Rossini and food

“After doing nothing, I know no more delightful occupation of eating, eat properly, I mean. The appetite is for the stomach what love is for the heart. The stomach is the choirmaster who governs and operates a large orchestra of the passions. An empty stomach is the bassoon or flute in which discontent grumbles or envy yelps; on the contrary the full stomach is the triangle of pleasure or the cymbals of joy. Regarding to love, I consider this as the first woman to excellence, the diva who sings in the brain Cavatina which intoxicate the ear and the heart is kidnapped. Eating and loving, singing and digesting: these are indeed the four acts of this opera buffa that we call life, and disappears like froth of a bottle of champagne. Who let it escape without having enjoyed it, is a madman”.

Source: “Gioachino Rossini”, Gioachino Rossini Gourmet, accessed 1 April 2010.

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