Book 1
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Winter produces this, that summer bears; says the bard of Syracuse.Epicharmus. So that it is not easy to put all sorts of things on the table at one time; but it is easy to talk of all kinds of subjects at any time. Other men have written descriptions of feasts; and Tinachidas of Rhodes has done so in an epic poem of eleven books or more; and Numenius the Heraclean, the pupil of Dieuchas the physician; and Metreas of Pitane, the man who wrote parodies; and Hegemon of Thasos, surnamed Phacè, whom some men reckon among the writers of the Old Comedy. And Artemidorus, the false Aristophanes, collected a number of sayings relating to cookery. And Plato, the comic writer, mentions in his Phaon the banquet of Philoxenus the Leucadian.
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A. But I have sought this tranquil solitude,
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To ponder deeply on this wondrous book.
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B. I pray you, what's the nature of its treasures
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A. Sauce for the million, by Philoxenus.
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B. Oh, let me taste this wisdom. A. Listen then;
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I start with onions, and with tunnies end."
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B. With tunnies? Surely, then, he keeps the best
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And choicest of his dishes for the last.
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A. Listen. In ashes first your onions roast
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Till they are brown as toast,
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Then with sauce and gravy cover;
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Eat them, you'll be strong all over.
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So much for earth; now list to me,
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While I speak of the sons of the sea.
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And presently he says:—
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A good large flat dish is not bad,
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But a pan is better when 'tis to be had.
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And presently again:—
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Never cut up a sardine
