Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-09
THE ART OF LIVING
WHY FRENCHMEN LIVE BETTER
AND CHEAPER THAN OTHERS.
Housewives Know How to Cook and
Economize-No Waste-The
Pot au Ecu.
From the London Daily News.

From the London Daily News.
A correspondent of the Daily News calls
attention to the difference between the
prices of various articles of food. in Lon
don and Paris, respectively, greatly to the
advantage of our own capital Thus while
bread is 41zd. in Paris. 1t IS 2iad. in Lon
don; flour, 4d. in Paris, I'd. in London;
sugar. cd. in Paris, 2E2d. in London: salt,
ID in Paris, farthing in London beef,
Is. and Is. sd: potatoes; Sd. and Cd; but
ter Is. lid. and Is. 4d; tea, IS. and Is. Cd,
coffee, Is. lid. and Is. Cd; and 50 on. But
with all this, 1t is a well-known fact that
the French family of humble means fares
better than the English family of CORE
spending cilcumstarces-at any rate in the
great cities. Seeking some explanation of
the phenomenon, l bethought myself
writes one of our staff of calling upon
Frenchman and putting the case before
him. Good fortune led me to select a we'll
known clergyman. the Rev Leon Degree
mont B.. A. B. D.. pastor of the French
Protestant Huguenot Church of London
in Soho Square. whose wife and daughter
very kindly entered into the subject I'm
his absence. Presently he arrived and took
part in the conversation.
In the first place. Nine. Degremont as
scented to the proposition that the French
working classes are better fed in the home
than their English fellows and she agreed
that most articles of food are dearer In
France than in England We are not 50
rich as YOU, she said: we could not af-
ford to pay what is paid here" / reserved
my opinion as to the causes of the differ
ence In price. and it occurred to me that
probably. owing to recent events, sugar
would not always domain in this country at
half the price at which 1t is sold in Paris
Madame remarked, as to meat that foreign
meat was cheaper in England than in
France, and added: But in France we
seldom foreign nhc
which again gives rise to reflection Still"
she continued, 1.-THE French get better food
for less money"
Nothing is Wasted
And how do they do it?" asked
Because they know how to cook" was
the smiling reply. They use everything.
what remains after a meal is made I'D
into something nice-nothing is wasted"
vision of what was in former years a
common object fitted across my brain
the neat covered van Of the Little Sisters
of the Poor going about the streets COL
Letting waste food from restaurants and
hotels, to be made up into tasty dishes by
the religieuses for their old and infirm pro-
teges.
And what" I inquired, is the founda-
ton of this domestic SYSTEM"
The pot au feu," answered madame. "A
bone or bit of meat is put into the pot
with vegetables and butter. and in this
way soup is made. In the country the
people have gardens, and vegetables and
little bread, and. potatoes make their
soup They would have meat only on a
Sunday. In Paris the working people
would eat more meat" ,-.5-
THE French would not boil vegetables
in water" remarked the young lady. las
the English do; they regard them more
as being food in themselves than is the
case here"
The pot au feu, with. Its vegetable con-
tents. all going to make q savory soup,
brought back to my recollection an Erck-
,,,ars INC sol,,ars at ,ha h;to,a ch6 $685.
the things they have collected on the march
and consign them to Inc pot. One veteran