What is Rabelaisian????????

Gargantua

To be raunchy, outrageously crude in every way and totally stubborn in matters of truth, persistent against all forms of hypocrisy, and popular opinion. OR simply put: to break all rules of the social norms - aka AXIOM BUSTING!

The above definition typically relates to the second explanation of the term 'Rabelaisian'. The first, and most common association pertains to Master Francis Rabelais, French author, satire solicitor, food enthusiast and comical pleasure seeker of a five part series titled The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel. The stories follow the life of two giants - Gargantua the father and his son, with as much vulgarity as a French 16th century author can invoke.

But fast forward to modern day 21st century and you can find flexible variations of the rabelais term, extending in the case of this blog, to a fine food and drink book shop in Portland, Me: Rabelais. On the quaint and often cobble stoned streets of Portland's downtown Old Port, Rabelais is owned and operated by a wife and husband team with plenty of background experience to support their popular and successful, sensuous based selections of antiquated (and new?) books circling farming, gardening, foods and wines.

A visit this week is in order.
More soon:)