source of perpetual delight.
Cooking is one of the oldest arts and one which has rendered us the most important service in civic life.
His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs, but there will never be equality in the servants' hall.
We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.
Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.
Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas. - Censure acquits the raven, but pursues the dove.
How many condemnations I have witnessed more criminal than the crime!
Therefore, I do not wish to consider any proposition to cede any portion of our tribal holdings to the Great Father.
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