The Gourmet's Weekend Book - Andre Simon 1952 here here more
FOREWORD
GOURMETS", did you say? Are there any left in our austerity times? Of course there are; there are more and keener Gourmets to-day than ever before, not so much in spite of austerity as because of austerity. Let me remind you first of all that a Gourmet is not a fellow who makes a fad of his belly, but one who has the good sense to mind his belly, and the courtesy or gratefulness to thank God for his daily bread and butter, and jam. In the good old days, when there was always plenty and to spare, there was little need to bother about one's meals: we could leave it to cook and be tolerably sure that there would always be something good on the table, and often something new as well. But times have changed. Meals to-day are news.
There are some foods, and some of the best, like cream, which are no longer available; there are others which are in short supply and of distinctly poorer quality: what makes it worse is the fact that the same may truly be said of cooks: good cooks are in very short supply and so dear that most of us have no option but to do without them and look after ourselves. This is by no means a major disaster. It merely means that we have to take more immediate and a more intelligent interest in that incapable necessity of keeping body and soul together.
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The Gourmet's Weekend Book - Guildhall Library, London - Andre Simon Collection ref - ED 290