San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-10-30
WHEN HASH is HACHIS

| w I1AST1 10 I1ASI1lS
Chairman Farley of the Shipping
Board, with his hachis dc volatile aux
haricots verts, has been indicated. II
will be recalled that Congressman Brit
ten of Illinois wrote Mr. Farley a pain
fully polite letter questioning the ne
cessity and common sense of camouflag-
ing chicken hash on the Leviathan's
menu with lot of unpronounceable
French words. With equally painful po-
likeness Mr.. Farley retorted that the bill
of fare in the Leviathans restaurant was
printed in plain English In other words,
Mr.. Britten didn't have to eat in the din
ing room; there are pews and pews, and
some people are always picking the
wrong ones.
But of course that was merely a clever
retort. 1t remained for French chef
to justify "hachia de violaill eaux hari-
cots verts" as against Chicken hash"
A professor of dead languages couldn't
have given a more learned dissertation
on the subject than did Monsieur le
President de la Societe Culinaire Philan-
thropique, otherwise known as l. Pa
quot In letter to New York news
paper this nonc-sueh authority reveals
the length and breadth of Congressman
Britter's ignorance, and the ignorance
of anybody else who has a notion that
menus for Americans ought to be print
ed in the language which Americans
understand.
In the first place. says Monsieur la
President de la Societe Culinaire Phil
the culinary art is French
and the French government has officially
constituted it the eighth art. If that
isn't enough to put Congressman Brit
ten in his proper place. then maybe he
will be completely abashed when he re-
ceives the following package from L.
Paquet:
"As diplomats use the French Ian
guage for relations between nations, so
the chefs use it in the role of ambassa-
doris of the culinary art Most of the
dishes now on bills of fare have been
created in French culinary terms. which
are generally impossible to translate in
any other language without changing the
desired. Most of these words
have been created in the kitchen'-Ah
one might have guessed it-'fand are
therefore, understandable to the chefs the
world over as meaning dishes that have
originated in the French cuisine. The
French school of cookery is the STAN
dard of the world" And so on. T.
All of which should be highly crafty
ing to American cooks, as it relieves
them of the responsibility for originating
chicken hash. The French can have the
honor, and welcome.
However, the differences are not quite
so logical. If it is true that "hachis de
volatile aux haricots verts" cannot be
in any other language, it is
strange that diners on the Leviathan
get nothing but common hash when
they try to encourage culinary art by
ordering that dish in the French lam
guage. There is nothing artistic about
hash, and hash is just what even an
aristocrat gets on the Ieviathan and
other Shipping Board vessels when he
gives his order in six French words
instead of in one English word.
But Americans should understand that
the principal function of Uncle Sans
ships D to promote the eighth art which
has been officially constituted such by
the French government as means, no
doubt, of keeping the cooks pardon
chefs) on the job. Nevertheless, hash
is no more delectable by any other name