Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-09

taste or that might help to tempt a
nation of palates, already craving a new
flavor. was brought to the cooks in the
Roman kitchens. In food it seemed as
if Rome. so long satisfied with hum
blest of fare, could not find a suffi-
cient variety of food to crafty its de-
| sire for novelty.
The fact that civilization and cooking
| go hand in hand was never so striking
ly illustrated as in the case of the an
cient Britons. for, in the earlier days
of their history thsir cooking was
marked by all the limitations of prini-
tive simplicity. The Roman conquest.
however. appears to have applied to
the kitchens of the country as thor
oughly as to the government. for as
the Roman ~conquerors were unwilling
to eat the crude culinary preparations
Iof the nature of the native Briton. they
proceeded TO teach the conquered how
to cook for them. Then, too. at the
same time. the appearance of the Ger
man immigrant. with their own more
wholesome cookery. was not without its
good effect. and the Transformation in
Britain's method of cooking may be
said to have been almost as wise as it
was radical.
Dark Ages of Cooking
The centuries which succeeded the fall
of the Roman empire, and which COM
prised the greater part of the Middle
Ages, was as dark a period for the art
of cooking as it was for all other arts.
For a time. it seemed as if man had
forgotten how to cook; as il he had
lost his taste for the well seasoned
dishes which once had been his chief
delight and that he had no desire to
get it back again. Even Charlemagne.
who. according to his capitularies, took
n warm personal interest In his table.
was a novice both in the art of cooking
and in that of service. for his banquets
-barbaric affairs-composed of huge
of meat and other crude features
would have made the ancient Romans
to blush.
The reading Of the description of
Prince Johns banquet in Sir Walter
Scott's "Iyanhoe" certainly gives the
impression that the Normans. who ap-
peared two or three centuries later.
were justified in priding themselves
upon their superior tastes and discrim-
in methods of eating; but even
such flashes Of light were but faint
Examinations for so black a night for
the art as that of the dark ages.
Highly as food and the art of pre-
pairing it is esteemed today: idolized
ms it was before the fall of Rome and
called a halt upon civilization
and progress. it is somewhat strange
we are unable to find an authority in
clear enough to detect when
the lost art of cooking had commenced.
the historians of those days dealt i
in facts, not in manners. However. |
the art of cooking began 70 be cult
again. although. of course. it is |
well known that its revival. like the !
in learning, was brought about !
Italy.
According to the best authorities,
however. it was the merchant princes
Of Florence who made the first at
tempt to improve the cooking Of the
and their experiments met
with such success that their efforts
with most heartfelt encouragement
by travellers from foreign countries
who were invited to sit at their tables.
It was to the Italian cooks. in fact.
hat the French owed their instruction.
FoS when Catherine de Medic re-