452 Of Food. 



abundance, it is not to be supposed that a whole 

 nation should have a taste so depraved as to give a 

 decided preference to any particular species of food 

 which has not something to recommend it. 



The manner in which hasty pudding is eaten with 

 butter and sugar, or butter and molasses, in America, 

 is as follows : The hasty pudding being spread out 

 equally upon a plate while hot, an excavation is made 

 in the middle of it with a spoon, into which excavation 

 a piece of butter as large as a nutmeg is put, and upon 

 it a spoonful of brown sugar, or more commonly of 

 molasses. The butter being soon melted by the heat 

 of the pudding mixes with the sugar or molasses, and 

 forms a sauce, which, being confined in the excavation 

 made for it, occupies the middle of the plate. The 

 pudding is then eaten with a spoon, each spoonful of 

 it being dipped into the sauce before it is carried to the 

 mouth ; care being had, in taking it up, to begin on the 

 outside or near the brim of the plate, and to approach 

 the centre by regular advances, in order not to demol- 

 ish too soon the excavation which forms the reservoir 

 for the sauce. 



If I am prolix in these descriptions, my reader must 

 excuse me ; for persuaded as I am that the action of 

 food upon the palate, and consequently the pleasure of 

 eating, depends very much indeed upon the manner in 

 which the food is applied to the organs of taste, I have 

 thought it necessary to mention, and even to illustrate 

 in the clearest manner, every circumstance which ap- 

 peared to me to have influence in producing those 

 important effects. 



In the case in question, as it is the sauce alone which 

 gives taste and palatableness to the food, and conse- 



