Savory suppers and fashionable feasts: dining in Victorian America.

Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America

I'VE JUST read a book, a splendid book indeed, that brought home to me the way class differences affect cooking and eating habits, and answered questions I've been wondering about, such as, Why is French cooking held in such esteem in America? and, What determines whether you call your evening meal "supper' or "dinner'? I am referring to Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America, by Susan Williams (Pantheon Books, $17.95). The book delves into Victorian customs and manners by looking at the cooking, the table accessories, the furniture, and the etiquette of the Victorian era, and it ends up with recipes from diaries and cookbooks of the period. By the way, despite the recipes, I regard the books as a history rather than a cookbook; the recipes are difficult, if not impossible, to work unless you are an experienced cook. I presume Savory Suppers got onto the cookbook shelves because books that deal with food habits, food history, etc., are apt to be totally neglected if placed with social history rather than with cookbooks.

I don't think that you can have refined food (versus coarse, basically peasant food) without a class that has the education, the money, and the interest and leisure to produce it. Educated Americans have much more of all of these than their European counterparts, which accounts for the much greater American interest in food.

When it comes to class differences in eating, well-to-do Americans, following the British upper-class pattern, eat very differently from their less privileged compatriots who use far more packaged convenience foods. The well-to-do tend to live in different areas as well. This is a middle-class pattern of society, which does not obtain in historical France and Italy. Especially in Italy, the princely palaces can be found in very poor quarters of a town, which is not true of our American stately homes nor of those of the British nobility. I imagine that the Italian princes' retainers lived around the palace in hovels, and that time transformed those hovels into today's slums.

In France, and especially in Italy, everybody liked the same kind of food, though the rich ate more of it and their food was better prepared. But then, Italy had a central court only for a short time, after 1870, so that there was very little of the sort of court food and court manners that there were in England. To this day, foreign restaurants do not do well in Italy, and Italians really like only their own native foods. I can't help thinking of the various Italian girls who have stayed with us over the years to expose them to New York. Some of the girls were very nobly born, others not at all from the upper class. But they all had a zest for America, including subways and long-distance bus travel, zoos and horror shows--everything except the food. They would only eat Italian food, scorning pies, hot breads, gumbos, and anything else typically American. As for eating Chinese--never!

To come back to the book that inspired these thoughts, it gives innumerable illustrations of dining-room and kitchen appurtenances, foods, family scenes, menus, and other items of gastronomical interest, which come from the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, America's leading collection of Victoriana. The author is Curator of Household Accessories there and a great researcher and fine writer as well.

The first four chapters deal with "The Victorian Middle Class,' "Etiquette for the Table,' "Dining Rooms and Their Furnishings,' and "Fashions in Food and Drink.' The rest of the book is devoted to menus and recipes. Incidentally, every bit of information in the book comes from actual diaries, household books, cookbooks, etc. For me, this adds to the value of the book, since I am always curious to know how the ordinary people lived.

But how much people ate in those days! A simple "company dinner' consisted of oysters on the half shell, salmon with green peas or cucumber salad, filet de boeuf and mushrooms, fried potatoes, salad of lettuce or tomatoes, cold chicken, olives, ices and jellies, cheese, fruits, coffee, and cordials. Sherry, wine, champagne, Madeira, and again sherry were drunk with the meal. On the other hand, an "economical Sunday dinner' from 1857 listed only roast beef, potatoes, greens, and Yorkshire pudding. Then, as now, people put on the dog for company and kept things simple for the family.

But habits are changing in one respect at least: our taste in seasonings. We now like hotter and spicier foods, according to the American Spice Trade Association. Chili powder, fiery chilis, and black and white pepper have shown an increase of 45 per cent, versus an increase of 33 per cent for all spices. Bland food is out, and spicy is in, though we are apt to forget that spices originally served--and still serve in some countries--to disguise the off flavors of not-quite-fresh foods.

Ah, well; I recommend spending the last of the Christmas money on Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts. Income-tax time is not far behind, and I think it is easier to suffer the IRS probings with a little entertainment on the side.