How Monarchs Feast.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7371, 19 November 1898, Page 4

How Monarchs Feast.

There is a general idea that, crowned heads feast every day, like Lucullns of old, but this is not the case. And although rich dinners are provided for visitors and officials, the giver of the feast very often only partakes of the simplest food. Our Queen is very fond of the Scotch cuisine. Her Majesty makes her principal meal at two o'clock, and although there is an elaborate dinner for the Court at nine o'clock, at which the Queen always appears, she seldom takes anything but a little bouillon. The Queen always eats a special kind of bread, very much baked and dark in color, called " Queen's bread." In her younger days, her Majesty liked claret or champagne for dinner, but now she takes, by her doctor's advice, a little weak whisky anl soda, and chocolate has been substituted for tea. At Marlborough House the cuisine is almost entirely French. The Prince is a great lover of French dishes, but pale ale is not despised by His Royal Highness. The Prince of Wales' chef is a man of no little importance and of many resources. One of his principal endeavors is to provide his master's table with new dainties and savoury dishes. It is natural that, for this purpose, he shoulo be en rapport with all the celebrated art;&ts of the kitchen in Europe and America. One of the latest dainties he has been able to serve upon the royal dinner-table is petits poussins sur canapes. They were originally introduced from Bussia by fciir Edward Laws on, and are a great improvement on the American "broilers" chickens eight weeks old. These young " poussins" (chicks) are not larger than a big quail ; one, served on toast, is provided for each guest. Naturally, the most abstemious ruler in the world is his Holiness' the Pope, whose meals are absolute matters of indifference to him. As one cannot live without eating, however, the doctors have insisted on his Holiness taking light, nourishing food, suitable to so aged a personage. Cafe-au-lait and a biscuit after Mass, a light meal of strong boullon and boiled chicken at lunchtime, with a glass of old Bordeaux, and no tea or supper, merely a glass of milk and a biscuit before going to rest—this is the Pope's daily bill of fare. f The Emperor of Austria, as a pious Catholic, keeps as strictly to his fast as he does to his early rising. On such days he abjures all meat, and contents himself with fish—a dish that, like mutton, is a rareity in Vienna—and various kinds of omelettes. His Majesty takes his fish preferably with buttered potatoes. His cuisine is peculiarly Viennese, and it is only a<i Court' and State dinners that the French menu has any chance. The Vienna kitchen is closely allied to the German in the simplicity and want of variety in the dishes and in the " done-to-death " character of the meats, but is decidedly more tasty and inventive. His Majesty, like his subjects, prefers large helpings at the sacrifice of variety, and has a particular weakness for a dainty called " Frankfurter mit Kreu." It may be called his speciality. In summer the so-called secocd breakfast ia omitted, and the Emperor contents himself with the five o'clock breakfast, which usually consists of a cup of cofiee and a little kalte Auflage (sliced cold sausages, ham, etc). At noon comes the luncheon, or Gabelfruhstuck, consisting of a soup and a slice of roast. At half-past two is a dinner of six courses, comprising soup, fish, two roasts, pudding, and dessert. Bis . Majesty likes beer, but partakes of both beer and wine very sparingly, although the wine is changed for each cover. Liqueurs are also served. The JMinperor drinks preferably dark Bavarian beer; half a pint is his quantity. When he has risen from the table, Kaiser Franz JoEeph has finished his eating for the day, and touches 1 nothing more, even when in the evening lie attends a theatre. He is in bed by nine o'clock, and to this regular, moderate life he owes undoubtedly his longevity and his splendid health and spirits.