LET US EAT FISH A FAMOUS FRENCH LUNCHEON À L'AMÉRICAINE Only in the Latin countries has fish as an edible ever been fully appreciated and, as is the case with most other things gastronomic, it is in France that the food possibilities of the denizens of the water have been brought nearest perfection. Over here we have always seemed to regard fish as useful chiefly for stocking aquariums or for furnishing sport for the vacationist, along with golf, tennis and bowling. True, we have become rather well acquainted with certain sea foods, the oysters, Blue Points and Cape Cods; we have a nodding acquaintance with some of the clam clan, especially the Rhode Island branch, and the Little Necks, the blue bloods of the family. And, of course, we are familiar with the crustaceans, the lobsters and the crabs. And we know, too, certain succulent sea delicacies that come to us from Palm Beach shores and California and Oregon regions, tuna and halibut, bluefish and salmon as it comes to us variously prepared for the table. In short, we Americans are fairly friendly with a number of the aristocrats of the water, but on analyzing the situation we come to realize that as for knowing the "finny tribe" as a whole well enough to get complete gastronomic joy out of the situation, it remains that it is only the French people who are so blessed. Time and the hour and the high price of meat, however, render it advisable, even absolutely necessary, that we work _all_ our resources instead of only a part of them, to economize whenever and wherever we can, and the waters in our midst and around us are surely one of the most important resources not already worked to the limit. Therefore, let us eat fish--but first let us learn of the French about fish, even as we have learned of them concerning other foods, or as we have learned fashions, for, verily, the turning out of a proper fish dish for the table has ever been regarded by the French as no less an art than the creation of a beautiful frock in one of their ateliers. Moreover, their ways with fish are so broadly inclusive that one may make up an entire menu from one end to the other, with only a cup of coffee needed as a final fillip to make a perfect meal--and all of fish. By way of furnishing inspiration to our own appetites, herewith is a suggestion for a fish luncheon, a favorite menu of France, which its wealth and fashion delighted to have set before it in those good old days before the war. Substitutes are given for any fish not indigenous to American waters; otherwise it is just as it would be served at one of the Riviera restaurants, with the exception, of course, that on the Riviera or at any of the noted marine restaurants, the visitor himself was permitted to select the fish for each course from among the different specimens swimming in the reserves, altogether unconscious of impending fate.