The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-15
COME EUROPEAN ILLUSIONS.
uvoyoRED BUT UNH0UNDkD NO
ions ABOUT AMERICANS.
rr,,s About Fast Eatins Here ana In
n; ,'ro".-R..,a.r.nts =. BALE Better Here
r. Hand.Mads Tradition American
lit. DO Not Rush Madly About Europe.

lit. Do Not Rush hadly About Europe.
Dams. July 5.-Thcre are q lot OF hoary old
is,tons about America and the Americans
49, somebody ought to expose. Whatever
~ there once was In these notions they
no,v plous frauds now. Yet most persons
down before them as II they were the law
md the gospel.
~ hssin. then, there Is the familiar fraud
the fast eating OF Americans. Ths
.Dar,can business mans luncheon has aroused
an .omment Of the civilized world. European
ua,srs who flourish through America in three
".nth. or less. and write a volume OF their
nnnrossions. invariably devote q chapter and
nt. choicest irony to the business mans
,,,.hson. People over here read with bsted
S..s,b that he devotes from five to fifteen min
va. 10 his midday meal. Horrible!
Thers are plenty Of Americans. ~too-espe-
.,uy American women-who almost shed
,..rs over the brevity Of these luncheons. 1t
won,d appear from their lamentations that
"a country can be truly great unless its bust
nsss men devote an hour to luncheon. The
n"o q NJ. are accused Of boiling. gobbdns
.nd other unpleasant methods Of taking food.
xbJls the critics point to the European Con-
,nent, where men spend an hour at luncheon.
This inference Is that the American bolts his
food while the European eats deoently aud
deliberately,
Tbi. is one Of the hoary old traditions which
,usht 10 be shown up. The Europeans do
.,end an hour or more over their luncheon.
but, on an average, they eat about twice a
much 10 the minute as the average American
man does. They take . meal OF four or hve
courses. They wait ten minutes for the first
49, u- .~lpn ~ Al lAAGt Ava
minutes between the succeeding courses. At
the end Of the actual eating they sit and talk
and smoke and-yes. even In proud Europe'
pick their teeth for half an hour. All this
except the dental operation-is perfectly
commendable. Probably II would be q good
thing for the American man to do the same
thing. But when one analy yes the time spent
at these Wanted European meals one finds
that little OF II Is devoted to actual eating.
The writer has lunched day after day in the
cafe Roma, the leading restaurant In Rome.
and has watched the crowd with a good deal
of curiosity. The men almost invariably be-
gin with a great plateful OF macaroni or rico.
That one dish is double what thousands Of
New York men take for luncheon. 1t disap-
pears with a rapidity which Is fairly amazing.
The diner advances his face to within a few
inches Of the plate and. with the aid OF q fork
in one hand and a piece Of bread In the other,
arranges a sort Of endless chain Of maccaroni.
This he keeps moving with incredible swift
ness, pausing at rare intervals only for q drink
Of sour wine.
It is the same with each succeeding dish.
The time devoted to actual eating was only
small fraction Of the time spent at the table.
The few Americans who strayed into the place
couldn't touch the record made by the Italians.
These latter were not apparently pressed for
time, as business men In New York often are.
They were officers who lounged indolently
town the street from one cafe to another.
or they were men about town who made OF
the Cafe Roma q sort Of club. met their friends
there and seemed TO have unlimited time.
The European table d'hote dinner Is an
other blow at the fraud about American fast
eating. When Americans sit Town TO dinner
they like to talk - they cat. That course
wont do over here. There Is plenty Of time
spent at the table. but 1t Is divided into short
periods for eating and long intervals when
you may converse to your hearts content.
The Europeans are accustomed to this and
they fall to tho moment they are served and
In an incredibly short time have cleaned their
plates. Then, after q drink Of wine. they fall
to Just as theoretically on the conversation.
The American who attempts to converse dur
Ing a course does 50 at bis peril. The moment
no shows signs Of q lull In his attention to his
plate the hawk-eyed walters make q dive for
It and no has to cling to II with q desperate
clutch II he wants to eat anything more OF that
course. In fact. he soon learns that unless
he wants to be consptcuously eating after
the others have stopped he must attend strictly
to business and eat with all the speed at his
command
Anybody would think BY the ness Of
the walters to get the plates OF the table that
the next course wa even thon knocking at
the door. But mol After snatchins away the
plates the moment tho last mouthful has been
transferred to tho diners mou the entire
company sits and converses for at least five
long minutes before there Is & sign Of anything
else to eat. Things are net quito 30 bad here
In France. but the writer Is willing to pit the
Trenchmcn against the Americans for the
record in rapid eating.
Another pious fraud which ought to be shelved
is the notion that one gets better service In
European hotels and restaura ants than in Ameri-
ran ones Of the same class. Leaving out the
cheap places and speaking only Of the better
N-Nt ~ - /" INV Ni1t NiO EhiADA ASoa - WV
Is away ahead Of what one finds over here.
The walters here are overworked to begin
with. As a general thing they are obliged
to serve twice as many people as they would
be expected to take care OF In America The
difference, anyway. Is not In the walters them
selves, but In what is expected Of them. New
York. for instance. demands attention and
courtesy, which are not expected from walters
In Europe.
Another illusion cherished by many people
b that one gets better food In Europe han in
America By better food Is meant q greater
variety OF dishes. more appetiEingly and more
wholesomely cooked. This does not mean that
the best Paris cooking Is not the best In the
world. 1t is. And 1t doesn't mean that even
In the modest French restaurants you will
not md good cooking. But 1t does mean that
In q multitude Of American restaurants Of the
upper middle class you will find as good cook
ing a. In the French restaur ants OF the same
class and. at the same time. you will ind twice
me variety in your choice Of dishes. As for
ne culinary chef d'oeuvres which have made
ue iame OF certain restaurants In Paris. IL
Is oy no means certain that New York chefs
nave not achieved just as great triumphs.
Inc trouble Is that in New York the matter
uht handled so well. There Is no clarifying
OF NE chef. probably because a giorifed chef
YOU'D promptly give notice and start q res
1auraht OF his own. Consequently the pro-
prietor d~iscreetly keeps his chef In the back
ground where American diners are too willing
to leave him.