"The fate of nations depends upon how they are fed." This historic remark was made a century ago - shortly after the battle of Waterloo - by that meditative Frenchman, Brillat-Savarin. He had seen the mighty French empire fall to pieces in the hands of a fat Napoleon. He had foretold the sad event as he watched the young hero take on paunch and jowls - and join the grotesque band of the gastrophori. No one heeded him.