Evening star., 1897-04-17
A POOR MANS DISH
French People Know the Value of the
Pot-au-Feu.
DINING WELL FOR HALF A FRANC
Domestic Economy as Practiced in
a Partisan Home.
FROM SOUP TO ALAD

Written for The Evening Star.
1t all happened on a May morning. and
we were standing on a corner not block
removed from the Ravadire CT Shoffene. the
Rue Marche We were waiting for an ON
nfbus to arrive which We proposed to take.
When II did pass We failed to signal it,
And all because a woman selling news
papers inside one of the little kiosks or
booths seen all over Paris CHANGED, at that
moment. to be passing out a bowl OF
steaming soup from her windows to a man
in a blue blouse outside. Evidently she hal
previously furnished the camp stool on
which he was sitting reading a newspaper
This was doubtless borrowed from the pile
at the window of the kiosk.
Something In the atmosphere of this
family pair attracted me. 1t might have
been the sense of comfort conveyed by the
steaming bowl appearing from such an un-
expected quarter, especially as my own
sense of appetite was sharpened by a
morning spent in the aforesaid paradise.
1t might have been sheer and unmitigated
curiosity Al all events 1 took possession
of bench at hand-there always
benches at hand in every country save my
own. be it said-having first bought
Petit Journal"-of the lady bountiful of the
kiosk. This served preteXt for waiting
there, not to mention its usefulness as a
screen for my own observation. For, know
ing that bowl of soup by no means SUI
fees for the midday repast of the French
people, / believed that other viands would
issue from the little window, ard IL they
did 1 wanted 10 be on hand to see.
l recall that / noticed with what leisure
and enjoyment he partook of the soup. In
spite of our own condition Of hunger
were able to eSchew envy, as our blue
blouse slipped that delicious locking hrcth
and in leisurely fashion read his Petit
Journal"
A sound of HI sitting inside the kiosk was
explained when emerge from the
window and given In exchange for the
empty bowl huge section OF loaf OF
bread and plate CT boiled beef with the
Usual accompanying vegetables that go to
make up the national dish of France-the
pot-au-fe:i. l, for the first tIhe realized
its value in the social economy of a nation
and L fell to computing the cost of food
stuffs and relative wages, and came near
settling the wage and labor question on the
spot.
Meanwhile our man ate On. Be assured
there was undue haste in the action.
Compared with the midday rerast of a
well-to-do downtown merchant OF Gotham
our blue blouse seemed veritable epicure.
In due course of time the plate of beef,
potatoes, turnips, carrots and cabbage,
hanked by the most of the bread and a
half bottle of the red wine of the country,
disappeared, the items of the newspaper
were from time to time discussed with the
beautiful LADY inside the kiosk, who. by
this time.- had assumed the proportions, in
my mind, of a veritable providence.
A Dainty Salad.
1 hesitate at telling what followed. 1 run
the risk of being suspected of mendacity if
1 proceed. But L nm following my note
book. and brace myself against its affir-
nations and state that a crisp lettuce
salad. already dressed as no people under
stand the art of doips like the French with
their fine herbs. and proper portions of oil.
ri .T,tf tor n,ah hot
all combining to perfect the result. The
salad accompanied by bit OF cheese, COM
prised the third group of this savory little
exhibit 1 noticed my little man taking
first the salad, then ending the feast with
the remnant of bread with the cheese and
The finish of the bottle. like any alderman
at a feast
The hour was at its close The plates and
bowls were packed in a basket inside the
kiosk the newspaper replaced on the pile
the folding chair returned, and our blue
blouse is of for his afternoon work.
By this time l had forgotten my own
hunger. 1 had been set thinking about
many things. Being of a practical mind
with an uRdeniable fondness for statistics
| found myself calculating the cost of the
banquet at which 1 had been an unnoticed
spectator. / have since verified the notes.
and 1t foots UP thus: Bread, cents: soup
meat and vegetables, the three being tie
product CT a pot-au-feu. costing. together
with fuel for cooking the same SO cents
and CROUCH for eight persons; hence the
cost cf the mans SOUP meat and yege.
tables amounts to 41s cents: cost of salad
and dressing the sarne. cents; cheese, 4
cent; Wine, 10 cents; total. l9is cents.
4 Dish for Eight.
The meat invariably used for the pot-au-
feu Is of a cheap grade and, even at the
high prices that rule France, a piece suffl-
cient for eight persons, used IN this way,
can be bought for 25 cents. Add the cost
n "a whit oh lie
fuel. . cents. Any one who has seen the
cooking arrangements of French house
hold and has seen the kettle simmer lob
serve the word used is simmer" not boiD
over the few bits of charcoal knows why
it costs only cents for fuel in preparing
a pot-ar-feu for eight or more people.
This bit of meat thai costs 25 cents in
the hands OF any peasant of France, not
only comes from the pot tender and Juicy,