Arizona republican., 1897-12-10
GRAVE GAsrRoNoM1c ERRORS.


 An extraordinary festivity took place in New York recently. The oc- casion is described as "a beefsteak party" IA hundred guests sat down to consume as many beefsteaks as they could. The host brides himself upon being a champion in this line, and his record is seven and half pounds at a sitting. AS he told re- porter, ''this vegetarian business is played out" He added that beefsteak is beyond doubt the finest food in the world, and that one cannot have enough of a good thing. There is no pleasure in the world," he ob- serves, Hike gathering a number of my best friends around me, and treat ing them to as much of the best steak the market affords as they can pos- sibly eat; and the more they dispose of the better I think of their friend ship" To argue with one SO mis- guided would be a mere waste of breath; but the fal1acies upon wh:c1 he bases his eXtravagant statements are responsible for grave gastronom- ic errors on the part of those who are not disposed to gluttony, and therefore it is worth while to attempt to confute them.
 It is strange, indeed, that in a city which boasts of it's civilization as many as a hundred persons could be found outside of those in danger Of starvation, and therefore not alto gether to be blamed for their c imi- nal impulses-who would willingly participate in such a Saturnalia of barbarism as a beefsteak party. We are far from denying the importance or beefsteak in the cuisine. It is a simple but hearty food, which may be eaten at breakfast (although, in our opinion, much is to be said for the continental habit of only coffee and rolls thus early i'm the day) or at luncheon, if not at breakfast. and may occasionally take the place of a roast at dinner But man was no. intended to be Ia purely carnivoroms creature, and the mental and moral results of making him one are appall- ing. We say that the eater of seven and Jhalf pounds of beefsteak at sitting is an enemy to society. He is a survival of barbarism, and there is no knowing when and how he may break out as a gastromaniac of the most violent kind. The methods of gormandizing frequent among the Ro- mans are too familiar to need descrip- tion. To them the decay of the em- pire is to be attributed Let us not by beefsteak, immoderately pursued, shake the foundations of the repub- lie
 That beefsteak parties are not the only objectionable forms of gastro- homie crime ws cheerfully admit. But they offer a warning to offenders which should not be neglected. Gvi- hzed man cannot live without cooks, as the poet has said. In other words, on cooking depends our social, moral and intellectual advanc ament And yet as a nation We have hardly mas tered its first principles. It is not necessary to dwell upon this point. Bad cooking is the rule rather than the exception. The trouble is not so much that we are deficient in the higher branches; this could be over looked; but we do not understand the simplest principles; and the results, from the hllmIbQest household to the most pretenitious hotel, are indeed de- plorable. And thus we waste our re- sources i'm the grossest kind of feed ing; we pay more for bad cooking than other nations pay for good. The
 beefsteak party should be solemn
 warming. The end, of that road must
 be culinary ruin.