Delights of Delicate Eating Book

"Gluttony is ranked with the deadly sins; it should be honored among the cardinal virtues," Elizabeth Robins Pennell declaims in this sparkling paean to the art of eating well. An ebullient guide to "the Beauty, the Poetry that exists in the perfect dish," The Delights of Delicate Eating is a choice collection, originally published in 1896, of the culinary essays Pennell wrote for London's Pall Mall Gazette.

Pennell began her career as a food writer, she confesses, "in spite of the fact that I couldn't boil an egg and my only qualifications were a healthy appetite and an honest love of a good dinner usually considered unbecoming to the sex." Her aim was to show that a woman could practice cooking as an art, preparing a complete aesthetic experience that combined exquisite flavors with a beautiful table, a soothing room, and lively conversation.

The Delights of Delicate Eating elevates "our daily bread" to a feast for the senses. Pennell leads the reader through the culinary delights of the day, from the fresh rolls of a solitary petit déjeuner through elaborate dinners complete with spotless linen, flawless silver, and cut flowers in vases of Venetian glass.

Pennell sets good eating as the basis for good living, a healthy imagination, a happy marriage, stimulating conversation, and satisfying social intercourse. For all who would embrace such benefits, The Delights of Delicate Eating offers a lovely diversion.