FOOD AND FUN

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 4

FOOD AND FUN

La Bonne Table. By Ludwig Bemelmans. Hamish Hamilton. 441 pp. Ludwig Bemelmans’s death in 1962 was a loss to many worlds. Besides being a notable “bon viveur” he was an acute observer of men and women. His gifts as a writer and illustrator of his own work made him rich enough to indulge in such expensive hobbies as wide and luxurious travels, and to patronise the best hotels and restaurants wherever he went. This selection of his work covers all fields of his interests, besides containing, here and there, some notable recipes. Good food was to him the most delectable of life’s blessings, and the sheer volume of it that he was able to consume without ill effects would have caused wistful envy in an ostrich, or even a goat. Mr Bemelmans came of a line of restaurateurs, and though he alters the names of the many restaurants, both good and bad, which he mentions here, the inhabitants of New York, Paris and other places he mentions, would readily recognise them. The expensive gambols of the rich at the Hotel Splendide, New York, whether in birthday, wedding or comingout parties are the target of his wit. and having been apprenticed to his father’s profession in youth he was completely familiar with the problems of every- type of individual connected with it, from junior kitchen hand to maitre d’hotel. His sketches of such famous characters as “Monsieur Victor” upon whose genius for organisation of a party, costing perhaps 50,000 dollars, its success would depend, are inimitable. Rich clients could be exacting and tyrannical to a point which would have driven a lesser man mad. But the Splendide could rely upon Monsieur Victor not to forget the smallest detail of a task on which its reputation depended. The author devotes a chapter to caviar, which contains some useful information. It may not generally be realised that if caviar is not absolutely fresh it can be a killer and “caviar poisoning, while an elegant fashion of dying, is not pleasant.” In a book containing so many anecdotes and vignettes

it is difficult to select outstanding examples, but the one which made this reviewer laugh immoderately was entitled “How I took the Cure.” Somewhere in Germany is an establishment which exists for the sole purpose of reducing the weight of gourmets who wish to remain as long as possible in a world where the consumption of food is their chief pleasure. Having been unduly pressed by a friend to take the course, the author, priming himself beforehand with several meals, unwillingly entered its health-promoting portals. After enduring for two days a diet consisting entirely of such delicacies as herb tea, administered at agonisingly long intervals by totally humourless “sisters” Mr Bemelmans decided that he would rather die young, and departed abruptly. As a result of this enforced fast he put on eight pounds by making up for lost eating time. The encounter between the Spanish general and the German cook in the castle of Hohenlinden under the title “Guten Appetit” is another highlight; and the author pokes some quiet fun at his American female compatriots abroad in “Madame I’Ainbassadrice," and “The Woman in my Life.” A chapter devoted to the habits of people in the film world would deter most of us from ever wanting to live in it. Mr Bemelmans was that rare being, a truly civilised man, and sophisticated readers will find in this book the fruits of his wide experience expressed with a wit which is never really unkind.