Soren Kierkegaard

embedded: “In the formation of taste it is important that we pay attention
not merely to the material ‘what,’ but even more to the formal ‘how.’ ”
This formula also applied to domestic affairs, which constitute a chapter
unto themselves in Heiberg’s aesthetic morality. In this connection Heiberg
was furious that the best room in the house, the salon, was empty most of
the time, while the family huddled together in a tiny room, and even the
serving maid had to sit in this room with the family, who thereby came to
lead an out-and-out “bestial existence.” There was also something bestial
about the food that people dignified with the name “dinner” and poured
down their throats along with the other oafs in Denmark: “It is true that
we have a few national dishes that are not to be disdained, but the great
bulk of milk-based dishes, sweet soups, sweet salads, and mealy sauces, et
cetera are things that the majority of civilized countries would avoid placing
on a dinner table....There are also many reigning prejudices, for example,
that every course that is brought to the dinner table must be hot, and people
would rather eat warmed-over, thrown-together leftovers than some cold
but juicy and nutritious meat. You also see more quantity than quality.
People would rather eat two or three servings of the famous, watery Sunday
sou pthan satisfy themselves with a single serving of a strong and hearty
bouillon.”
It was not merely Heiberg’s preference for French gastronomy that
caused him to disdain the amorphous and stew-like quality of ordinary Dan-
ish cuisine. He also had a sense for the ritualistic and social side of a meal,
which completely disappeared if a meal was merely and greedily associated
with food. He writes of this in a style that is both provocative and prophetic:
“Dinnertime is of profound importance in the domestic life of a family. We
may dare to assert that when this matter is dealt with in a manner that is
lacking in propriety, order, and an aesthetic sensibility, these same qualities
will be found lacking in other aspects of the family’s life. Who has not
witnessed the all-too-frequent family mealtimes that more resemble the sat-
isfaction of an animal need than a pleasant gathering?... The false economy
of retaining servants who are inadequate in number or unequal to the task
results in forcing the woman of the house and the older daughters to assume
a large share of the burden of serving the meal. They must continually get
u pfrom the table and run in and out of the dining room, which destroys
the conversation, and the soothing tranquillity vanishes. Small children sit
at the dinner table with the adults, eating and drinking in a manner that
causes the adults to lose their appetite, and their babbling tends to disturb
peace and quiet as well as conversation. Finally one rises from the dinner
table with a sense of emptiness and confusion such as one encounters at a