] In my pre-Group Read reading, I came across a fascinating paper submitted to JASNA for the 1998 AGM written by Maggie Lane (She is the author of the fabulous Jane Austen and Food , which is, unfortunately, out of print). The subject of the paper was how General Tilney uses food as a tool in his tyranny over and control of his family. She lumps Mr. Grant of MP with the General as the only other Austen character to show such excessive attention to food and says, “It is in forcing others to dance attendance on their eating that they delight in exercising their power.”

I have a copy of Jane Austen and Food(got it from a JA book dealer) and it's a great book. One phrase that leaped out at me while reading your post was"His son & daughter's observations were of a different kind. They had seldom seen him eat so heartily at any tabel but his;and never before known him so little disconcerted by the melted butter's being oiled"