Gastronomy examines men and things for the purpose of transporting, from one country to another, all that deserves to be known, and which causes a well arranged entertainment, to be an abridgement of the world in which each portion is represented.

Utility of gastronomical knowledge.

Gastronomical knowledge is necessary to all men, for it tends to augment the sum of happiness.  This utility becomes the greater in proportion as it is used by the more comfortable classes of society; it is indispensable to those who have large incomes, and entertain a great deal, either because in this respect they discharge an obligation, follow their own inclination, or yield to fashion.

They have this special advantage, that they take personal pleasure in the manner their table is kept; they can, to a certain point, superintend the depositories of their confidence, and even on many occasions direct them.

The Prince de Soubise once intended to give an entertainment, and asked for the bill of fare.

The maitre d’hotel came with a list surrounded by vignettes, and the first article that met the Prince’s eye was fifty hams.  “Bertrand,” said the Prince, “I think you must be extravagant; fifty hams!  Do you intend to feast my whole regiment?”

“No, Prince, there will be but one on the table, and the surplus I need for my epagnole, my blonds, garnitures, etc.”

“Bertrand, you are robbing me.  This article will not do.”

“Monsigneur,” said the artist, “you do not appreciate me!  Give the order, and I will put those fifty hams in a chrystal flask no longer than my thumb.”

What could be said to such a positive operation?  The Prince smiled, and the hams were passed.

Influence of gastronomy in business.

In men not far removed from a state of nature, it is well known that all important affairs are discussed at their feasts.  Amid their festivals savages decide on war and peace; we need not go far to know that villages decide on all public affairs at the cabinet.

This observation has not escaped those to whom the weightiest affairs are often confided.  They saw that a full stomached individual was very different from a fasting one; that the table established a kind of alliance between the parties, and made guests more apt to receive certain impressions and submit to certain influences.  This was the origin of political gastronomy.  Entertainments have become governmental measures, and the fate of nations is decided on in a banquet.  This is neither a paradox nor a novelty but a simple observation of fact.  Open every historian, from the time of Herodotus to our own days, and it will be seen that, not even excepting conspiracies, no great event ever took place, not conceived, prepared and arranged at a festival.

Gastronomical academy.