Babette’s feast – a book, a movie, a cultural archetype, and a deep meditation on the therapeutic significance of the culinary art

A few months ago – in April, if memory serves me right – I came across an announcement on Google news, quite by chance in fact, that a restaurant named Babette’s cafe was closing down in North East Atlanta after nearly two decades of business. Under normal circumstances, this information shouldn’t have mattered to me because I haven’t visited the place, nor have I heard anyone reporting to me that they have eaten there. But there was something about the name of the restaurant that caught my attention, and I made a mental note to look up this name and place later. But before I moved away from this announcement, I clicked on the webpage of the restaurant and glanced through the customer reviews of the place. Most reviews spoke highly of the food, its cozy ambiance, and the sophisticating ( and slightly expensive) dining it offered; strangely enough, a few reviews mentioned how the service in the restaurant did justice to the spirit of the name it bore. Now that was curious. The name Babette’s feast didn’t strike a bell in me. My interest was further piqued, and I filed this information in a mental “To research” list, and also jotted the name in my digital notebook ( I have switched from paper to digital paper since the beginning of 2020.) in case it slipped away from my memory.

Later that weekend, I searched for Babette’s feast on google to see what came up. And interestingly, the top results had nothing to do with the restaurant in Atlanta, but instead pointed to a 1987 Danish movie “Babette’s feast”, and there were references to author Karen Blixen – a name I instantly recognized. I will come to this shortly. As I continued digging deeper, I found out the movie Babette’s feast had won the academy award for the best foreign film in 1988, and it was the first Danish movie ever to be honored so. Interesting! I thought. What did all this have to do with the name of the restaurant?

Before we get there, let us clear up who Karen Blixen is. Karen Blixen’s pseudonym is Isak Dinesen, author of several wonderful books and collections of short stories. Karen Blixen has pen names: Isak Dinesen, Tania Blixen, Osceola, and Pierre Andrézel. Depending on which country her books were published in, she adopted a different name. As Isak Dinesen, she wrote “out of Africa”, her most popular work, recreating her life in Africa during the years 1914-1931, when she was married to Baron Bror Blixen, a wealthy nobleman, whose last name she adopted as hers. Karen divorced the Baron in 1921, but she continued to live in Africa managing the huge coffee plantations till 1931 when she was forced to return to Denmark after the collapse of the coffee market. “Out of Africa”, written in 1837 and Karen’s second book, is an intimate, objective, and evocative account of the African landscape, its people, and their native intelligence. Dinesen’s first-person narrative prose is limpid, graceful, and hauntingly beautiful. It is a kind of book that I like to read in small doses, and I must have read it a dozen times, at least, just for the beauty of the language and the author’s poetic insights. The book is a prized possession in my library. I had picked up this 1951 edition of the book in a local book sale a few years ago, an aged copy, still intact with the musky, ripened smell of a volume that has been thumbed through several times. Sydney Pollack, the acclaimed Hollywood director transformed the memoir into a breathtaking movie in 1985, starring who else, but Meryl Streep. The movie swept seven academy awards, including a nomination for Streep – her sixth nomination ( of twenty so far) by that time. In the movie, Streep played the role of Karen Blixen.

After Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen went on to write a few collections of short stories, and in one of them titled “ The anecdotes of destiny and Ehengrad”, published in 1958, a short story by the name of “Babette’s feast” appeared. The Interesting point is that I have this book with me, but I hadn’t gotten around to reading it, and therefore couldn’t connect the name of the restaurant in Atlanta with this short story by Dinesen. Now that I knew, I didn’t waste much time, I pulled out the book, and read the short story – about 70 pages long.

Babette’s feast is a fascinating fictional tale of a renowned French chef Madame Babette Hersant, who flees Paris because of the revolution and finds refuge in a strictly Lutheran community, settled on an island off the coast of Norway. Babette is recommended to the sisters Philippa and Marta – the daughters of the late master who had established the Lutheran faith on the Island – as an able servant who has come upon bad times. The sisters are reluctant at first, but take pity on Babette and allow her to stay with them. The small community of people on the Island, idiosyncratic, grumpy, carrying petty grudges in their hearts, nevertheless revered their master ( the sister’s father) for his vision and piety, and now, after his death, for several years, have looked upon the sisters for their diligence in carrying on the tradition of simple and frugal living. Babette’s arrival as a cook raises a few eyebrows among the people, but quickly, the sturdy and efficient Babette takes charge of the kitchen and begins to transform the quality of the soups that came daily out of the sister’s small kitchen and limited ingredients, and shared with the elderly in the community. There was something about Babette’s preparation of food that revived the tongue, a mysterious taste that brought a smile to their wrinkled faces. Isak Dinesen describes Babette’s efficiency in beautiful prose: “ She had appeared to be a beggar; she turned out to be a conqueror. Her quiet countenance and her steady, deep glance had magnetic qualities; under her eyes, things moved, noiselessly, into their proper places”. Babette ends up spending twelve years with the sisters, and on the twelfth year, the centenary of the Deans’ birthday, the sisters decide to host a dinner for the congregation. They invite everybody on the island to the feast. Around the same time, Babette receives news that she has won a lottery of ten thousand Francs. The sisters, by now, used to Babette’s efficient and electric cooking, are sure that Babette would soon leave for Paris. But Babette has other plans, and the rest of the story is about the grand feast Babette prepares for the congregation – a five-course meal in the French style, and with each course, each dish is prepared with the finest ingredients shipped from France, and cooked with utmost precision and delicacy. The sisters forewarn the town that Babette was planning an extravagant meal utterly unsuited for the solemn occasion, but they have given her permission to do so, because of her good nature and insistence. The township decides to ignore the food and not allow the tongue “ a little member who boasteth great things. The tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison”. Their master had taught them to control the tongue, it’s craving for taste. And that is what they intended to do when they arrive at the Sisters’ home for Babette’s feast.

After the feast, a whole new world opens up for everyone in the dining hall. The food, its flow, its taste, and its delectable ingredients break down the reticence, the walls within. Something happens to the rigid ideas of the congregation – their personal losses, and hurts; the heaviness melts and dissolves into nothingness just like the snow outside the windows. As course follows the course, tongues begin to loosen in the heat, taste, and alchemy generated as the food touched the palate. A great joy swells in the body, as if, a mighty wave has risen and devours all negativity and parochialism. A universality of spirit pervades the room and the hearts of the people. A great meal cooked by a great chef can not only delight the body but pacify the mind too. It is miracle in time and it passes away. To really appreciate the joy of food one has to embrace its extraordinary transience and enjoy it without an iota of clinging. This taste and feeling of joy will only last for a little while, but that is enough to glimpse into eternity as William Blake did “ to view infinity in a grain of sand”. A single meal, well cooked with all the love and care in the world, is a blessing for those who are fortunate enough to eat it. It can open the doors to something elusive yet concrete, a bittersweet feeling of joy and fulfillment, a comfortable sense of excess, and a sliver of craving. Is this not the experience of a religious mind too? When we relate to food in this way we give our mortal life a taste of the eternal. The short story “Babette’s feast” is a celebration of the power of the food, the art of culinary delight. Towards the end of the story, we are told that Babette was the chief and celebrated chef of one of the finest restaurants in Paris, before the revolution. And that a meal for six in her restaurant back then would have cost ten thousand francs. Like all great artists, money doesn’t move Babette, Her daily prayer is “ Let me do my best today”. That evening, in the sisters’ home, she had produced a masterpiece of a feast.

Now that I had read the story, and traced the origins of the name of the restaurant, it was clear why Babette’s feast is an apt name for a place that claims to serve good food. I had to watch the movie too. Fortunately, the title was available on the criterion collection, and what a beautiful adaptation it turned out to be. So rich, colorful, and somber at the same time, translating the brilliant prose of Isak Dinesen into well-chiseled frames on the screen. Actor Stéphane Audran plays the role of Babette, an exquisite performance by a talented actor. The final thirty minutes of the movie from the time Babette is given permission by the sisters to handle the feast, to accomplishing it, is one of the best thirty minutes I have ever seen. It is a must for anyone passionate about cooking. It exemplifies the art, the attention to detail, and the abundant love that goes into preparing each dish. No compromise, no dilution in the process – nothing but the best effort will do. Please, don’t watch this movie if you are fasting, or cutting down your calories. You will feel miserable about yourself.

I had to set this essay down in such detail because this is how one learns. If I had ignored the name of the restaurant, I would have missed learning so much. Exploring the origins of that name expanded my horizons in ways that I couldn’t have otherwise. Babette’s feast – this short story embedded in a collection of short stories would have remained unread for some more time, and even when I do get around to reading it – which I would have done so in due course – I may not have appreciated the impact of the story, its implication. I may not have watched the movie at all. I may not have invested in buying all of Isak Dinesen’s books ( which I did) and dipping into her sublime prose and well-constructed stories. Knowledge is all about connecting the dots, and that is conspicuously missing these days. We are inundated with a lot of information, but we fail to pause and reflect and understand the idea from different angles. It takes time, effort, and interest.

I dedicate this essay to all those who have a passion to cook, and who do so religiously – that participating in the ritual of dining with them is an experience that leaves one transformed.

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