Quatre repas chaque jour

The notion of “three square meals a day” has been drummed into me since kindergarten, so I simply assumed it was something akin to a natural law.

Imagine my surprise, thus, when on page 112 of Oliver’s new book L’imagerie des petits gourmands there is a section called Quatre repas chaque jour — “four meals every day”.

There, in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner (le petit déjeuner, le déjeuner and un grand repas avant d’aller se coucher), we find mention of le goûter which is described as le plus petit repas de la journée which “permits us to wait for dinner.”

Apparently for this meal it is better that we “choose a fruit or a piece of cheese rather than rich cakes or rich sugary candy.”

L’imagerie des petits gourmands is a wonderful book, offering a complete history of food, in words and pictures, along with detailed explanations of how things like wine, olive oil and bread are made. Oliver and I read it every night after dinner. It’s published by Groupe Fleures in Paris.

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