Here is the menu:—
- Tomato Soup.
- Turbot and Lobster Sauce.
- Mutton Cutlets and Tomatoes.
- Roast Ribs of Beef. Horse-radish.
- Spinach. Potatoes.
- Cabinet Pudding.
- Caviare on Toast.
- Coffee.
We will first criticise the dinner as a whole and then dilate separately upon each item.
In the first place the meal is much too long. Dinner should never last more than half an hour, whereas this meal will take a full hour at least.
The second point is a most important one and one which is frequently overlooked, yet it is one of the most important causes of ill-health. It is this. There are six courses in this dinner, and every one of them contains animal food. Every item in the list is a concentrated food, rich in nourishment, and readily digestible. Consequently nearly the whole of what is eaten will get into the blood, and there, being greatly in excess of what is needed, it will irritate the organs by which it must be got rid of.
One word about the drinks. The stomach of man is made to digest solids, and one of the most fertile causes of indigestion is taking excess of fluids with meals. Drinking between meals or when the stomach is empty is not such an important cause of indigestion as is drinking largely with meals, because drinking large quantities dilutes the gastric secretion, which loses its digestive power if freely diluted.
At no meal should more than half a pint of fluid be taken, and that is best taken at the end of the repast.
The pernicious habit of serving different wines with each course is one of the most harmful customs of modern dieting. If you have wine at all, have light wines only, and never change the drinks with the various courses.
Of course, the dinner we are criticising is excellently served and there is no waiting between the courses. But when people whose purses are strictly limited give dinners, they are not content with an ordinary two-course meal, but must ape the doings of their more wealthy neighbours and give elaborate dinners, which for obvious reasons are badly served.
Waiting between the courses of a meal is very injurious to the stomach. A little wait after the soup does no harm at all. Soup is more a digestive stimulant than a food, and therefore it is advisable to wait a little between the soup and the next course. But after that there should be no delay, and the meal should be finished as soon as possible.