Books, Arts & Manners: Mid-Winter Cheer

I’ve just read a book, a splendid book indeed, that brought home to me the way class differences affect cooking and eating habits, and answered questions I’ve been wondering about, such as, Why is French cooking held in such esteem in America? and, What determines whether you call your evening meal “supper” or “dinner”? I am referring to Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America, by Susan Williams (Pantheon Books, $17.95). The book delves into Victorian customs and manners by looking at the cooking, the table accessories, the furniture, and the etiquette of the Victorian era, and it ends up with recipes from diaries and cookbooks of the period. By the way, despite the recipes, I regard the book as a history rather than a cookbook; the recipes are difficult, if not impossible, to work unless you are an experienced cook. I presume Savory Suppers got onto the cookbook shelves because books that deal with food habits, food history, etc., are apt to be totally neglected if placed with social history rather than with cookbooks.

I don’t think that you can have refined food (versus coarse, basically peasant food) without a class that has the education, the money, and the interest and leisure to produce it. Educated Americans have much more of all of these than their European counterparts, which accounts for the much greater American interest in food.

NH

About the Author

Nika Hazelton

Featured Tags

I’ve just read a book, a splendid book indeed, that brought home to me the way class differences affect cooking and eating habits, and answered questions I’ve been wondering about, such as, Why is French cooking held in such esteem in America? and, What determines whether you call your evening meal “supper” or “dinner”? I am referring to Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America, by Susan Williams (Pantheon Books, $17.95). The book delves into Victorian customs and manners by looking at the cooking, the table accessories, the furniture, and the etiquette of the Victorian era, and it ends up with recipes from diaries and cookbooks of the period. By the way, despite the recipes, I regard the book as a history rather than a cookbook; the recipes are difficult, if not impossible, to work unless you are an experienced cook. I presume Savory Suppers got onto the cookbook shelves because books that deal with food habits, food history, etc., are apt to be totally neglected if placed with social history rather than with cookbooks.

I don’t think that you can have refined food (versus coarse, basically peasant food) without a class that has the education, the money, and the interest and leisure to produce it. Educated Americans have much more of all of these than their European counterparts, which accounts for the much greater American interest in food.