The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-12-19
FARE OF OUR ANCESTORS.
WHAT THEY ATE SOME TWO AND
THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
Very Fond Of ore"se-sugar at h's" rig
ure.-Bread Was = Staple and Made in
. MANY yarietIcs-The English Pudding.
From Fingers TO Forks.

MANY yarieties-The English Pudding. |
From Fingers to Forks.
The most interesting part Of history Is that
which the historians often omit to notice.
The wars and the laws and who made them
we know. They are what the historian
chiefly cares for: but while these are i'm
portant, scarcely less so and far more inter
esting are the social CUSTOMS the dress and
food and the every day life OF past centuries
II In all eras the Englshmans appetite has
been famous. no has not always been able to
employ II upon the same material. In Anglo
Saxon times and long after the staple food OF
the multitude was bread, butter aud cheese
4 few Of the coarser vegetables were added,
and il was only on occasions that this was
diversified by "salted bacon and pancakes,
beef or fish" The meat, when 1t was to be
had. was usually boiled over tripod. The
kctte' in which this was done, says the
author Of "Old Cookery Books was THE
universal vessel for boiling purposes, aud the
bacon house, or larder. was the warehouse
for the winter stock Of provisions" In al
most all the foods strong condiments Ike
garlic ard pepper were freely used mn
olory shows that the Saxon food was bread,
butter and cheese, for beef, veal, mutton,
nork and bacon retain the names given by
the Normans
THE EVOLUTION or THE FORK.
"In the Tenth century colloquy Of Arch
bishop Alfric," says Mr.. Carew Hazlett the
boy is made 70 say that he is too young to eat
meat but subsists on cabbages eggs, hsh,
cheesf butter and beaus,' and the drink,
which was rarely ale, was usually water.
The nursery rhyme tells us Of King Alfred's
"bag pudding OF barley meal, with raisins
and meat" The frying pan, Mr.. Hazlett
SAYS. preceded the grill, Just as the fork
Jagged behind the spoon. from which It Is
seeming evolution For centuries in Eng
land there was a prejudice against the fork,
which displaced the fingers, and forks at first
were the privilege only OF kings. When
Coryat employed one after his visit to Italy,
where the instrument originated in the Elev-
enth century, he was nicknamed Furclfer. IL
took six hundred years, or until the Seven
tenth century, 10 establish It England, ana
even then il did not attain general use.
country boor "still eats his bacon or his her
ring with his fingers, just as Charles MI OF
Sweden butterel his bread with bis royal
thumb"
II is said that the origin Of washing the
hands before eating arose from the fact that
food nj first was eaten wholy-all around tho
table dipping into one dish-with the hands
Now. with the finger bowl, an ablution ends
as well as precedes the meal. Carving knives,
like the fork. were at first a luxury, and as
late as the close OF the Fifteenth century.were
confined TO kings tables and those Of the mo-
bility. Butter was not much used in England
before the Norman conquest, although the
Englishman. unlike the Italian, had no oil for
n substitute. OF the introduction OF sugar
there is no certain date given Mr.. llazlitt
thinks it must have been scarce and dear IN
1926. "when Henry III asked the mayor Of
Winchester 70 procure him three pounds Of
Alexandria sugar, II 50 much could be got,
and also some rose and violet cOlored sugar,
nor had it grown more plentiful when the
samo prince ordered the sheriifs Of London 10
send him four loayes Of sugar 20 Woodstock.
Before the end Of the Thirteenth century,
however, it gained ground and could gener-
ally be- produced 1t was then sold by the
loaf or pound at what would be 35iS TO -
cents n pound in American currency
There were several kinds Of bread used In
the Fifteenth century. Palm main was bread
made Of very white -four. In addition 10
this. there was 20 be had coarser "wheat
bread, also barley meal bread, bran bread,
pea bread, oat bread or oat cakes, hard bread
and mleavened bread" Rye lentils and oat-
meal were sometimes mixed for bread for the
poor. Certain coarse fish were once eaten
which have not been in modern times much
esteemed Porpoise pie, once eaten, was
finally ridiculed in tho time Of James as "a
dish which not even a dog would eat al
though in our own times on the Hudson river
it is the sturgeon, livery like a porpoisen that
used TO be called Albany beef, perhaps SO
called because the early Dutch may have
gone TO that city's market 20 get D..
COOKERY IL THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
In tie Seventeenth century English cookery
began to improve and took hints from the
continental nations Travel increased and
tourists brought i.ome recipes like the follow
Ing. "To mako Portugal dish, 80 make
"A Virginia dish VA Persian dish, "A Span
ish Olio,' etc The following also were prob
ably by travellers: ITO make the Lady
Abergayenry's cheese, Lord Conway's re.
ceipt for amber puddings,' ITO make
posset. the Earl Of Arundel's way When
the fame Of foreign dishes was well estab-
lished French and Italian cooks came 10
England and entered service. But the oppo-
stion to French cookery was heard from
more than one voice Mr. Hazlitt says Charles
Lamb in more modern times did not like IL.
The critics Of the time said it disguised The
real flavor OK the meat 10 might do for a
hot climate, but lit is here" say the author
II antiquities Culiprie," 'the art of
spelling good meat"
Addison says that living in in the days Of
Queen Anne was plain aud plentiful. a din
ner was only two courses. Two plain
dishes" he says, with two or three good
natured, cheerful, ingenious friends, would
make me more pleased and vain than all that
pomp and luxury can bestow." Dinner then,
rs later. was the main meal Nilsson says;
Tho English eat n great deal at dinner
They rest a while AID TO 10 again till they
have quite stuffed their paunch. Then sup
per is no ierate-qluttons ut noon and absti-
uent a. night. heard that they were great
flesh caters, and found it true Many peo-
pie in England, he says, never eat any
bread. while they chew meat by whole
mouth MS Their vegetables fairly swim in
grease Deep potations we're common every
where. You see so late as in Dickens novels
how good cheer in eating and drinking is
really an English inheritance. The English
uuddiug came down from two or more CEN
= turtles ago, aud il was made, says Nilsson,
'hfty different ways but always with meats
AMI sweets And 10 describes 10 90 years
ago as most excellent. To come ia pudding
time Is as much as TO say 10 come In the most
lucky moments in the world. Blood pud-
dings and marrow buildings abounded.-Joel
Benton in Ne0 York Herald.
Every Nan His Own Photographer.
The latest thing in sun picturing is self
acting Photographic apparatus by which the