Few have the courage to part with conventional practices
when arranging a social function.
American chefs are excellent caterers, and well know how to please
the tastes of the American people. They concentrate on the art
of providing dainty dishes, and human ingenuity is heavily taxed by them
in their efforts to invent new gustatory delicacies.
The dishes which they place before each guest are so numerous that even
a gourmand must leave some untouched. At a fashionable dinner no one
can possibly taste, much less eat, everything that is placed before him,
yet the food is all so nicely cooked and served in so appetizing a manner,
that it is difficult to resist the temptation at least to sample it;
when you have done this, however, you will continue eating
until all has been finished, but your stomach will probably be a sad sufferer,
groaning grievously on the following day on account of the frolic
of your palate. This ill-mated pair, although both are chiefly interested
in food, seldom seem to agree. I must not omit to mention however
that the number of courses served at an American millionaire's dinner
is after all less numerous than those furnished at a Chinese feast.
When a Chinese gentleman asks his friends to dine with him
the menu may include anywhere from thirty to fifty or a hundred courses;
but many of the dishes are only intended for show. The guests are
not expected to eat everything on the table, or even to taste every delicacy,
unless, indeed, they specially desire to do so.
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