The pleasures of the table : an account of gastronomy from ancient days to present times. With a history of its literature, schools, and most distinguished artists; together with some special recipes, and views concerning the aesthetics of dinners and dinner-giving / By George H. Ellwanger.

  • Ellwanger, George H. (George Herman), 1848-1906.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The pleasures of the table : an account of gastronomy from ancient days to present times. With a history of its literature, schools, and most distinguished artists; together with some special recipes, and views concerning the aesthetics of dinners and dinner-giving / By George H. Ellwanger. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    It is far from the purpose or desire of the author to add another to the innumerable volumes having prac- tical cookery as their theme—the published works of the past decade alone being too numerous to digest. The following chapters, therefore, though touch- ing upon the practical part of the art, will be found more closely concerned with the history, literature, and (esthetics of the table than with its purely utili- tarian side. Indeed, a complete manual of practical cookery is one of the impossibilities, for no person would have the patience to compile it; and even were such a work achievable, few readers could find suf- ficient time for its perusal. A glance at the portly “Bibliographie Gastronomique” of Georges Vicaire, in which English contributions to the subject are so meagrely represented, will suffice to show the difficul- ties such a task would impose. To classify properly the multitudinous dishes which, virtually identical, figure under so many different names, would of itself require years of severe application and laborious re- search. It may be observed, notwithstanding, that the world stands much less in need of additional in- ventions as regards the utilisation and preparation of foods than of an expert anthologist to garner the most worthy among recipes already existing in such bewildering profusion.