A Tray for the Sickroom

Alexis Soyer summed up the Victorian ideal for sickroom cookery, together, unfortunately, with its reality, when he wrote, ‘nothing is more painful than to see any food ill-prepared for sick people, whose sense of taste is partially gone; everything ordered by the doctors should be cooked in the greatest perfection, especially as all they require is so very simple, and easily done, it is unpardonable to do it badly’. He was among many writers to suggest that the best foods for the sick were easily digestible, often easily chewed, and should be well-presented, so the eye excited the appetite. Speedy removal after eating was advised, so leftovers did not nauseate the patient.