NOT THE COOK'S FAULT
Sm,—How sadly right is Mr. Nicolson in his criticism of English cooking. I despair of better things because, even if a cook uses his or her brain and imagination, the ordinary conservative hotel guest complains if the menu varies from the usual mediocre rule. I earn my uncertain living as a cook. People complain if I give them cold cream soup made of vegetables and iced ; they cry in loud accord that soup must be clear and cold or not cold at all. My employers have refused to allow me to serve a vegetable as a separate and delicious course ; and if I send in a plain lettuce salad dressed with a French dressing to be eaten with roast meat I am considered to be insane. My friends invite me to stay with them, and I am generally left in the kitchen to do my best'; but the task of making a good dinner out of very little is made 'almost impossible, because the cupboard has no bay, no thyme, no garlic, no tarragon, and window box and garden are equally deficient in such simple culinary necessities. I think it would be possible to educate the public, but first the managers of ,hotels and restaurants must be persuaded to acquire better taste and some little knowledge of food. In the meantime our tourist trade will not develop, and we cannot expect that it will do so, for although we cannot help the weather, which is often lovely, we can help our cooking, which is generally appalling with no excuse for the fact,—Yours faithfully, Dale Cottage, Cawthorne, Barnsley, Yorkshire AucE MacDoNALD
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