CHAPTER IX. 



FRENCH COOKERY OF VEGETABLES. 



VEGETABLES, it must be admitted, do not receive trie 

 same consideration in England as in France. If we 

 look for the cause of this unreasonable neglect we 

 find it in the ignorance of the cook ; in her inability 

 to understand the value of the material she has in 

 hand ; in her supercilious designation of all vege- 

 tables as " greens " with the exception of Peas, Beans 

 and Potatoes ; and of her contempt for any food that 

 is not animal. She has the opinion so common to 

 the working classes that there is no salvation beyond 

 beef. 



That vegetables should form a large part of our 

 diet is acknowledged by hygienists ; not exclusively 

 as some people assert, but certainly in larger propor- 

 tions than the majority of us consider necessary. If 

 in France the vegetable holds a high position in the 

 composition of the daily menu, we must attribute it 

 to the fact that the French people, even in the smallest 

 villages, have a natural taste for cooking, and have dis- 

 covered that a vegetable, however fresh and well grown, 

 is insipid if simply boiled in water. Those who have 

 travelled in France will know that almost every pro- 



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