MISCHA LEVITZKI.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20249, 29 May 1931, Page 2

MISCHA LEVITZKI.

Mischa Levitzld, tho great Russian -pianist, who has been giving most sue- j iCfeqsful Tecitals in Australia, gives an talk on food to a representative of a %ydnoy paper. - • can't eat is rhubarb.'?, ; ' %ith this tnpiipfyjjf gastfOnd&ioal utTtttginee Mischa Levitskife&oveir him'sajf immediately from the of 'temperamental artists, faddists, and the like. His powers adaptability in (fopd matters are as limitless as his igift for adjusting himself to the manners and customs' of the country he happens to bei "in, - He can sit down in a Japanese household and eat his. beloved sukiaki (a dish of beef or chicken- cooked before one on the table with oil, vegetables,- and a special sauce) with tho same relish with which he tackles the good old English roast beef jp Simpson's restau- . rant, London—the mecca of beef-eaters.' i.. He;can-get just as excited about the famous French peasoup, Puree St. Germain,, which; he likens to a Brahms . symphony, as - hecan • about Italy 'a ravioli' or' Germany's ''hot dogs'' and—this with an ecstatic rollof the eyesGermany's beer. r Ha,talks with, amused horror of Eeistafel, the huge . and enormously rich v Dflteh dish,-which he -has mado .a bravo show of. enjoying on-various occasions at the Hotel des Indes in Bautvia, Java. This consists of about 30 different sorts of food served- : at intervals by 16 hoys on to a gigantic. plate about - three times the depth of an ordinary soup bowl. To the French people he gives the palm for cooking, *in fact, -the pabn for most things. Paris is where he wants to live when he retires. , is an art, and at the same time a rite, in France," he says. "They know just -what and how to eat and drfiik. There is no nation which understands so well the subtlety of food. Nowhere else'do you-get that quality of lightritessi Why, even- tho potatoes are as light a? air, and uielt in one's mouth like froth. "What else can you expect from a country which erects statues, to its cooks and its inventors of dishpsT' * ' And" then, with a contented sighj aa if even France, after all,' must take a hack seat, Mischa Levitzki settled down to talk about his beloved Russia, which he .left■ when he -was nine years old, but for which he still cherishes a passionate adoration. jtaaaiaa Menus. Four months of the year . (except when Mf E. J. Gravestock persuades him to come to - Australia) he spends quietly with his- Russian mothor at their beautiful seaside cottage at Avon-on-the-Sea, in New Jersey. Here he is plied with Russian food—large midday meals in the approved national fashion and light, suppers of omelettes, fruit, or salads. . "A masterpiece," is.the way he describes "Bortsch," the popular Russian beet soup. TJhiahas as basis a rich stock into. which, is put finely-chopped beetroot that has been boiled separately in? Spittle .water. After the beet go potatoes, carrots, and onions, also finely minced. A teaspoon of sour croam when the aoup—q rich red in colour—is in the plate' is the indivii dual touch,which, in the. eyes -of a 1 Buasian, makes it specially delicious, i Xevitzki reoommends the soup to fiuy housewife who enjoys experimenting. v He also; recommends "poeroshoe"—a pastry (Russians usually make.this with ye«at); between two ronnds of which is put a mixture of finely-minced pork, veal, onions; rice, hard-boiled egg and,, of course, salt. _ So delicious is the Strudel tho pianist's mother makes, that, in his whimfashion, Lavitzki tolla of - the way in which the neighbours' children comc. flocking round as Soon as tho odor of the cake is wafted, to- their, nostrils^-