Destined by Providence to wander over the globe, and to live in various
climes, man is essentially an omnivorous animal. According to the country
he inhabits, its productions and the nature of his pursuits, his mode of
living differs. The inhabitant of cold and sterile regions on the borders
of the ocean becomes ichthyophagous; and fish, fresh, dried, smoked, or
salted, is his principal nourishment. The bold huntsman lives upon the
game he pursues; while the nomadian shepherd, who tends his herd over
boundless steeps, supports himself on the milk of his flock. In warm
countries fruits and vegetables constitute the chief support of life; and
there the disciples of Pythagoras can luxuriate on the rich produce of a
bountiful soil, solely debarring themselves from beans, which, like all
flesh, they consider to have been created by putrefaction. What would
these good people have done among the Scythians and the Getae, who,
according to Sidonius Apollinaris, mingled blood and milk for food--
------------------Solitosque cruentum
Lac potare Getas, ac pocula tingere venis;
or the stunted natives of the arctic regions, who feed upon whales and
seals, drink deep potations of train-oil, and consider the warm blood of
the seal an exquisite beverage, dried herrings moistened with blubber a
dainty, and the flesh of the seal half frozen in snow during winter, or
half corrupted in the earth in summer, the most delicious morsel. The
semi-barbarous Russians, who during the late wars enjoyed the abundant
bills of fare of France and Italy, accustom themselves easily to this
disgusting diet on their return; and their troops, who live amongst the
Samoiedes, thrive uncommonly well on raw flesh and rein-deer blood. It is
in temperate regions that man displays his omnivorous propensities: there,
animal food can be abundantly procured; and every description of grain,
roots, and fruit, is easily cultivated. It is as we pass from these middle
climes towards the poles, that animal substances are more exclusively
consumed; and towards the equator that we enjoy refreshing fruits, and
nourishing roots and vegetables. So scarce is food in some desolate
tracts of the globe, that we find the wandering Indian satisfying his
cravings with earth and clay: and Humboldt informs us that the Ottomaques,
on the banks of the Mata and Oronoco, feed on a fat unctuous earth, in the
choice of which they display great epicurean skill, and which they knead
into balls of four or six inches in diameter, and bake slowly over the
fire. When about to be used, these clods are soaked in water, and each
individual consumes about a pound of them in the day; the only addition
which they occasionally make to this strange fare consists in small fish,
lizards, and fern-roots.
The art of cookery has improved, no doubt, with the progressive advance
and development of our other institutions; and it seems to prove that the
employment of all kinds of food is as natural to man, as a stationary
uniformity and restriction of one species of aliment is to animals. A most
erroneous idea has prevailed regarding the use of animal food, which has
been considered as the best calculated to render mankind robust and
courageous. This is disproved by observation. The miserable and timid
inhabitants of Northern Europe and Asia are remarkable for their moral and
physical debility, although they chiefly live on fish or raw flesh;
whereas the athletic Scotch and Irish are certainly not weaker than their
English neighbours, though consuming but little meat. The strength and
agility of the negroes is well known, and the South Sea islanders can vie
in bodily exercises with our stoutest seamen. We have reason to believe,
that, at the most glorious periods of Grecian and Roman power, their
armies were principally subsisted upon bread, vegetables, and fruits.
Man by his natural structure was created omnivorous, and there is no doubt
but that a judicious mixed alimentation is the best calculated to ensure
health and vigour, and enable the ambitious or the industrious wanderer to
spend his winters near the poles, colonize beneath the equator, or inhabit
regions where the hardiest of animals must starve and die. The teeth, the
jaws, all the digestive organs fit him for this mode of existence. There
is a curious passage in one of Dr. Franklin's letters in regard to wine:
he pleasantly observes, that the only animals created to drink water are
those who from their conformation are able to lap it on the surface of the
earth, whereas all those who can carry their hands to their mouth were
destined to enjoy the juice of the grape.
The diversity of substances which we find in the catalogue of articles of
food is as great as the variety with which the art or the science of
cookery prepares them: the notions of the ancients on this most important
subject are worthy of remark. Their taste regarding meat was various. Beef
they considered the most substantial food; hence it constituted the chief
nourishment of their athletae. Camels' and dromedaries' flesh was much
esteemed, their heels most especially. Donkey-flesh was in high repute;
Maecenas, according to Pliny, delighted in it; and the wild ass, brought
from Africa, was compared to venison. In more modern times we find
Chancellor Dupret having asses fattened for his table. The hog and the
wild boar appear to have been held in great estimation; and a hog was
called "animal propter convivia natum;" but the classical portion of the
sow was somewhat singular--"vulva nil dulcius ampla." Their mode of
killing swine was as refined in barbarity as in epicurism. Plutarch tells
us that the gravid sow was actually trampled to death, to form a delicious
mass fit for the gods. At other times, pigs were slaughtered with red-hot
spits, that the blood might not be lost; stuffing a pig with asafoetida
and various small animals, was a luxury called "porcus Trojanus;"
alluding, no doubt, to the warriors who were concealed in the Trojan
horse. Young bears, dogs, and foxes, (the latter more esteemed when fed
upon grapes,) were also much admired by the Romans; who were also so fond
of various birds, that some consular families assumed the names of those
they most esteemed. Catius tells us how to drown fowls in Falernian wine,
to render them more luscious and tender. Pheasants were brought over from
Colchis, and deemed at one time such a rarity, that one of the Ptolemies
bitterly lamented his having never tasted any. Peacocks were carefully
reared in the island of Samos, and sold at such a high price, that Varro
informs us they fetched yearly upwards of 2000_l._ of our money. The
guinea-fowl was considered delicious; but, wretched people! the Romans
knew not the turkey, a gift which we moderns owe to the Jesuits. Who could
vilify the disciples of Loyola after this information! The ostrich was
much relished; Heliogabalus delighted in their brains, and Apicius
especially commends them. But, of all birds, the flamingo was not only
esteemed as a _bonne-bouche_, but was most valuable after dinner; for,
when the gluttonous sensualists had eaten too much, they introduced one of
its long scarlet feathers down their throats, to disgorge their dinner.
The modern gastronome is perhaps not aware that it is to the ancients he
owes his delicious fattened duck and goose livers,--the inestimable _foies
gras_ of France. Thus Horace:
Pinguibus et ficis pastum jecur anseris albi.
The swan was also fattened by the Romans, who first deprived it of sight;
and cranes were by no means despised by people of taste. In later days the
swan seems to have been in great estimation in our own country. We find in
the Northumberland household book that in one year twenty of these birds
were consumed at the earl's table.
While the feathered creation was doomed to form part of ancient delights,
the waters yielded their share of enjoyments, and several fishes were
immortalized. The _muraena Helena_ was educated in their ponds, and
rendered so tame that he came to be killed at the tinkling of his master's
bell or the sound of his voice.
Natat ad magistrum delicta muraena,
says Martial. Hirtius ceded six thousand of these fish to Caesar as a great
favour, and Vitellius delighted in their roe. The fame of the lamprey,
_mustela_ of Ausonius and Pliny, is generally known; and the sturgeon, the
_acipenser sturio_, was brought to table with triumphant pomp: but the
turbot, one of which was brought to Domitian from Ancona, was considered
such a present from the gods, that this emperor assembled the senate to
admire it. Soles were also so delectable that punning on the word _solea_,
they were called the _soles_ of the gods: the dorad, _sparus auratus_, was
consecrated to Venus; the _labrus scarus_ was called the brain of Jupiter,
and Apuleius and Epicharmus maintain that its very entrails would be
relished in Olympus.
To these dainties may be added the _Alphestae_, a fish always caught in
pairs from their eagerness to be eaten. The _Amia_ so very delicious that
the Athenians defied the worst cook to spoil them. The _Gnaphius_ that
imparted to the water that had had the honour to boil them, the facility
of taking out all stains. The _Pompilus_ which sprang with Venus from the
blood of the sky. The fish called _fox_ by the Rhodians, and _dog_ by the
Boeotians, was considered such a dainty that Archestratus recommended
epicures to steal them if they could not procure them by honest means;
adding, that all calamities should be considered immaterial after a man
had once feasted on such a luscious morsel, too divine to be gazed upon
by vulgar eyes, and which ought to be procured by the wealthy, if they did
not wish to incur the wrath of the gods, for not appreciating at its true
value the flower of their nectar. Eels were also highly esteemed by the
ancients. The preference being given to the _Copaic_, which the
Boeotians offered to the gods crowned with flowers, giving them the same
rank among fish that Helen held amongst women.
The _garum_, or celebrated fish-sauce of the Romans, was principally made
out of the _sciaena umbra_, and the mackerel; the entrails and blood being
macerated in brine until they became putrid.
Expirantis adhuc scombri, de sanguine primo
Accipe fastosum munera cara garum:--
thus says Martial: and Galen affirms that this disgusting preparation was
so precious, that a measure of about three or four pints fetched two
thousand silver pieces. So delightful was the effluvium of the garum
considered, that Martial informs us it was carried about in onyx
smelling-bottles. But our luxurious civic chiefs are not aware that the
red mullet--for such I believe was the _mullus_--was held in such a
distinguished category among genteel fishes, that three of them, although
of small size, were known to fetch upwards of 200_l._ They were more
appreciated when brought alive, and gradually allowed to die, immersed in
the delicious garum; when the Romans feasted their eyes in the anticipated
delight of eating them, by gazing on the dying creature as he changed
colour like an expiring dolphin. Seneca reproaches them with this
refinement of cruelty--"Oculis quoque gulosi sunt;" and the most renowned
of Apicius's culinary discoveries was the _alec_, a compound of their
livers.
Snails were also a great dainty. Fulvius Herpinus was immortalized for the
discovery of the art of fattening them on bran and other articles; and
Horace informs us they were served up, broiled upon silver gridirons, to
give a relish to wine. Oysters were brought from our coasts to Rome, and
frozen oysters were much extolled. Grasshoppers, locusts, and various
insects, were equally acceptable to our first gastronomic legislators.
Acorns, similar to those now eaten in Spain, formed part of a Roman
dessert; the best were brought from Naples and Tarentum. It does not
appear that the ancients had a great variety in their vegetable diet;
condiments to stimulate the sluggish appetite seemed to be their principal
research: amongst these the asafoetida, which is to this day highly
relished in the East, was an indispensable ingredient; this has been
doubted by various naturalists, but it appears certain, since Pliny
informs us that it was frequently adulterated by _sagapenum_, which bears
the strongest resemblance to it. This substance was called _laser_, and by
many tasteless persons, such as Aristophanes and Apuleius, considered
offensive and disgusting; hence the latter, "lasere infectas carnes," and
"laseratum porcellum." According to Theophrastus, asafoetida was
collected and preserved, as it is at present, in skins; and, despite its
estimation as a culinary ingredient, it was not unfrequently named
_stercus diaboli_. In addition to this gum, they seasoned their food with
various other strong articles, such as coriander and cummin seeds, sumac,
saffron, cinnamon, thyme; with divers peppers, salt, and sal-ammoniac.
Instead of bread, which was only introduced in Rome 580, A. D. they used a
heavy kind of unleavened paste, similar to the present _polenta_. This
nourishment occasioned frequent indigestion, hence the use of warm water
after meals, and the necessity of emetics. Warm water was sold about the
streets in their thermopolia, and Seneca observed the paleness and
debility that arose from its use and abuse; a practice recorded by
Martial:
Et potet calidam, qui mihi livet, aquam.
While water was thus freely drunk, wine was not disregarded; but the
various articles with which it was adulterated, must have rendered it any
thing but a delectable potation according to our received ideas. Thus we
see the Greeks putting salt and sea-water in theirs; at other times
dissolving mastic and myrrha, or infusing wormwood, in their choicest
Falernian. Like modern tasters, however, they knew the method of
developing the _bouquet_ by warmth; and, to appreciate the flavour, they
frequently added hot water. That wines of a resinous taste were esteemed,
appears from Martial:
Resinata bibis vina, Falerna fugis.
But we may conclude that, according to our modern taste, their boasted
wines did not equal ours either in flavour or in delicacy.
The ancients however were very careful in the preparation of their bread,
justly called the "staff of life," as constituting one of the most
wholesome and nutritious parts of our food. The Athenian bakers bore the
palm in the confection of this article. Archestratus recommended the
wheaten bread of Athens and the barley meal of Lesbos, which their poets
asserted was supplied to the gods. The Grecian millet bread was also in
great repute, while delicious bread was also made with the _Zea_, the
_Triticum Spella_ of Linnaeus and the _Far_ of the Romans. A species of
wheat called _Tiphe_ was also much esteemed. Brown bread was made of a
grain called _Olyra_, and it was with loaves of this description that
Homer's heroes fed their horses.
It appears that great attention was paid to the kneeding and the boulting:
unboulted meal was called _Syncomista_, and when finely boulted in a
woollen cloth, _Semidalis_. The most approved method of baking was in the
_Cribanus_ or _Clibanus_, an earthen or iron vessel, which they surrounded
with charcoal. Bread according to its superior or inferior quality was
consecrated to various divinities. Thus the goddesses used the _Homoros_,
and Hecate was served with the _Hemiantium_, but we are unacquainted with
the preparation of these varieties. The flour of barley was used by the
_Canephorae_, or virgins that bore the sacred baskets in the festivals of
Ceres, to sprinkle themselves. Bread according to its particular kind was
served up in various ways; wheaten bread was brought to table upon fresh
leaves; barley bread upon a layer of reeds. At the feasts of Ceres and
Proserpine, a large loaf was kneeded and baked by the ladies of Delos,
called _Achainas_ which gave the name to the festival, instituted most
probably in Achaia, to commemorate the invention of bread, which Ceres
taught to Eumelus, a citizen of Patrae.
Barley for the preparation of bread was used long before wheat or any
other sort of corn, and hence Artemidorus calls it _Antiquissimum in
cibis_. It was also given to the athletae who were thence called
_Hordearii_. In latter times it was chiefly given to cattle, although used
by the poorer classes. Barley bread was also issued to soldiers as a
punishment, the loss of wheaten bread being considered a great privation.
Vegetius tells us that soldiers who had been guilty of any offence were
thus punished--"_hordeum pro frumentuo cogebantur accipere_." In the
second Punic war we find Marcellus sentencing the cohorts that had lost
their standards to this infliction. Suetonius also informs us that
Augustus only allowed barley to the troops that had misbehaved in action.
_Cohortes, si quae cepissent, loco, decimatas hordeo pavit._ But there is
reason to believe that under the head of bread were included various kinds
of cakes, many of which were prepared with honey, some of them were
called _Placentae omnigenae_, and were prepared by bakers who bore the name
of _pistores dulciarii_. This honied bread or cake it appears, was
frequently resorted to, as in the present day, to quiet troublesome
children as well as to please the taste of fastidious patients. Thus
Martial:
Leniat ut fauces medicus, quas aspera vexat
Assidue tussis, Parthenopae tibi
Mella dari, nucleosque jubet dulcesque placentas.
Est quidquid pueros non sinit esse truces,
At tu non cessas totis tussire diebus
Non est haec tussis, Parthenopae gula est.
The bread made of spring wheat was called _Collabus_, and the Athenians
considered a toasted _Collabus_ eaten with a slice of a pig's belly, the
very best cure for a surfeit occasioned by an excess in anchovies,
especially the Phalerian ones, which were deemed fit for the gods.
Fragments of bread it appears were used instead of napkins to wipe the
fingers on. These were called _Apomygdaliae_, with which Aristophanes fed
his sausage-makers. These dainty bits were usually thrown to dogs.
The cooks of the ancients appear to have been much more consummate in
their art than our modern practitioners. Athenaeus records various
descriptions of their incomparable science. A new dish immortalized its
inventor, and transmitted his name to posterity. Apicius's cakes were
called Apicians; and Aristoxenes had attained such perfection in curing
hams, that the glorious appellation of Aristoxenians was bestowed upon
them. Philosophers and poets gloried in their culinary science; the
pleasures of the table were the subject of their writings and their
conversation. Archestratus tells us with delight, that, although various
delicacies can only be enjoyed in their proper season, yet we can talk
about them with watering mouths all the year round.
One of these illustrious ministers of luxury attained such a degree of
enviable perfection, that he could serve up a pig boiled on one side and
roasted on the other, and moreover stuffed with all possible delicacies,
without the incision through which these dainties were introduced being
perceived. Supplicated to explain this wonderful secret, he swore solemnly
by the manes of all the heroes who fell at Marathon, or conquered at
Salamis, that he would not reveal this sacred mystery for one year. When
the happy day arrived and he was no longer bound by his vows, he
condescended to inform his anxious hearers, that the animal had been bled
to death by a wound under the shoulder, through which the entrails were
extracted; and afterwards hanging up the victim by the legs, the stuffing
was crammed down his throat. One half of the pig was then covered with a
thick paste, seasoned with wine and oil, put into a brass oven, and gently
and tenderly roasted: when the skin was brown and crisp, our hero
proceeded to boil the other moiety; the paste was then removed, and the
boiled and roasted grunter triumphantly served up.
So refined was the taste of the ancient _bons vivans_, that Montanus,
according to Juvenal, would proclaim, at the first bite, whether an oyster
was of English produce or not. Sandwich is believed to have been the
favoured spot whence Rome imported her oysters and other shell-fish.
Shrimps and prawns must have been in great estimation, since we find
Apicius quitting his residence at Minturnae, upon hearing that the shrimps
of Africa were finer than those he could procure in Campania. He instantly
set sail for the happy coast, despite a gale of wind: after encountering a
desperate storm, he reached the wished-for land of promise; but alas!--the
fishermen displayed the largest prawns they could collect, and to his
cruel disappointment, they could not vie, either in delicacy or beauty,
with those of Minturnae. He immediately ordered his pilot to steer a
homeward course, and left Africa's shore with ineffable contempt.
These ingenious gluttons had recourse to every experiment that could add
to their enjoyment. Philoxenus, and many others, used to accustom
themselves to swallow hot water, that they might be able to attack
scalding dishes before less fireproof guests would dare to taste them.
Sinon maintained that cookery was the basis of all arts and sciences:
natural philosophy taught us the seasoning of dishes; architecture
directed the construction of stoves and chimneys; the fine arts, the
beautiful symmetry of each dish; and the principles of war were applied to
the drilling and marshalling of cooks, confectioners, and scullions,
posting proper sentries to watch the fires, and videttes to keep off idle
intruders. That man is a "cooking animal" is considered one of his
proudest attributes, and a proper bill of fare may be considered as the
_ne plus ultra_ of human genius!
It may be easily imagined that when good living became a science,
_sponging_ upon the wealthy _Amphitryons_ became an art amongst the needy
_bons vivants_, and parasites, as in the present day, were ever seen
fawning and cringing for their dinner. These sycophants stuck so close to
their patrons, that they were called shadows. Thus Horace:
----Quos Moecenas adduxerat umbras.
They were also called flies, [Greek: gyias], by the Greeks, and _Muscae_ by
the Romans; no doubt from their constant buzzing about the object of their
devotion. Plautus calls an entertainment free from these despicable
guests, _Hospitium sine muscis_. Horus Apollo tells us that in Egypt a fly
was the symbol of an impudent fellow; because, although driven away, it
will constantly return. We have, however, reason to believe that the term
_parasite_ was originally applied to the followers of princes, Patroclus
was the parasite of Achilles, and Memnon of Idomeneus; it was only in
later times that the appellation was given to despicable characters and
"_trencher friends_."
Our Shakspeare had adopted the term of the ancients, as appears in the
following passages:
In such as you,
That creep like _shadows_ by him, and do sigh
At each his needless heavings.