Table Traits, with Something on Them

What we eat matters less, Dr. Doran argues in this charming 1854 volume, than how we eat. A collection of essays on dining customs across centuries, Table Traits weaves together classical mythology, food history, and Victorian wit to examine the table as a stage for civilization itself. The book opens with "The Legend of Amphitryon," the Greek myth of the perfect host whose legendary hospitality literally welcoming the gods into his home becomes Doran's entry point into questions of friendship, jealousy, and what it means to break bread together. From there, Doran ranges across dietary philosophies, the etiquette of digestion, and the proverbs that cultures hang their dining habits on. He quotes Plutarch alongside contemporary London society, traces the evolution of the dinner party from Roman symposia, and insists that the pleasure of a meal depends not merely on its ingredients but on the mind that consumes them. The result is a book that treats the dinner table as a window into the human soul, delivered with the kind of learned humor that made Victorian essayists irresistible.