Monthly Bulletin - Clpdigital.org

464 CARNEGIE LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH
By Henry T. Finck
Food and Flavor
"This is properly not a book, but a tract, a concio ad populum, a clan­
gorous appeal to every man and every woman to mend their dietetic
ways.. .
The main thesis of the work is the paramount importance of Flavor
(always with a capital F) in the consideration of food value. We are
emphatically and constantly reminded that it is not the taste but the
flavor which gives us our basis of judgment of the merit or demerit of
food. The old dogma, de gustibus non est disputandum, must go to the
wall. The very thing we are to dispute about is the question of taste,
or rather of flavor.. .
Broad is the domain covered by Mr. Finck in his chase for food
worthy of his best attention. Copenhagen fish, Italian pastes, German
and English hams, American pie, cheese of every nation and clime—
nothing is too delicate or too lowly to escape his shrewd attention pro­
vided that the food is honest and pleasing. It is true that the subject
Flavor is often lost sight of, and here again Mr. Finck's long experience
of quite another sort stands him in good stead. Primarily, he is a
musical critic, and he knows just what to do when he seems to lose the
thread of narrative. Just as we are beginning to wonder what all these
charmingly informal but most instructive pages have to do with Flavor,
suddenly a horn (in this case a dinner-horn) sounds in the distance,
and lo! the leit-motif appears and we are once more skilfully involved
in the arguments in regard to Flavor and its relations to food—the
whole process is highly operatic.. .
In spite of some disheartening remarks at the beginning about our
gastronomic conditions, towards the end of his tale Mr. Finck brightens
visibly and sees a glorious dietetic future for this country. And why,
indeed, should not his hopes be realized? While other countries stick
for the most part to their own established dietaries, we are getting an
astonishing familiarity with the foods and eating customs of all Christendom
and even of heathenesse. Any day at noon in the downtown
parts of all cities, you shall see stout and rosy butchers, once scornful
of all food but the eternal rump steak or pork chop, now up to the eyebrows
in the joyous excitement of Italian ravioli or Hungarian goulash,
or German rinderbrust. Bismarck herring, Spanish omelet, the humble
Chinese chop-suey, Mexican enchilada, West Indian avocados, all these
and many other good things are no longer weird novelties to the American
palate, and Mr. Finck cheers us with the assurance that we eat
them because they have distinct and often delicious flavor...
Putting the French first in gastronomic matters, Mr. Finck is not
subservient. He defends, for instance, the early American breakfast
as against the Gallic coffee and roll, and on his unfurled standard is
inscribed the word 'pie' d la mort. . .