Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-08-07
ATE and WAS SAD
Yet Il Was a Dish For Which He
Had Yearned For Years.
A TRAGEDY IN GASTR0N0MY.

eouiIlabaisse a. Sung BY Thaeksrsy
and - Served In . Famous Mar.
settles Resort Proved Very Different
Propositions to IN English Epieurs.
We all know that famous poem Of
Thackeray's which begins.
A street there IL IN Paris famous
For which no rhine our language Yields.
and goes on to tell of the tavern where
the genial Titmarsh In the days when
be WAS Paris correspondent ate and
drank the b0uillabaisse
Az a result Of that delightful poem
tens OF thousands Of Englishnen have
yenrned to eat bouillabaisss. Thacke-
ray puts II ~ beautifully! The steam.
ing dish Ut stewed 1sh :that he cen.
lures Up IN bis lines bow appefixing Il
seems: know that It was quits early
In my teens when dxt read that
poem. and from that moment there
was formed In my niad- 4 arm resolve
70 eat some day Of bouiliabaisss. .
ny opportunity came not long ago
when I visited Narseilles. Il was
nearly half past Q when sat down In
the dining room Of the hotel.
There , no bouilla baisse on the
menu" said severely to the maitre
dhOtel. II have come to Maroeilles
specially to eat It." He replied that Il
was not speciality Ut the house. but
that It could always be prepared. How
long would II take? twenty-five min.
utes, perhaps q little longer. But
think monsieur would 6nd II rather
heavy at such late hour"
He was not encouraging. this maitre
d'hotei. did not accept for a moment
his suggestion that bOuillabaisse was
too heavy dish for half past 8 at
night Thackeray had not talked about
heaviness. But twenty five minutes!
ordered an omelet.
At midnight. walking down the ia
nous Cannebiere. back to the hotel,
was hailed by familiar voice. 1t was
that Ut u friend whom had not seen
for long time. Gratefully grasped
his hand and told him that intended
to eat bOuillabaisse as soon as possible
And my respect for him was consider.
ably enhanced when he told me that he
had eaten some that very afternoon.
an hour after his arrival In Mar.
settles. Here was the true spirit, and
related to him. with some bitterness,
my experience with the maitre d'hotel
well. 1t Is rather heavy stuff" he
said. But brushed this aside. and we
arranged to meet at lunch on the NOR.
row. when ! should have the best that
Marseilles could give me.
There are. as everybody knows, two
places at Marseilles for bouillabaisse-
Pascal's and BassO's. on the Vieux
Port. We decided On Basso's.
"BOuillabaisse." | said laconically. I
paid no attention to what my friend
ordered. No other dish interested me.
But In minute or so q curious look.
ing mess was set down before him.
whats that stuff you're going to
eat?'' asked.
That's bouillabaisse." he said. but
it's not nine"
started. This bouillabaisse. this Gu.
rious looking stuff. with indigestible
looking Jumps Of dsh floating in bill.
ious and oily saffron liquid! ] know
not what ] had expected bouillabaisse
to be. but 1t certainly was not this.
There was a piece of fish which rec.
ognized as eel. and loathe cells. The
broad tail Of another and unknown
fish stuck up out OF the Opaque liquid.
But 1t was the yellow liquid itself
which repealed. 1t shouted biliOusness.
and the smell of saffron that arose with
the steam made me feel Ill. Oh. Thack.
cray.
! pecked at the eei-or 1t may have
been lamprey explored the various
other fish. tasted gingerly Of the thick
saffron liquid on one Of the pieces of
toast that floated in It. But mine was
no palate for bouillabaisse. made
the waiter take the mess away and
bring lamb outlets.
But ! had tasted Of bouillabaisse and
was not to forget 1t. All day long the
terrible taste Of saffron remained with
me. Nothing would shift 1t; not Mar.
settles tea. nor many golden hooks. nor
dinner In fact the bOuillabaisse OF
lunch spoiled the dinner. And at mid
night. In a cafe on the Cannebiere. my
friend contitpd secret to me. when
we fell in with each other just twenty.
four hours ago" he said. IL was suf-
fering just as you are now. The hor
rible taste Of saffron had remained OBJ
stinntely with me ever since lunch and
has not quite gone even yet. But you
told me you had come to Marseilles to
eat bouillabnisse. and knew nothing
| could say would dissuade you. But
no doubt the bitterness Of this moment
will fade away, and as time passes you
will tell your friends IN England how
excellent Is the real bOuillabatsse II
only you have it In Marseilles."
Never. would die first" ! ex-
claimed firmly. - London Standard.
Africa's Pyemy Anteiopes.