The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-08-11
cuRIOsITIEs OF EATING.

Through all the ways of men,
The measure that you measure
The world metes you again!
CURIOsITIEs OF EATING
They are but sorry individuals who
treat with scorn and contumely all
that pertains to the inner man and
physical demands of human nature.
To them hunger is degaration, food
a constant reminder that they are
but men of infinitely limited capaci-
ties. But though thus scorned and
pshawed by superior minds, food and
feeding form one of the eternals, says
the London Standard. To all but an
infnitesimal portion of human kind
the necessity of food is the great orr
gin of human action. For food human
genius has achieved its greatest feats
in literature, art, and racial progress
sion. Food and the means Of obtain
ing it form the absorbing incessant
topic and aim of daily toll and scheme
of the whole world. It is but false
and hypocritical pride tnat disdains
the consideration of such an eternal
factor. Hunger, not moral principles
and high ideals, is the motive power
of mankind.
Man made great advance when he
began to eat at fixed times, instead of,
as hitherto, when he was hungry or
had something to eat. The institu-
ton of meal times, as apart from the
mere demands of hunger, notified
stability of society. 1t is curious to
note the alteration in the hours for
the principal meals. Dinner and sup
per appear to have transcended all
other meals. The word breakfast"
as applied to the morning food is not
known before the fifteenth century.
Until comparatively recent times it
appears to have been merely and lit
orally breaking of the fast. That
dinner was emphatically the para.
mount, if not the only, meal of the
day, is shown by the early hour at
which it was taken. In the fourteen
th century dinner was eaten at 8 A. M.
A rhyme of the period bade man rise
at five, dine at nine. cat FIVE in the
and nine -
In the Northumberland House
Book" for 1912 it is set forth that the
family rose at A. M, broke fast at
seven, dined at ten, and supped at
four in the afternoon. The gates
were all shut at nine, and further in
gress or egress refused. At Oxford,
in 1870, it was usual to dine at eleven
O'Clock and sup at FIVE in the after
noon. All but the highest classes
took their meals somewhat earlier.
Louis XIV. of France postponed din
ner to two o'clock, and this time was
retained until the Revolution, when 6
P. M. became the dinner hour. About
the same time dinner in Germany,
which had hitherto been eaten at
twelve, was carried forward in the
afternoon. In England Horace Wal
pole complained of the late practice
of dining at P. M, which, he grum-
bled, meant the evening could not be-
gin to be spent until ten. 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 circles, served nearly
twelve hours later. With the grad
ua1 recession of dinner and its usurpa-
ton of the place of supper, breakfast
has become solid meal, and lunch
con and tea institutions. The latter
is no doubt responsible for the post
ponement of dinner to so late an
hour.
In character, as we'll as in time,
meals have undergone complete trans.
formation. Dinner was always the
great meal of the day, and as sump-
tuous 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 a fine art, and the
manner in which a gentleman helped
himself with his dagger from the joint
or bird profered by page gained
him "no mean respect" The abb
sence of forks led to much stress be-
ing laid upon the washing of hands
before and after meals, and to 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 intro
duced into use until the seventeenth
century, and then guests provided
their own. Pepys took his spoon and
fork with him to the Lord Mayor s
banquet in 1868.
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 de-
vice. Here is menu of a fifteenth
century dinner, which for variety,
not to mention solidity, a modern
chef would find hard to beat: "Bak-
ed mallard, teals roasted with sauce
of almonds and butter boiled in milk.
Roasted capon served with syrup Of
honey and pears well beaten. Roast
ed leg of calf, boiled herons. suck
ing pig, seethed and baked, set about
in gilt and citron in his mouth.
Flesh tart with sauce of ounce. Sec
ond course: Roasted hedgehog with
jelly of pears. Venison well baked,
with many apples. Almond and
white wine pudding. Boar's flesh in
soft pudding. Two cranes with the
gravy of a young kid. Partridge
and curlew with sauce of good syrup.