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

LITERATURE.

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_herc_ together The
bold appetite is ours—because we have fasted long
from the writings of our immortal Alexis—those
most exquisite of literary confections—we have
hungered a considerable time since the golden mo-
meats when we were feasting on the milk and honey
of the beautiful truths stored up abundantly in the
" Modern Housewife, or Menagere," and yet morn
abundantly in the " Gastronomic Regenerator."
Virtually we have remained famishiner ever since
our " dearest Eloise," and our " beloved Hortense"
brought to a close their most attractive and be-
witching correspondence. During 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"—
an appetite that says to the skilful cook, " Thou art
trlY Father !" That supreme and crowning attes-
tation of the triumph of the ambitious chef—of his
a._t.iliDaph at once overthe indolence of fatigue and the
'sgllst of satiety. An occasion when, immediately
111P0n the appearance of some prodigy of science or of
111.1,1117 on the altar of the banqueting chamber, the
°°K of the sacrificer brightens [it is not our lips
that speak, but those of the Diephobe of the
kitchen, the inspired priestess of Victua, *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 moment, 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 bast 'conquered, Alexis !
To thee are we indebted, as before remarked, for
the satisfaction of the bolclappetite, 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 P_4.NTROPHEON. 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.
leader—having ourselves partaken of the de-
g_
11t! of the literary banquet humanely provided
raYt:ldaessrs • Simpkin and Marshall, in these degene-
vs blightea , when grapes are diseased, and potatoes
benison We would here commend thee with a
Not • ° the devouring of the " Pantropheon."
W
the I--enison of Apemantus—
Rather withitieh have fallen "So fall to 't—
men sin, and I eat root."
an incitation to avidity such as might
that
History of the tongue of Fonthill-Bickford,
most 11.'2111
.?:_cfined of all modern sybarites. " A
food and .tVood," by Alexis Soyer—a history of
by Bacchus s preparation ! A history of the vine
It arnow..',—of corn by Ceres—of fruit by Pomona!
it is a na_f, that : particularly remembering that
informs -Lcaus,titve extending back, as the very title-page
extend%
record " the earliest acres of the world"—a
rather Until
gay, until it . g back, not, as Mr. Macaulay might
.is lost in the twilight of fable, but
steam
of
th
titropheen,
is rendered obscure and hazy in the
quay. E? boiled and roast of a barbarous anti-
reParation a History of Food and its
fancies ic hY, the words conjure up the fairy
scenes of rev niceaccio, realising some of the elfin
the gorgeeu.e:- nd. luxury depicted in the mazes of
perhaps, tb"soYrinth of the Decameron. Rather,
appreciationeYf
a repast of summon into being for the actual
.our senses, that ravishing vision of
eloquent
set of "Farad )
Which Milton sang with such sonorous
ropriatply enough--at the
Ise 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 ; boasts of chase, or fowl of game,
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,
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 cites 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 wino's, 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
diraents 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
nsen disdained by M. Soyer as adapted only to
the„ exceedingly young ladies who have emerged
Byron
the stringed bondage of the pinafore, of whom
'Pt% said so wickedly in " Beppo"—
• " The nursery still lisps out in all they utter,
Besides they always smell of bread and butter."
Not for uneducated palates such as these has Alexis
r°oYer written the inestimable pages of his " Pan-
"t
Pll.eon." Not for such as these has he burnt the
Iniise_dnight oil during the course of his profound re-
-IVotes—researches in the conduct of which he
quotenot less accurately than Miss Strickland have
d that suggestive couplet from Beaumont—
" The treasures of antiquity laid up
In old historolls I opened."
•
chef-I'll:Isis elaborate History of Food" the letter'd
dreds s authenticated his statements by many hun-
etsittoof references to ancient and modern writers of
14, on, are, giving page and volume with minute preci-
L4tili Aiding in his facile erudition to both Greek and
Val sninassics, to contemporary scribes and medic's-
in um nilasts. It might have been imagined that
and ofettaking a task of such enormous magnitude
capao. such bewildering difficulty, the culinary
to ti:Lr of even a Soyer might have been baffled as
sublie:antier of arrangement. But no—as this
solemn, Work Work on eating and drinking—a work
of " Dedicated by the author to the genius
an eLb•?vrononiy
work the vignette of which is
eireler
1V h of the globe rolling through space, en-
ittri, this inscription Deus Creator Terra
'a work the frontispiece of which is a
represenz_
find apple ! !
by pie ration of the great chef himself surrounded
and decanter and game, and venison, and
neither • this laborious compilation we
confusi,st. in manner nor in matter tjie slightest
field 4.2 Whatsoever. " Agriculture" is the broad
the
1-4,lra which we set out on our rovings through
Mine •
ea11:118,,4. ,of Gastronomy. Thereupon we exa-
• .J
into the Cereals," into the " Grinding of Corn,"
tables."
intM of Flour," into " Fru-
" Grains and Seeds," into " Vege-
direetio_,-14.anching off from this point in two
Were forbidde
the threci the,e History, first of all, describes to us
discovered ngebtables, remindino• us how beans
PYthagoras—aw haricots were
Pronoune by Alexander the Great—how peas were
lentilsea by Martial to be disagreeable—how
formed tphoettchcrief ingredient in Esau's dearly-
the Kitchen red a,,e—and then conducts us into
Kitchnn
a_boundingbe Garden. Having traversed the
of nature as
the of
such delectable products
sitter radish, and the succu-
gent sorrel, the
,savoury onion, and the pun-
eatomatical " PlaZte
asparagus
come to the delicate and
by the used in seasoning"—almost
frverpowered
Then
of wild th oc Yanle. to the
conflicting, odours, from the
conflicting
asafceticla.
sTtoell
thene fruit' Pip f6rmuitcking our lips—to the fruit:
.nucopia—there come tumbling
profusion olive
opening ef a
cor and shell fruit. It is like
ple)aclenhusalialAsuch. luscious
meow') among
P and
date. atiniedrechoeorrmye,
dro • apricot, 1
and
front
the leaves (of* " Pantro-
Ple, and le or
gulch
and
quince, and pear, and
apply showers of rant) stravrberry orange fi
moral ;) • there come rattli
Roos b
. ' mulberry (not' raspberry, cur-
down such a hail-
the glimpse of a
ot almond
waillut, filbert, pistachio