Escoffier

"Where the steady, even pace of life is not troubled by any preoccupations,...,the art of cookery always flourishes because it contributes to one of the most agreeable of the pleasures given man to enjoy.

"On the other hand, when life is hectic,...,good living can only play a minor role.  More often the need to eat appears to those caught in the throes of business, as no longer a pleasurable occasion but an unnecessary chore.

"Such habits can and must be condemned, if only from the point of view of the health of customers whose stomachs have to put up with their consequences..."

To put this in context, Escoffier seems to be expressing his disdain for the changes he saw, while acknowledging that the cook and his craft is embedded in the society in which he or she lives.  A cook that refuses to accept the realities of the demands on diners is a cook without anybody to serve.  That said, he was making these observations in 1907 in the introduction to the second edition of Le Guide Culinaire.  I wonder what he would make of today's cuisine, at once more immediate, customer driven, and at the same time seemingly with more promise than at any time since his book was published or the advent of Nouvelle Cuisine.