ROYAL APPETITES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXI, Issue LXII, 15 July 1911, Page 11

ROYAL APPETITES.

SOME SAVOURIES OF FRENCH

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We hear a great, deal nowadays of the danger vi iiiuuigmg in various articles 6i xyi.il wmeh ha,e aiways Deen regardou us essentials—meat, for one e^aiupio— arid u-arinngs against giving too iree sawsiaci/ion co appetites tiutt. certainly are not as a rule voracious are calculated to bring nervous people to tue very verge ox seii-impooea starvation. ±±ow aid the old .fc'reiicil rulers get along? is a question that is not wivudrut interest, ana is answered; in a book on tae culinary art which devotes special attention to the tastes of these august persuades.^Francois I. and Henrivii^) are described as having been only poor Qat.ers; _bu.t .Catherine jjlq. Medici skeins to be on the contrary^ a tremendous gourmande. She was especially partial Co ~k^neys?*an^, to a liglit; poultry disSi % to yjtf'oiciij -On ,^ne: occasion, as a con-? temporary chronicler records, she did supli ample .justice that she quite .''blew herself out" and nearly "burst:" This record performance took place at a banquet given in her honor by citizens of .f aris, at which every kind of bird, beast, and fowl was served in such lavish abundance thiat upwards of 300 pigs, stuffed with herbs, figured on the generous menu.

Henry IV. was very fond of game, to which he mostly confined his attenjtions, washing it down with Argenteuli wine. As for Louis XIII., he ate little, although he was an amateur cook, being particularly proficient in turning put' omelettes and expert in the making of pastry. Louis XIV. was; a gourmand, but was a . goufniet too. He had as many as 1500 men to buy and cook for him and to wait at his banquets. The menus were simply immense. The distinctive feature at nis table, as well as at that of Louis XV., was the number of different soups that were served at each meal. Sometimes there were a dozen, and Le Roi Soleil partook of each and all. It was "the old capon" which was so much in favor, and no soup was deemed worth tasting unless it was a factor. ■

Louis XVI., like Louis XIV., who would often' have a' substantial meal served up in the middle of the night, was a big feeder. He had what was called "the appetite of the Bourbons." He did not eat;; he bolted his food. On, the very of the day on which he,was guillotined on the Place dela Coricorde he put down an entire breakfast. The first Napoleon did not waste much ; time at table. He, got through his lunch in ten minutes; and through his dinner in a quarter of an hour; for he, too, was a bolter, and it is pointed out that if he had only chosen to eat slowly and deliberately he might have escaped the disease that took him to the grave. As for Louis Philippe, he had a healthy appetite but no more. He had soup, and the boiled beef and vegetables from which it had been made, on his table every day. As for Napoleon 111., I have heard it said by people who were often with him that he never spent' more than twenty minutes at table if he could help' it, as he was glad to get his coffee and cigar. He was no more of a gourmet than was his uncle.