Sacrality or Vulgarity

When Brazilian Catholic thinker Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira reflected on events in São Paulo during his childhood at the beginning of the last century, the social habits of that time particularly attracted our attention. He spoke of the joy of family life, and his lively narrations transported our imaginations to those bygone days that had not yet been taken over by the adoration of novelties in later years, such as speed and industry or people’s extravagant behavior in the twentieth century’s last decades. Americans, alongside Brazilians, are not unfamiliar with this unsavory cultural shift throughout the decades.

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Among the images set forth by Professor Corrêa de Oliveira, politeness at the table according to tradition was particularly striking because of the logic and composure of the proceedings and arrangements. Stories were helpful, as they discreetly taught proper manners. It was not a question of refraining from fashionable but vulgar spontaneity conveyed by invasive modernity. Table etiquette rules were important. However, Professor Corrêa de Oliveira sought to point out the Catholic substratum then underlying people’s mentalities. The evangelical counsel hung over the guests: “For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). The Gospel’s philosophy so permeated minds that even those who claimed to be non-practicing Catholics or atheists naturally followed its dictates. In those days, children had to attend catechism, and the evangelical advice supported maternal recommendations: “Don’t lean your elbows on the table, don’t stuff your mouth too full, be careful when sneezing, etc.”

The Vigor of Flavors Generates a Vigor of Conversation

The Church gave the table a sacral meaning; beyond conviviality, a religious presence permeated flavors and conversations. This conviviality had a secret known to all but never mentioned—the tacit but striking interaction between the topics discussed and the preparation of the dishes. On the table, candlelight flickered, and the room was decorated. Another flame ignited souls, non-incandescent and invisible to the eye. Lit in the kitchen in the oven and stove, it clarified the conversation’s dynamic principle because the flavors came from there. Accurately prepared flavors favored dealing with various topics, stirred people’s vigor, inspired new subjects, lent enthusiasm to people’s observations and elevated their comments to higher considerations.

Flavors have a language of their own, capable of moving spirits. The vigor of flavors generates that of conversations. This was the arcane principle, undeclared but known to everyone, commented only through glances, phlegmatic monosyllabic expressions and exhalations of humor. Salons¹ had a rule made to be broken: dishes should not be commented on. Once that rule was broken, the conversation livened up. Certain dishes everyone deemed tasty beyond perfection required that the chef come into the dining room at the end of the meal. When all was said and done, the flames of the candelabra were extinguished while glowing flavors still lingered in the guests’ memories.

In more modest social circles, the nature of the meals was the same, but they were held according to each family environment. Young Plinio often visited the homes of gardeners, drivers or immigrants who served his family or relatives. Remembering his house, he rejoiced when he noticed order, cleanliness and simple good taste according to the general standard. He began to distinguish families according to their taste in decoration and even the smell inside each home.

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Decoration and aroma were demarcating signs of his judgment in differentiating between these friendly families’ ways of being. Since life was much less hectic than today, television was non-existent and cell phones were still seventy years away, São Paulo’s then-calm environment helped preserve the seriousness of the meals. “Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord. Amen,” he would hear as he left, near the front garden’s gate, after visiting a family linked to his own because of his interest in their world. It was the same prayer his father said at the beginning of lunch. He felt that supplication rose to the throne of Divine Majesty even as the stew’s aroma at the table stirred up his appetite.

A Christian way of life forged over many centuries in an atmosphere of Catholic teaching gave rise to a philosophy which Professor Corrêa de Oliveira tells us, was the social expression of the theological principles of Scholasticism. These principles shaped social norms, etiquette and people’s tastes.

A Way of Being Leading to the Highest and Most Attractive

The purpose of flavors in Christian civilization is to make a tasty dish arouse a pleasant feeling of admiration or inspiration in one’s mind. One judges a beautiful painting by its topic displayed on the canvas, the appropriateness of its colors or the painter’s talent. We appreciate a good dish with a similar procedure. The art of cooking consists of knowing how to treat an edible element according to certain ingredients to obtain a pleasant taste. This treatment requires intelligence and elevation of spirit.

Christian peoples achieved culinary excellence. No civilization attained the degree of cultural development that Christian civilization did. Since the Old Testament, the forerunner of the Holy Catholic Church, the importance given to food led to developing tastes according to the right philosophy. There are many signs of this importance: Our Lord Jesus Christ’s first miracle of turning water into wine; He called the Apostles the salt of the earth; He multiplied loaves of bread for the multitudes; He left His Real Presence in the Church in the form of bread and wine, which evoking one’s palate, the Church declares that it contains “all delights.”

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Thus, the Savior followed the example of His Father, who meticulously determined the composition of solemn or penitential meals for the Hebrews and fed them with the Manna containing all gustatory delights. Nothing becomes so intimate to a person as the food integrating into his body.

Cooking has an immense influence on psychology and human habits, given the daily frequency of meals. Each flavor awakens an appetite in the soul for virtue or vice. The taste of good wine, says Professor Corrêa de Oliveira, awakens one’s sense of honor, while the taste of bread revives one’s sense of honesty. The Creator wanted each food to influence the mind and incline it to receive moral instruction. Hence, the sacredness of meals so conscientiously taught by the Church.

The Table, Confession and Culinary Heresy

The elaboration of culinary styles, varying from person to person, portrays a social ideal in line with those tastes. There is talk of a “philosophy of taste,” rightly so. Part of this elaboration is a non-explicit way of being, which underlies each nation’s mentality and directs its elaboration of dishes. The table reflected a people’s moral rise, and they created recipes that make the history of good taste. In times of moral ruin, the table also expresses their state of mind. The table displays many signs of our society’s current moral decline. Such signs are seen most clearly at French tables because they raised the quality of menu preparation to its apex, something the whole world recognizes.

A notable example of how people’s state of mind affects the taste of what they eat can be seen in French Gastronomy: The History and Geography of a Passion, a book by Jean-Robert Pitte, a French Academy of Letters member, on his country’s gastronomy. Pitte wonders why the flavors created by Catholic countries’ gastronomy are superior to Protestant countries’ cuisine.

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As for such countries, we can mention France and Italy, whose dishes, bread, cheeses and wines are considered top-notch. On the other hand, you have England and the Scandinavian countries. Pitte’s scientific and accurate research concludes that the superiority of Catholic gastronomy comes from the sacrament of confession. Confession soothes a sinner’s conscience, and the confessor’s penance imposed gives him the confidence of having settled a debt with the Redeemer. Conversely, denying the sacrament of confession leaves a Protestant uncertain whether he has been forgiven and settled his debt with the Redeemer. The day’s three meals soon present him with an opportunity for penance. He then hastily suppresses the legitimate pleasure of a good table, considers the quality of what he eats sinful, and makes food less appetizing so as not to give in to its legitimate pleasure. That is his culinary heresy.

Why is the current decline noticeable, especially in France, the “casserole” of great flavors? It’s only natural that the high French standard denotes the decline in culinary quality, as the nature of perfection demands integrity. So, however small, mutations harmful to the integrity of perfection are immediately noticeable. On the other hand, imperfection has deformities so that new and harmful changes don’t immediately jump out at you, and alterations become acceptable.

The Egalitarian and Vulgar Mentality Causes Decay

The table allowed painters to depict scenes, setting down images of an era, customs, dress and courtesy on their canvases. For example, pictorial representations from the nineteenth to the twentieth century show the pompous solemnity of Vienna’s banquets at the imperial court, the coziness of bourgeois meals, the honorable candor of peasant repast and even an informal picnic on the grass or in shady woods.

In his book Daily Life in the Vienna of Mozart and Schubert, Marcel Brion describes wedding banquets of well-known beggars in the center of the Austrian capital. Beggars also had their time’s way of life, amalgamating faith with social customs. They, too, had a simple pomp, of which good food was an indispensable ingredient. One wonders where real cultural beggars are: among Vienna’s poor, who festively celebrated their wedding to the sound of Mozart’s minuets, or among fast food customers eating to a rock and roll beat?

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Professor Corrêa de Oliveira’s beloved philosophy of life went up in smoke like candles going out on the candelabra of his family tables. Egalitarianism mocks the beautiful ceremonies that graced the social rites of those days. Fast food joints are no longer aware of them. Egalitarianism and vulgarity have crossed the thresholds of every gathering place.

Marxist Ecology’s Dictatorial Imposition

The French, who see their cuisine as a reflection of their civilizing action, were astonished by a piece of news in their leading newspaper, Le Monde, of May 16, 2024. France is now importing cricket flour from Vietnam to make up its cuisine. France was once able to evangelize that far-eastern country. Saints and martyrs lived there. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus wanted to go there to pray and suffer for the people almost a century before they fell under communism.

The French passion for evangelizing these peoples gave Vietnam the Faith and shining traces of culture. Today, the ruling communist regime, faithful to its principles of demolishing Christianity, is spreading anti-culture. Producers of dried crickets see a promising market in France because sixty percent of this flour is injected into human food in addition to animal food—to the joy of Marxist ecology gurus who see crickets as a regenerating force.

Thailand and Cambodia began using this flour, but only to feed animals. The United Nations (UN) has jumped on the cricket bandwagon, predicting insects will eventually replace beef, pork and chicken. Once again, they allege economic considerations: crickets are much cheaper to raise than cattle or chicken, do not pollute the atmosphere and enjoy ecological sympathy. One hundred and fifty tons of crickets produce thirty tons of flour. It’s all in the amount of nutrients contained in the crickets. Crickets from China, without any quality control, are only used for animal feed. Introducing AI (artificial intelligence) will improve production, say those “wise men.”

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The United Nations’ leap could not leave behind the European Union (EU)—its zealous competitor in the drive to dismantle the old continent’s Christian characteristics. In 2018, the EU leadership included insects among “novel foods” edible by humans. The decision caused joy in Vietnam, now rushing to process crickets that can be sold “frozen, freeze-dried or powdered.” An advantage for people on a slimming diet is that slightly non-fat cricket flour will be on the market. To their surprise, the yellow mealworm, the buffalo beetle and the migrating cricket were already approved for human consumption at the time of registration. The French industry “Ynsect” already leads the market in edible beetles. According to the social research institute Mordor Intelligence, the total trade volume in edible insects is expected to reach 9.04 billion dollars by 2029. Vietnamese producers are receiving increasing orders for flour, according to the French newspaper.

Stealth Flour

Some countries still culturally oppose attempts to introduce food products from insects. However, such is the propaganda about them that this aversion is diminishing. In Spain, insect flour is hidden in pasta production, in Germany in hamburgers and in the United States, cricket biscuits are already circulating.

Crickets have aggressive advertising agents who promise protein and dollars. Their flour is profitable because it includes wings, guts, legs, antennae, stingers, eggs, etc. The beetle is particularly profitable because of its horns. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN agency specializing in food security, cricket breeding is easier than cattle.

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These species are appreciated above all by exotic collectors who don’t love the splendid colors and shapes God has placed in nature. They can also be found in natural history museums, where people can satisfy their botanical curiosity by looking at the history of the fight against insects’ destruction of foods proper to man. These museums also cover efforts to combat diseases such as typhus, cholera and bubonic plague, which claimed millions of victims.

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God created them small and barely perceptible to the eye in His mercy. However, enlarged images of their forms show how hideous they are. They would terrify everyone if they were the size of a cat or dog. Depictions of Hell paint demons in the shape of insects. Pagan cults used them as images of their gods. God wanted the shapes of beings in the animal world to express their beneficial or harmful use. The lion, eagle or horse carry within them the meaning of their usefulness. For example, the snake, crocodile and rat show their harmfulness in their shape.

According to the FAO, insects are mainly consumed in Asia, where certain animals essential for healthy eating are considered sacred by paganism and are untouched.

The UN’s desire—and this is what it was created for—is to bring all nations together by orienting their national institutions according to an atheistic and egalitarian philosophy that opposes Christian civilization.

Anti-cultural Innovations

In the same vein of deforming the Christian West, culinary innovations appear in some countries that have never been denoted by common sense.

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The city of Lyon, located in the Auvergne region (south-central France), is rightly considered the capital of French cuisine. Great chefs have served their creations there and become famous. On May 25, 2024, another article in the same Parisian newspaper spoke of a new movement among Lyon chefs. This protesting current claims to be adventurous and eager to “enter modernity” by bucking culinary traditions and heading into the unknown. Tastes in working-class neighborhoods inspire their changes; they scrutinize immigrants’ menus and make so-called audacious mixtures.

Their course is the opposite of the one that sought and obtained culinary quintessence. The immigrants’ non-French taste will no longer reflect the Christian soul of this great people. “Audacious mixtures” mean chaotic tastes.

When customers enter one of these innovative restaurants, they look at the menu and don’t understand what’s happening. They read and re-read and ask: What are these dishes? What are these ingredients? The innovative chefs, calling into question the splendor of French cuisine, have to explain to their customers what they will eat. These dishes are based on a new and decadent philosophy—this century’s philosophy.

The love of nature or ecological deference to old paganism could not be missing in forming the new flavors. These are choreographed meals in fusion with nature. They say ‘choreographic’ to not say ‘ecological,’ because ecology, in sharp decline in European public opinion, needs all kinds of support. A choreographed meal presentation includes, for example, six small plates full of wild herbs with a detestable taste. Some unsuspecting customers, eager to keep up with modernity, eat them by mistake; in reality, they are there to disguise mini-speakers broadcasting bird songs. They claim that this brings the presence of “mother nature” to the table. Yes, when not songbirds, it is Zen music that invades people’s senses. The melodious birds are innocent, but Zen is not Christian.

In France, the ‘Childhood Flavors’ Innovation Fails

A talented thirty-six-year-old, Clément Higgins, opened a patisserie in Marseille. On the wind of current fashions, he also took the uncertain path of wild inventions like the ‘croissant popsicle.’ Early customers bought his products, became suspicious and never returned. The business did not prosper. To put his skills to good use, Clément returned to traditional recipes and found them very popular. He began to wonder: why do traditional flavors appeal? Traditional flavors subconsciously offer stability and certainty in a fast-paced and uncertain world.

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People rejoice when they come across expressions of the culture in which they were raised, as it brings back childhood memories. They rejoice in expressions from when social logic and its virtues reigned. The new creations, intended to surprise and attract with noisy enthusiasm, remain unsold. “Simple flavors require a lot of work,” says Clément, who now has four patisseries in Marseille and a branch in Aubagne.

Consolation Kitchen

This is the title of a book Stéphanie Schwartzbrod has recently released as per Le Monde, June 3, 2024, in an article by Léo Bourdin. Perhaps Schwartzbrod doesn’t know Clément Higgins, but her thinking has the same foundation: “The table doesn’t just mean feasting to satisfy hunger. It means establishing a link with something deeper and invisible.” They both uphold the Catholic philosophy that gave splendor to the table and take up Professor Corrêa de Oliveira’s idea presented at the beginning of this article. That philosophy reflects the guiding thought of French cuisine throughout its history, which is threatened today by the acceptance of insects or by the counterculture’s crazy desire for innovation.

The young Clément established the symbolic link between flavors and childhood. Stéphanie establishes it with nostalgia for those who have already been called to God. The table’s symbolism is a powerful element of spiritual comfort when the memory of those who have left us overwhelms us. Even the most straightforward dish appreciated by a relative who left us is like a bandage for the person left behind. The table is also a way of feeling the presence of those we can no longer see. It portrays the solemnity generated by the Catholic spirit: ad caenam vitae eternae perducat nos Rex aeternæ gloriae—may the King of eternal glory bring us to the supper of eternal life. Amen!

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