The General’s ToastBabette, master chef, had the ability to transform a dinner into a kind of love affair, a love affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite. General Galliffet said that in the past he had fought a duel for the love of a beautiful woman. But now there was no woman in Paris for whom he would shed his blood—except this chef.
[Ed. note: This is a film we dare say all should see. To refresh our memory, the sewer raccoon news looked up Babette's Feast + Karen Blixen again, and the passage referred to follows below: General Loewenhielm, speaking of the first time he had Cailles en Sarcophage:
”One day in Paris, after I had won a riding competition, my French fellow officers invited me out to dine at one of the finest restaurants, the Cafe Anglais. The chef, surprisingly enough, was a woman. We were served Cailles en Sarcophage, a dish of her own creation. General Galliffet, who was our host for the evening, explained that this woman, the head chef, was considered the greatest culinary genius. What we are now eating is nothing less than Cailles en Sarcophage." (In a poor cottage in Jutland.)
The General, standing, proposes this toast; Babette is out of the room in the kitchen, continuing her magic:
"Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man, in his weakness and shortsightness, believes he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear.
But no.
Our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when your eyes are opened. And we come to realize that mercy is infinite. We need only to await it with confidence, and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And, lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us, and everything we have rejected has also been granted. Yes, we even get back what we rejected. For mercy and truth are met together; and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another."
Author: Karen Blixen
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