Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1898 — FRENCH COOKING. [ARTICLE]

FRENCH COOKING.

The I'.hkllnli Feed, the Americana I)e----vonr, the French Eat. People may sneer at, judging a nation by the amount of attention it pays to its stomach; but the stomach is, after all, a very important part of the human anutomy, and those who nutround the physical necessities of our animnl nnture with agreeable charms that make them less course and brutal certainly have a claim to being consider ered in some degree promoters of civilization, says the Chautauquan. It is u libel both upon nature and nature’s God to hold that everything pleasant is wrong and that the refinements of life have no place in that great evolution that is gradually raising mankind to a higher plane, even though such refinements descend to the accessories of tlie table. It is in this respect that French cooking is superior to all other cooking; It is more refined. 'Hie English feed, the Americans devour; only the French reully know how to eat. Tlielr meals, as a rule, are less heavy and solid than those of other nations, yet quite sufficient in quantity, while the great fact that distinguishes their cooking is their perfect comprehension of the part played by seasoning. Like the Gallic wit which flavors their literature, their thorough knowledge of seasoning gives zest to their cooking.