The
Gustatory REH
compiled
by Rusty Burke
For fans of any celebrity, including noted writers like Robert
E. Howard, it seems that no detail of personal life is too
inconsequential to be of interest. For those who would like to
know what Bob Howard liked to see on the table, we offer the
following excerpts from his letters to H.P. Lovecraft. Warning: Do
not read when hungry!
[The following are from Howard's letters, and are reproduced
verbatim.]
Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. January
1932
"We are not farmers. We live in a small town and have only a
very small piece of land, but we have enough to keep a little
stock and raise a garden. Right now we have far more than we need
of greens, radishes, turnips, and the like. We have been taking
cattle, hogs and canned stuffs on debts, as well as grain and
feed. We have a good supply of hay, oats, cotton-seed, maize, and
corn, and we have meal and flour ground from corn and wheat we got
the same way. We have milk from our own cow, and plenty of meat.
We had a whole calf canned -- its surprizing how much meat a good
fat calf makes -- cans of steak, roast-beef, soup, hash, chili,
liver, heart, tongue -- everything but the hoofs. And you ought to
see the pork we have -- huge sides of bacon, yard-long sacks of
sausage, hams so gigantic they have to be cooked in the vat used
for rendering lard. We don't have to pay out much money for
food."
Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. September/October
1932
[Reminiscing about the French Market in New Orleans]
"Many a plaintain have I purchased there -- and cooked in the
manner of banana fritters; I know of no better dish. Did you get
any genuine Creole gumbo while there? Cooked as only the bona-fide
French of New Orleans can cook it, with rice, thyme, bay-leaf,
minced ham, white chicken meat, crab and shrimp, its a food for
the gods."
Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. November
1932
"Too bad sea-food disagrees with you. Now with me, as with
many inland dwellers, it constitutes a rare delicacy. And the word
'rare' is quite descriptive. Oysters are about the only sort of
sea-food which finds its way this far up-country.
"When I get in a sea-port town, I revel in oysters,
shrimps, crabs, sea-fish, and the like, to my heart's content. I
find one thing about such food; it doesn't seem to stay with you
and give you any real strength. I eat it in enormous quantities,
and then in a few hours I'm ravenously hungry again. Maybe its
because, like most people in this country, I'm a beef-eater.
Indeed, only beef in some form or other seems to be the only food
that gives me the necessary nutriment.
"But I'm not narrow in my tastes. I'm a big eater and I
get a real kick out of gorging. Any kind of meat -- fish, fowl,
beef, turtle, pork; practically any kind of fruit; I'm not much of
a vegetarian. Milk -- I see people coaxing children to drink milk,
and I can't understand their dislike for it. I always drank it in
huge quantities, and believe its one reason I was always so
healthy. Cheese -- give me limburger cheese, German sausage and
beer and I'm content -- yes, and a bit of what they call
'smear-cake' -- a rather unsavory name, for what we call cottage-
or cream-cheese. Mexican dishes I enjoy, but they don't agree with
me much. However I generally wrestle with them every time I go to
the Border. Tamales, enchilados, tacos, chili con carne to a
lesser extent, barbecued goat-meat, tortillas, Spanish-cooked
rice, frijoles -- they play the devil with a white man's
digestion, but they have a tang you seldom find in Anglo-Saxon
cookery."
Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. December
1932
"I noted your likes and dislikes in the food line, with great
interest, having a weakness in that direction. In fact, I'm
something of a gourmand -- I believe you spell it that way. I,
too, am a cheese addict. My favorite is Swiss; I also like
limburger, cottage, pimento -- in fact, almost any kind. I know of
few greater treats than a slice of Swiss cheese, between two good
thick pieces of white bread, with a slice of minced ham, pimento
loaf, or balogney, washed down with a bottle of foaming ice-cold
beer. Like you, I detest spinach, and am not fond of underdone
meat. I like mine well-cooked. I'm not enthusiastic over
sauerkraut, and I never ate any tripe. But liver is a favorite
dish of mine, especially when fried with onions. I like chocolate
passibly well, though sweets in any form take the place more of an
appetizer for more solid foods, with me. I go for ice-cream in a
big way, though. Although after working in that drug-store I
mentioned, it was months before I could regard the stuff without
almost gagging. I often made a meal off it, when there was too
much of a rush for me to take off time for lunch -- or dinner,
rather. The midday meal has always been dinner to me. My favorite
is home-made cream; 'sto'-bought' can never equal the other, when
well made. I remember the peach-cream I used to eat at my
grandmother's home, up in Missouri. She had a big orchard,
including many fine trees of Elbertas, which, when allowed to ripe
properly, are hard to beat. At night, when everything was still,
I'd wake up occasionally and hear, in the quiet, the luscious
squshy impact of the ripe peaches falling from the laden branches.
These peaches, mushy-ripe, and cut up in rich, creamy milk, made a
frozen delicacy the like of which is not often equalled. The
peaches in this part of the world are nothing extra.
"I'm not a great eater of cakes or candy, pudding,
custards, or pies. The latter more than the others. I like most
kinds of pies -- chicken, pumpkin, mince -- especially with pecans
mixed in the meat -- , apricot, peach, apple, etc. As far as that
goes, I like most all kinds of food, but of course have my
preferences. For drinks, I like tea, that is, iced tea in warm
weather, with crushed mint-leaves and lemon, not much sugar. I
care little for hot drinks, even in the winter, though I don't
object to cocoa occasionally. I've never drunk a cup of coffee in
my life, so I don't know whether I'd like it or not.... I don't
care for highly seasoned food, ordinarily, though I like Mexican
dishes every now and then, as well as spaghetti, macaroni and
vermicelli. I like most all fruit, but eat vegetables mainly out
of a sense of duty, except corn, which I admire boiled on the cob.
I can eat a ton of it that way. French fried potatoes are all
right, and yams, fried in their juice or baked in their jackets go
well with fresh pork spare-ribs and back-bone. Turnip-greens and
boiled bacon are palatable occasionally, when served with properly
made corn-bread. I believe the finest, richest fowl-meat extant is
goose. But fried chicken is hard to beat. I care less for sausage
than any part of the hawg, but I can sure put away ham -- boiled,
baked, or fried. I mentioned my preference for beef, I believe.
"You struck a responsive chord in me when you mentioned
turkey dinner. Thanksgiving! Baked turkey, with dressing made of
biscuit and cornbread crumbs, sage, onions, eggs, celery salt and
what not; hot biscuits and fresh butter yellow as gold; rich
gravy; fruit cakes containing citron, candied pineapple and
cherries, currents, raisins, dates, spices, pecans, almonds,
walnuts; pea salad; pumpkin pie, apple pie, mince pie with pecans;
rich creamy milk, chocolate, or tea -- my Southern ancestors were
quite correct in adopting the old New England holiday."
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