The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1899-07-26
AS JOHN BULL SEES HIMSELF.
Something Of His Cooking and HIS
Ansusements-TheD Dinners OF
Two Nations.


Every nation has the government and
the cooking which it deserves Thus,
the French are the worst governed and
the best fed people in Europe, for the
reason that the majority of Frenchmen
are perfectly indifferent to politics and
keenly interested in food. The Eng
lish are the worst fed and the best gov
erned people in the world, because, with
few exceptions, they care a great deal
more about the programme If the gov
eminent than the menu of the cook. In
the "Vieux Marcheur" there is scene
IN the cabinet of Partisan restaurant
which illustrates the anxious delibera-
ton with which French party debate
their bill of fare. what are you going
to give us, Adrien ?" asks the host. ~Jai
pense a differences choses," replies the
waiter. Fancy asking an English waiter
what he was going TO give you for
luncheon and his answering: Il have
been thinking of several thingsl
Adrien theu proposes potage Jeanne
VA. >vhereupon a young gentleman
-sks, Indignantly: de la soupe a
deieuner?" Adrien's rebuke is mag
nificent; Mon, monsieur, pas de la
soupe, du potage. C'est la vielle ecole,
ct j'y suis fidele. L'homme ne sc main
ticnt que par les potages. lie grand
Careme. qui n ecrit un tres beau livre
sur les potages, les appelle les Portiques
du Temple"
French women do quite as much as
French men TO keep up the standard
of cookery; and English women are
quite as much TO blame as English men
for the absence of any standard in this
country. Ask any lady of your ac-
quaintance what she thinks of a certain
restaurant. and she will say; Such
lovely roomi 1 like those dark red
hangings by Warning so much" but
the dinner. my dear lady, what about
the dinner?" "Oh, the dinner! don't
think | remember much about that"
This fatal indifference filters down
from the table through the service to
the kitchen. The experiment Is con-
stantly tried of getting over-celebra-
ted chefs from Paris, and those who
know these artists on their native
heath are at a loss TO account for their
cold and careless performances in Lon
don. The reasons are not far to seek.
The foreign chef is badly served in the
kitchen and in the dining-room. This
distresses him at first, until he learns
that his patrons are too busy admiring
the furniture and one another to know
whether his dinner is hot or cold. For
the truth is that so long as the up
holstery is magnificent and the COM
pany numerous and smart English peO-
pie are quite happy. Given alabaster
pillars, saddlebag settees, plenty of
electric light and the restaurant or
hotel is voted charming. The garbage
which we placidly swallow at our very
expensive hotels and on board our
crack steamers is horrible to think of.
Nor are our clubs much better. In 1896
Abraham Hayward wrote: THE best
judges are agreed that it is utterly i'm
possible to dine better than at the Carl
ton" Would the members of that in
stitution indOrse this statement now?
In private houses there is the same
indifference above stairs. the same care
lessness below. Even among the upper
contrast is too painful between the
splendor of the table and the common
place, addressed fare. With the excep-
ton of one or two of our great mobiles
who entertain royalty, the best cooking
is to be found, as might be expected, in
the houses of the cosmopolitan finan-
ciers. In the upper middle class the
difficulty of ObfaininU a dacaDt oool- ;s
notorious, because the working English
woman regards a serious interest in the
preparation of food as derogatory. To
produce a good dinner at eight o'clock
the cook should begin thinking of diff
ferent things" like Adrien, at an early
period of the afternoon; whereas she
never dreams of beginning her duty
until about an hour and half before
the time. After all, why should she
bother, if master and mistress don't
mind? Below the upper middle class
cooking and dining disappear. and YOU
get boiling, baking and feeding. Things
will never mend until the majority rec
Ognize that good cooking is an impor-
tant factor in happiness, and insist
upon getting it. Nothing is so difficult
as to force taste upon n people; but
we really think that resolute effort
migth be made by English travellers TO
raise the culinary standard in their own
hotels, which in this respect are simply
scandalous. Verify, we are a great and
good nation; but at the bare imagina-
ton of our national cookery the stom-
ach weeps-LOndon SATURDAY. Reviax.-