The Delights of Delicate Eating (The Food Series) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Robins (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Food Series | Publication Date: October 20, 2000

"Gluttony is ranked with the deadly sins; it should be honored among the cardinal virtues", Elizabeth Robins Pennell declaims in this sparkling paean to the art of eating well. An ebullient guide to "the Beauty, the Poetry that exists in the perfect dish, even as in the masterpiece of a Titian or a Swinburne", "The Delights of Delicate Eating" is a choice collection, originally published in 1896, of the culinary essays Pennell wrote for London's "Pall Mall Gazette". A native of Philadelphia and long-term resident of London, Pennell developed a discerning appreciation of fine food in the company of James Whistler, Henry James, Bernard Shaw, and other cultural elite of London society. She began her career as a food writer, she confesses, "in spite of the fact that I couldn't boil an egg and my only qualifications were a healthy appetite and an honest love of a good dinner usually considered unbecoming to the sex". Her aim was to show that a woman could practice cooking as an art, preparing a complete aesthetic experience that combined exquisite flavors with a beautiful table, a soothing room, and lively conversation. "The Delights of Delicate Eating" elevates "our daily bread" to a feast for the senses. Assuring the reader that "a woman who has mastered sauces sits on the apex of civilisation", Pennell dispenses instructions for preparing classic dishes such as oeufs aux saussicons, Bouillabaisse, and sole meuniere, as well as advice on transforming an ordinary meal into "a joyful anticipation and a cherished memory". She leads the reader through the culinary delights of the day, from the fresh rolls of a solitary petit dejeuner through elaborate autumnal and midsummer dinners complete with spotless linen, flawless silver, cut flowers in vases of Venetian glass, and, of course, coffee. "The guest who does not know good coffee when it is set before him deserves to be cast into outer darkness", Pennell says. "Better far throw pearls before swine, than pour good coffee into the cups of the indifferent". Pennell sets good eating as the basis for good living, a healthy imagination, a happy marriage, stimulating conversation, and satisfying social intercourse. For all who would embrace such benefits, "The Delights of Delicate Eating" offers a lovely diversion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wise readers will follow Pennell's moral dictum, 'Gluttony is a vice only when it leads to stupid, inartistic excess,' and relish this book in small nibbles... She displays a modern, and modernist, sensibility, occasionally tinged with appealing self-mockery, toward her subject... Pennell belives that 'the good of a pleasantly planned dinner outbalances the evil of daily trials and tribulations' -- and while we savor her prose, we can hardly disagree." -- Josephine Woll, Gastronomica

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (October 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 025206920X
• ISBN-13: 978-0252069208
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,030,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming view of an different era, February 2, 2002

By 

Michael D (Takoma Park, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Delights of Delicate Eating (The Food Series) (Paperback)

This charming book is about food, among the upper classes, a century ago. It is written by Elizabeth Pennell (1855-1936) who was a food writer and an avid collector of cookbooks. It is a series is essays about various topics -- On salads, or The magnificent mushroom. Pennell does not write full recipies, but refers to them in prose. About a salad to accompany a light breakfast:

"...Make it of tomatoes, scarlet and stirring, like some strange tropical blossoms decking the shrine of the sun. Just a suspicion of shallot in the bowl; the perfect dressing of vinegar and oil, pepper and salt; and the luxuriant tropics could not yield a richer and more fragrant offering. It is a salad that vies with Cleopatra in its defiance to custom. Love for it grows stronger with experience. The oftener it is enjoyed the greater the desire to enjoy it again."

Needless to say, the writing is sometimes a bit over the top. The book is devoted, as the title says, to the delights of delicate eating.