Capital Its fragrant aroma, its sweet spiciness and its unmatched sauce in which mussels and other denizens of the deep have been brewed to a wondrous flavor have won for Bouillabaise the appellation: "The Dish of Kings."

In the stirring days just before the Third Empire of France it wooed the palates of famous bon vivants who thronged the cafes of Paris—among them William Makepeace Thackeray. And beef-fed Briton that he was—upon being initiated into the delightful mysteries of Bouillabaise, Thackeray was moved to write a ringing ballad in its praise.

As the smoking Bouillabaise comes from the sanctum of the Congress Chef to your table, it wafts an incense upon which, alone, "man could live and thrive." And its flavor—well if Thackeray could feast with you who knows but that he would be inspired to pen a postlude to his charming roundelay. Cooking Mussels

—Epitaph on a Grave at Colchester, England