The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-10 00:00:00

LITEBATULE.

The Pantropheon ; or, History of Food, and its
Preparation. By A. Soyer. Simpkin, Marshall,
and Co.

According to the Athenians, there are three
kinds of appetite. Firstly, there is that which
comes from fasting—called the bold appetite. Se-
condly, there is that which requires to be encou-
raged—called the indolent appetite. Thirdly, there
is that which owes nothing to nature, but every-
thing to art (M. Soyer terms it tenderly " the child
of art," p. 255)—called the eclectic appetite. And,
behold ! we sit down to devour this delectable
volume with all these three appetites strong
upon us simultaneously. Anomalous they may
seem to be, and yet this is true nevertheless. Incon-
gruous these three separate appetites may appear
in themselves, and yet they are here together. The
bold appetite is ours—because we have fasted long
from the writings of oar immortal Alexis—those
most exquisite of literary confections—we have
hungered a considerable time since the golden mo-
ments when we were feasting on the milk and honey
of the beautiful truths stored up abundantly in the
" Modern Housewife, or Menagere," and yet more
abundantly in the " Gastronomic Regenerator."
Virtually we have remained famishing ever since
our " dearest Eloise " and our " beloved Hortense"
brought to a close 'their most attractive and be-
witching correspondence. Daring the protracted
silence which has ensued thereupon, we have yearned
hitherto, alas ! in vain, for that wine of love and
bread of friendship. Therefore it is that we dedi-
cate our energies with " a bold appetite" to the
devouring of the delicious wisdom conserved in the
Pantropheon. To this enviable task, moreover, we
bring the advantage of "an indolent appetite "
an appetite that provokes the magiric genius of
Alexis Soyer to the dainty and ingenious labour of
its reanimation and encouragement. Besides which
our incomparable author discovers in us the oppor-
tunity for demonstrating the magical influence
of his abilities, the opportunity afforded by the
Possession on our part of an " eclectic appetite"—
au appetite that says to the skilful cook, " Thou art
Y Father !" That supreme and crowning attes-
Ation of the triumph of the ambitious chef—of his
!I:4lmph at once over the indolence of fatigue and the
disgust of satiety. An occasion when, immediately
,upon the appearance of some prodigy of science or of
ilatuy on the altar of the banqueting chamber, the
look of the sacrificer brightens [it is not our lips
that speak, but those of the Diephobe of the
kitchen, the inspired priestess of Victua, the goddess
of gastronomy !) "the desire revives, the smile re-
appears, the chest dilates, the magiric facies shines
forth with all its splendour." How writes Soyer,
of this ultimate victory of his art, this elevating
and unsurpassable consummation ? He says, p.
256, "In this supreme ;noment, he [the cook] re-
ceived among the ancients, a crown of flowers--sweet
and noble recompence of his arduous toil." In this
manner, too, thou also hast conquered, Alexis !
To thee are we indebted, as before remarked, for
the satisfaction of the bold appetite, for the irrita-
tion of the indolent appetite, for the creation of the
eclectic appetite--through the prodigies of science
and luxury submitted to us on the altar of thy
august PANTROPHEON. Wherefore, in imitation
of the classic gourmets of Attica, we send thee the
blooming and odorous garland, the crown of thy
deserts, a garland (as it should be) not of perishable
blossoms, but of asphodels and amaranths.
Reader—having ourselves partaken of the de-
lights of the literary banquet humanely provided
by Messrs. Simpkin and Marshall, in these degene-
rate days, when grapes are diseased, and potatoes
Plighted—we would here commend thee with a
benison to the devouring of the " Pantropheon."
Not with the benison of Apemantus—
" So fall to %
Rich men sin and I eat root "
Rather with an incitation to avidity such as might
have fallen from the tongue of Fonthill-Beckford,
that most refined of_ all modern sybarites. " A
History of Food," by Alexis Soyer—a history of
food and its preparation ! A history of the vine
by Bacchus--of
It amounts to that by
Ceres—of fruit by Pomona!
it is a narrative extendingatParticularly remembering that
inform, us, to „o back, as the very title-page
record extending
is lost
back, earliest ages of the world' —a
say, until it
rather until it is reader not, as Mr. Macaulay might
m the twilight of fable, but
ect steam of the boil a
olheon, obscure and hazy in the
" Pantr boiled and roast of a barbarous anti-
Preparation"
fancies of Boc w a History of Food and its
y? the Words. conjure up the fairy
Boccaccio, realising some of the elfin
scenes of revel anclltritdhepicted in the mazes of
perhaps,
erhgaolfsrous labyrinththey summon° inteo Dbeein mefroornt.heßaactthueari
appreciation of our senses, that ragvishing vision of
e_ repast of which Milton sang with such sonorous
eloquence—appropriately enough—at the very out-
set of " Paradise Regained :" a day-dream in which
the poet beheld :

"A table richly spread, in regal mode,
With dishes piled, and meats of noblest sort
And savour ; beasts of chase, or fowl of game,
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boird,
Gris-amber-steam'd ; all fish from sea or shore,
Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drained
Pontos and Lucrine bay, and Africk coast—
(Alas, how simple, to these cater compared,
Was that crude apple that diverted Eve !)
And at the stately side-board, by the wine,
That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood
Tall stripling youths rich clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymede or Hylas ; distant more,
Under the trees now tripp'd, now solemn stood,
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades
With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn,
And ladies of the Hesperides, that seem'd
Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since.
* * * * *
And all the while harmonious airs were heard
Of chiming strings, or charming pipes ; and winds
Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd.
From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells.
Such was the splendour."
It is the description of " Pantropheon." A descrip-
tion more apposite than that of the saccharine con-
diments placed by the delicate fancy of Keats by
the side of the sleeping lady in " The Eve of St.
Agnes :" delicates—
" Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd ;
With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
And lucent syrups, tinct with cinnamon ;
Manna and dates, in argosy transferred
From Fez ; and spiced dainties every one
From silken Samarcand to cedar'd. Lebanon."
A provision such as this would, we doubt not, have
been disdained by M. Soyer as adapted only to
the exceedingly young ladies who have emerged
from the stringed bondage of the pinafore, of whom
26Yron said so wickedly in " Beppo"—
" The nursery still lisps out in all they utter,
Soot Besides they always smell of bread and butter."
for uneducated palates such as these has Alexis
tr Ye r written the inestimable pages of his " Pan-
Th..9Plieon.,, Not for such as these has he burnt the
reauzight oil during the course of his profound re-
lei
_bes--researches in the conduct of which he
ciligo4i t not less accurately than Miss Strickland have
that suggestive couplet from Beaumont—
" The treasures of antiquity laid up
For m•
.a... . In old historic rolls I opened."
cheir_bllls elaborate " History of Food" the letter'd
dreg authenticated his statements by many hunf-
!zninee,teferences to ancient and modern writers ?
Ton aife,.giving page and volume with minute preci-
en dug inks facile eru -1-4tilk uri ' ••erudition to both Greek and
WA ,—lasics to contemporary scribes and mediae-
in laude arts' It might have been imagined that
and n.crtakiiig a task of such enormous magnitude
eapao such bewildering difficulty, the culinary
to
they iv er
I even a Soyer might have been baffled as
anhiii;ruanner of arrangement. But no—as this
Bolero ° work on eating and drinking—a work
of (1213 r " Dedicated by the author to the genius
circled°. °f
the
all ile tron°"l-7 !"—a work the vignette of which is
globe rolling through space, en-
Arutri 11' this inscription Deus Creator Terra
re "a •--a work the frontispiece of which is a
pinepresentation
ie of the great chef himself surrounded
; and decanter, and game, and veniso.n, and
eonfusi tiler in
in this laborious compilation we
finlnaePipble ! ! !_.l
manner nor in matter the slightest
field. h.: whatsoever. " Agriculture" is the broad
the r. ra which we set out on our rovings through
mineinto
~c Gastronomy. Thereupon we exa-
into the cc Cereals'" into the " Grinding of Corn,"
„ita,bles..."
inentaa,,,
into anipulation of Flour," into " Fru-
_ " Grains and Seeds," into " Vege-
Branching off from this point in two
kure°
liwIls) the 'lido first of all, describes to us
the Dried Vegetabiys,b, reminding us how beans
discovered b
were forbidden- b
y AleYxande thraGs—how haricots were
by
martial- teb Great—how peas were
pronounced
Rs formed the chief °F disagreeable—how
lent
Purchased redingredient in Esau's dearly-
the liitchen pottage—axid then conducts us into
aboundin , Garden. Having traversed the
.„. . g Beds of such delectable products
gent sorrel, the savoury onion,
and the pun-
lent asparagus bitter radish, and the succu-
aromatical ~,iazte come to the delicate and
overpowered by 8 used in seasoning"—almost
fragrance of wildthe conflicting odours, from the
Then we come- yme to the stench asafmtida.
stone fruit, pip fri.tricking our lips—to the fruit :
the opening of a
corn 6, and shell fruit. It is like
upon us in such lusciouoscopia—there come tumbling
peach and apricot, plum
the
leaves (of " Pantro-
apple, and lemon, and o quince, and pear, and
rant, strawberry, muibrauge, fig, raspberry, cur-
gooseberry) : there erry (not the glimpse of a
0
storm f e come rattlin
.. Edmond and , g down such a hail-
walnut; Albert, pistachio,