Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-05-31
PASTRY EATING
is LATEST VICE
OF CITY FOLKS
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

u
New York City, May SO.-New
York is now in the grip of pas
try wave second only to the crime
wave in scope and power. Never
has the demand for pastry been so
great; never the supply so con-
spicuously in evidence. Window
displays Of glittering pastries, in
a bewildering variety of colors, de-
signs and nationalities, tempt the
passerby on every hand; new pas
try shops are springing up all
over the city, and even the drug
stores now serve cream puffs and
chocolate eclairs.
Consequently, many public
spirited citizens who are already
considerably worried about the
trend Of the race, are in panic
of apprehension. What, they de-
mand gloomily, can be expected
of a people which goes in for such
gastronomic orgies? How can we
hope to develop race Of super
men on macaroons and Boston
cream pie? Is it not time, they
suggest, that a new and powerful
reform organization be formed to
combat this pastry eating vice
which Is surely destined to turn
the good-natured but indomitable
American people into a dolorous
tribe Of dyspeptics?
Pastry is apparently a popular
for liquor. At any rate
it is estimated that its consump-
tion has increased 33 Is per cent
since the passage of the eighteenth
Farmers are not the only sturdy
folk who eat pie for breakfast
New York business men
perform that courageous feat also,
as any early riser can see by gaz-
ing in the giant window of one of
those famous restaurants, so nu-
throughout Manhattan,
that Irwin Cobb has lillened to q
goldfish bowl. Furthermore, the
cold slab Of breakfast pie is merely
a drop in the New Workers. daily
bucket of pastry rations. From
this mild beginning he goes brave
ly on to doughnuts, eclairs, spice
cake, napoleons and other monu-
pastries. The young man
in Stevenson's story of "The Sui !
eide Club" who had to eat so
many cream tarts. has lost his pa
thetic charm for us, There are
too many pastry fiends in New
York who daily outdo his spectac-
ular record under no sinister COM |
pulsion at all,
All Hail the Doughnut.
Before the war, doughnuts were |
comparatively scarce here. They |
were sold largely by pushcart ven
doris in the far downtown districts,
or by German bakeries up in the .
Bronx. They were totally ignored /
by the best hotel menus Then the
saTvation Army started feeding
doughnuts to the doughboys, and /
the great revival started. New
York is now full of tiny street
kitchens which have capitalized
the salvation Army idea and are
selling coffee and doughnuts to
crowds Of appreciative patrons.
The sudden increase in the de-
mand for pastry, however, is no.
iced principally in the large ho-
.els. The chef in one such estab-
ishment VINO formerly had daily /
pastry record OF 5000 pieces now
.urns out 1000 a day, or more than
$4,000 separate pastries week.
His annual total is somewhere
around the three million mark. He
,ould, he believes, easily outline
he equator with the chocolate
eclairs he has made.
70 "a, n ohaF fe
naturally prejudiced in favor of
French pastry, but he is willing to
admit that America has made "A
noble contribution to the pastry
nternationale in Boston cream pie.
Always luscious, this delicacy rs
low likewise becoming exquisite in
he hands of the artists in cream
md sugar who work in the kitch- |
ms Of the big hotels.
$50 much smarter than apple
DE" he exclaimed approvingly,
pointing to an iridescent piece of
he Boston variety, 'and yet al
ways 1t is the apple for which we
lave the most demand. 1t is. of
course. the dietetic cornerstone OF
our republic. But why? 1t lacks
llSLluCuOH. II IS uull' We CdI-
lot beautify it for it becomes
oggy. The lemon meringue, yes,
We can make attractive, but with
he apple one can do nothing
'ah"
The making of French pastry
las become one of the most i'm
'ortant functions of hotel house l
.eeping, and the pastry cooks Z
ave lately developed all the
ymptoms OF the true artistic tenn
erament. Their kitchens must be
potless, with all the latest cleo
'ical appliances and just the right
egree of temperature. They must
ave the best raw materials to
York with--special flours and
ugar and enormous quantities of
resh eggs. Incidentally, they must y
lso have enormous salaries, for
hey are by no means ordinary Z
ooks. They are also sculptors.
ainters and designers, and occa-