THE DINING TABLE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21986, 9 January 1937, Page 15

THE DINING TABLE

J The Belly Book or Diners’ By t C. Louis Leipoldt. Will'ams and l , Norgate. 298 pp. (7/8 net.) [ This is not a recipe book. It is an ; easy, rambling discourse on, food i from three different aspects, (1) 1 nutrition, (2) art, (3) histor/. The * first portion treats very simply of j the digestive processes, the food ; values of the commoner foodstuffs, 3 and the best methods of prepara- ■ tion. The guidance throughout is ’ based on two sound principles, mod--5 eration and attention to individual j idiosyncrasy. ' The letter is a really - important factor, to which attenl tion is seldom paid in the laying * down of hard and fast diet rules. * Yet no one will dispute the truth 1 of the old adage, “One man’s meat 1 is another man’s poison.” There are notes on the . diningroom and dining table; in fact, on j everything that helps to make din--11 ing an art. Customs, strange dishes, •• and amusing anecdotes of personal * peculiarities from the time of Han ’ Zo, 2000 8.C., crowd to the author’s recollection. It is strange to read that every diet fad of to-day has its 3 counterpart in previous ages. Anax--3 arches, the Eudaemonican, fore- - shadowed modern kitchen hygiene 3 by causing his baker to wear boiled 2 gloves and an antiseptic mouthpiece c when kneading dough. Nor. is the so-called modern commercial spirit,. I after all, so new. The Sybarites * allowed their cooks to patent new 5 dishes on which the inventor ob- , tained royalties for one year from j those who wished to taste them. There are stories bf dietetic excesses; of a man who habitually ate * 401 bof steak at'a meal; of a banquet > given by Vitellius (for 12 guests) 3 at which 7000 birds and 2000 fishes ~ were used; of Philetas, the Coan \ poet, who ate so frugally that he v had to have plates of lead fastened ’ to his shoes to prevent the wind ® blowing him over. Certainly, at the j time, obesity was a disgrace among f Lacedaemonians, open to public re- > primand. More recently there is the f case of an Earl of Dudley, who so doted on apple' pie that an invita- '• tion to dinner was accepted only on c the understanding that his favourite 1 dish should be on the card. Possibly r the modern hostess had rather read 1 of such eccentric diners than cope ; with their eccentricities.