io8 HISTORIC AND CULINARY 



dislikings. "Chacunason gout" holds good in gastronomic 

 matters, and it is to be regretted that, in this machine- 

 made age of uniformity, all individuality in the noble art 

 of eating has seemingly been swamped in the deluge of 

 convention and " cumeelfo." Of one thing we may be 

 sure, which is that the cooking of vegetables can never 

 rise to the artistic pitch which it merits until we adopt 

 the plan of serving them as a separate course, and so 

 considering them on their own merits. As it is, we mostly 

 regard them but as adjuncts to meat or game, and thus 

 it is that all the skill of the cook and the criticism of the 

 gourmand are reserved for the dish of meat or game, 

 with the most dire results from the point of view of 

 those who realise the infinite virtues which are contained 

 in the properly prepared herbs of the garden of man. 



