Epicure's Advice

In Search of a Wisewoman

There is an old proverb from 1578 included in “The Life of P. Care” by George Gascoigne that says “too many cooks spoil the broth.” It spoke to the practical reality of a kitchen with multiple cooks, each with their own ideas on seasoning, that ultimately will ruin a soup. It has come to mean when too many people are involved in a decision-making process, it leads to confusion, inefficiency, and a poor final result and that excessive management interference is project disaster.

A recent post mentioned to a family dinner that was collaborative where a salad contributed to the meal just might become a summer favourite. Being the magpie who collects useless trivia, I went in search of a Spanish proverb quoted in 1852 in “The Art of Dining” by English writer and translator Abraham Hayward (1801 -1884) who said, “Four persons are wanted to make a salad. A spendthrift for oil, A miser for vinegar, A counsellor for salt, And a madman to stir it all up.” He also wrote a recipe for a winter salad in rhyme that ends with “Serenely full, the Epicure might say - Fate cannot harm me - I have dined today.”

It seems sad that meddling where one should not is rampant while the simple act of breaking bread together is fading into obscurity. We are so overscheduled that we can’t call another and say, “Come over. The place is a wreck but I’ve got a pot of ‘X’. Bring whatever you want to contribute and let’s catch up. One request - there’s a basket at the door for your cell phone.”

We are rapidly forgetting how lovely it is to share whatever is going and season it with laughter. Let’s all be serenely full.

Thanks to Joanne Pettis for today’s inspiration.. posting the salad recipe?