Introduction

American cookery is somewhat like the American version of the English language—a version essentially American, with its own characteristic accent and pronunciation, its own idioms, its own colourful and expressive slang, often apt, humorous and original. But just as their slang is sometimes offensive to our ears, so some American dishes might be offensive to our palate, since the breaking away from tradition in food is a process not easily accomplished. The inborn conservatism of the older civilisations of Europe with regard to their national cookery makes it almost impossible to accept or understand some of America’s gastronomic innovations and novelties. But if the characteristically American thirst for novelty and sensationalism sometimes leads to mixtures which are not always happy—to a somewhat drastic blending of elements which, according to our standards, are considered discordant—it has also led to the invention of the famous American salads, now adopted by European chefs, and which no mind but an American mind could have conceived. There is a boldness about them which almost amounts to “cheek,” and some must be tasted to be “believed.”