“Dubechnia--the name of our first station--was seventeen versts from the town. I went on foot. The winter and spring corn was bright green, shining in the morning sun. The road was smooth and bright, and in the distance I could see in outline the station, the hills, and the remote farmhouses.... How good it was out in the open! And how I longed to be filled with the sense of freedom, if only for that morning, to stop thinking of what was going on in the town, or of my needs, or even of eating! Nothing has so much prevented my living as the feeling of acute hunger, which make my finest thoughts get mixed up with thoughts of porridge, cutlets, and fried fish. When I stand alone in the fields and look up at the larks hanging marvellously in the air, and bursting with hysterical song, I think: "It would be nice to have some bread and butter." Or when I sit in the road and shut my eyes and listen to the wonderful sounds of a May-day, I remember how good hot potatoes smell. Being big and of a strong constitution I never have quite enough to eat, and so my chief sensation during the day is hunger, and so I can understand why so many people who are working for a bare living, can talk of nothing but food.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
STEWED PRUNES. VEGETABLES. HERBS. CHEAP DYE-STUFFS. MEAT CORNED, OR SALTED, HAMS, &c. CHOICE OF MEAT. COMMON COOKING. VEAL. CALF'S HEAD. BEEF. ALAMODE BEEF. MUTTON AND LAMB. PORK. ROAST PIG. SAUSAGES. MINCE MEAT. BEANS AND PEAS. SOUSE. TRIPE. GRAVY. POULTRY. FRICASSEED CHICKEN, BROWN. FRICASSEED CHICKEN, WHITE. TO CURRY FOWL. CHICKEN BROTH. FISH. PUDDINGS. BAKED INDIAN PUDDING. BOILED INDIAN PUDDING. FLOUR OR BATTER PUDDING. BREAD PUDDING. RENNET PUDDING. CUSTARD PUDDINGS. RICE PUDDINGS. BIRD'S NEST PUDDING. APPLE PUDDING. CHERRY PUDDING. CRANBERRY PUDDING. WHORTLEBERRY PUDDING. PLUM PUDDING. HASTY PUDDING. CHEAP CUSTARDS. COMMON PIES. MINCE PIES. PUMPKIN AND SQUASH PIE. CARROT PIE. CHERRY PIE. WHORTLEBERRY PIE. APPLE PIE. CUSTARD PIE. CRANBERRY PIE. RHUBARB STALKS, OR PERSIAN APPLE. PIE CRUST. COMMON CAKES. GINGERBREAD. CUP CAKE. TEA CAKE. CIDER CAKE.
Sources: The passage is from Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Child, The American Frugal Housewife of 1829, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — moss cloth, teapot stamp.