The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-05
CURIOsITIEs OF FEEDING.
Changes i'm the Habits of Mankind.
Ancient Bills of Fare.
From the London Standard.

TO the inner man and physical demands of
human nature. To them hunger is a de.
graduation, food a constant reminder that
they are but men of infinitely limit ed ca
pacties. But though thus scorned ana
pshawed by superior minds. foods ana
feeding form one of the eternals. To all
but an infntesimal portion of human kind
the necessity Of food is the great origin
of human action. For food human genus
has achieved its greatest feats in litera-
ture, art, and racial progression. Food
and the means of obtaining it form the
absorbing incessant topic and aim of daily
toll and scheme of the whole world. It
is but a false and hypocriucal pride thar
disdains the consideration of such an e.er-
nal factor. Hunger, not moral principles
and high ideals, is the motive power of
mankind.
Man made a great advance when he be
gan to eat at fixed times, Instead Of as
hitherto, when he was hungry or had
something to eat. The institution of meal
times, as apart from the mere demands
of hunger, notified a stability of society.
1t is curious to note the alteration in the
hours for the principal meals. Dinner
and supper appear to have transcribed
all other meals. The word breakfast"
a. applied to the morning food is not
known before the fifteenth century. Tn
to have been merely and literally a break
ing of the fast. Pepys habitually took
a half-pint of Rhenish or a dram of strong
waters as his breakfast, while Izaak Wal
ton recommends pipe of tobacco as the
best sustenance in the morning. That
dinner was emphatically the paramount
if not only, meal of the day, Is shown by
the early hour at which it was taken. In
the fourteenth century dinner was eaten
al a. m rhyme of the period babe
man rise at five dine at nine: "At five
in the evening thou mayest sup, to bed
al nine, and thou shalt live to ninety-and-
nine"
In the Northumberland House Book
for 1872 it is set forth that the family rose
at q. m, broke fast at seven, dined at 10
and supped at four in the afternoon. The
gates We're all shut at g. and further in
gress or egress refused AT oxford, in 1870,
1t was usual to dine at II O'Clock and sup
at in the afternoon. All but the highest
classes took their meals somewhat earlier.
Louis XIV, of France postponed dinner to
2 O clock, and this time was retained until
the Revolution, when y. m. became the
dinner hour. About the same time dinner
in Germany, which had hitherto been eat
en- at u, was carried forward into the af-
ternoon. In England Horace Walpole COM
planned of the late practice of dining at
p m, which, he grumbled meant the
evening could not begin to be spent until
10. But the progress of the dinner hour has
been continuous, and the meal, which was
once served as early as 10 a. m. is now
in some circ'es, served nearly twelve hours
later. With the gradual recession of din
ner and its usurpation of the place of sup
per, breakfast has become a solid meal
and luncheon and tea institutions. The
latter is no doubt responsible for the post
ponement of dinner to SO late an hour
In character, as well as in time meals
have undergone complete Transformation.
Dinner was always the great meal of the
day, and as sumptuous and extravagant as
possible. So lavish did the feasts become
that in the reign of Edward III an act was
passed prohibiting more than two courses
being served at dinner or supper, except on
certain holidays. The curious may note
that this law has never been repealed, and
remains on the statute book to this day
Carving was then fine art, and the man
ner in which a gentleman helped himself
with his dagger from the joint or bird
proffered by page gained him mo mean
respect" The absence of forks led To
much stress being laid upon the washing
of hands before and after meals and 10
the rule that the left hand alone should
be dipped in the common dish, the right
hand being occupied with the knife. Small
forks were not introduced into use until
the seventeenth century, and then guess
provided their own. Pepys took his
spoon and fork with him to the Lord
Mayors banquet in 1868 Good old Eng
fish fare" is oftener in peoples mouths as
a phrase than in reality. The science of
cookery was as much known and apprs-
ciated by our ancestors as by ourselves.
The idea that the court ladies of Queen
Elizabeth breakfasted on salt meat and
washed ii down with a can of beer is to-
tally erroneous. Beef and ale might be
the fare of the people at large. but there
were daintes and epicures before the nine
teenth century.
The dinner of the best period of English
cookery consisted of three courses each
complete in itself, and finished off with a
dish of subtle device. Here is a menu OF
fifteenth century dinner, which for va
riety not to mention solidity. modern
chef would find hard to beat: Baked NAL
lard, teals roasted with sauce of almonds
and butter boiled in milk. Roasted capon
served with syrup of honey and pears well
beaten. Roasted leg of calf. boiled her
ons, sucking pig, seethed and baked, set
about in gilt, and citron In his mouth.
Flesh tart with sauce of ounce Second
course: Roasted hedgehog with jelly of
pears. Venison well baked, with many
apples. Almond and white wine pudding
Bears flesh in soft pudding. Two cranes
with the gravy of a young kid. Partridge
and surew with sauce of good syrup.
Third course: A peacock. roasted with
grease of pigs chops. set out covered with
its skin and feathers. many onions un-
derneath him. Pears baked in syrup. Gus
tard of cream and the eggs of hens. Wine
sauce with mint and tansy well mixed.
Also some small birds of all kinds laid
in good wine" After these dishes-in
which 1t may be noted 1.-THE roast beef of
England" is missng-the guests retired to
another room where pastry, sweetmeats
and fruit were served with choice wines
The variety Of wines formerly in use can
not be exceeded now. A writer of Elza-
beth's reign mentions ffty-siX kinds Of
French, thirty-six Spanish and Italian
wines imported into England dinner
of Charles l was equally profuse and
dainty, including, indeed, "a sopp OF
snayles."
The English have always been essential
~ meat-eaters. The gospel OF Covent
Garden Is even now held by but few With
the exception Of onions, cultivated roots
and heritage were unknown In Britain or
The Middle Ages. What vegetables were
required were imported from Holland The
Introduction Of the potato and its general