Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-06-19
Fashion in Food.

(republished by Messrs. Hurd Il Houghton
Of New orkl contains an interesting ar
ticle Oh the CuriOsitics of Fashion III the
Matter OF Ones Food :" and however
firmly We NAV believe that We are govern
ed by taste IN the selection of our diet, it
really IS fashion which regulates it for Us
as, indeed, fashion regulates nearly all
We do. or say. or, to very great extent,
think We don't dress a. we Judge i
most becoming, or rather we think it most
becoming to be III fashion. The dresses of
our wives and sisters, whether sweeping
the dirt from the sidewalk. or raised sew
eral inches above it. are modelled by the
fiat Of fashion and that which would be
immodest one year j. proper the next.
The size and shape of the things called
bonnets, a. well a. the monstrositie> which
cover the masculine head. are matter of
choice no more than the coueenital hump
on the cripple's back. and are as entirely
beyond the owners control. vt home
and abroad, fashion follows u closely like
phantom fell and though the most
evaneScent and volatile Of spirits. wields
nevertheless, sceptre Of iron.
And thus with our food. We relish
lual l.. VI itUFU 10 llht-indl " nlCu II L
fashionable to like: and if the fashion
should change We would speedily acquire
a taste for that from the eating of which
We would now shrink with horror In
some parts OF the country, where the soft
shell crab-the luxury Of the cities-is
found in large quantities. and i used aS
bait for ti>h. the natives ridicule the idea
of its being fit for human food II We look
back TO the customs of our English ances-
try, we find 4 constant. uncea>ng change
taking place in fashions pertaining to food
and drink But to leave those Of our own
race. find among foreign people an as
tonishing variety and diSSimilaritV IN gas
tronomic ta>te
Says the writer referred to. Let us
suppose that some philanthropic gour-
mands are going on Il tour of culinary dis
coyerv First. then. they NAV dine with
the Esquimaux in a field of ice. and be
treated to talow candles a particularly
delicious dish. with Slice ot seal by way
OF something solid. Or they will find their
plates loaded with the liver of the walrus
which. by the way. an American savant
has commended in enthusiastic terms
They may vary their dinner by helping
themselves 70 lump of whale-meat. red
and coarse and rancid. hut very toothsome
to an Esquimaux notH outstanding
If the, SAT down at Greenlander's
table. they would find it loaded with, or. TO
use the fashionable expression. groanng
under dish of half putrid whales TAIL
which has been lauded as u savory matter,
not dissimlar III flavor to cream cheese
/ Walrus' tongue Is also dainty and the
/ liver OF porpoiSe makes Greenlander'S
mouth water. They may finish their re-
! past with a slice of reindeer or :. roasted
rat. and drink to their hosts health in
bumper of train-oil.
" If their fastidious tastes will not allow
them TO rest content with these varieties OF
Arctic fare they may 20 farther and fare
worse In South America, for instance
Fashion recognizes notable plat in the
tongue of the sea-lion. We cut off saws
a curious traveller, the tip of the tongue
hanging out of the mouth of the sea- lion
Just killed. About sixteen or eighteen of
us ate each 4 pretty large piece, and we
all thought it SO good that we regretted
that could not eat more of ii.
Let them visit China, where Fashion
and the cooks have invented some extraor-
dinarv dishes. Among these foremost
place must be given to soup compounded
from sharks fins, so that they import every
year from India twelve or fifteen thousand
hundred wei ght of them. Off kurrachee,
near Bombay about forty thousand sharks
are annually offered up to John Chinaman's
eccentric appetite. Then the rats Why,
game is not half SO religiouslv preserved in
England nor is venison nearly so much es-
teemed. Birds nests, too, supply the ma
terials of a very fashionable soup. Those
made use of are the nests of the Hirundo
) esculenta. The labor bestowed to render
; the birds nest fit for table is enormous
g every feather, stick, or impurity of any
kind is carefully removed. and then, after
undergoing many washings and prepara
tions. it is made into a soft, delicious Jelly
: "John Chinaman has a pencham tol
dogs. and fattens them the Berkshir,
: farmer fattens pigs. This prediction il
also shared by the ladies and gentlemen o
Zanzibar, in Africa, the aristocracy of tn,
. Sandwich Islands. and the half-mannish
: half-hrutish aborigines of Australia.
traveller who has visited the Sandwich Is
:. lands asserts that, at house or hut wher
on one occasion he dined near every plac
! at table was plump young dog; and it
: flesh was so much relished by his libera
= palate, that he speaks of it as combinin
the peculiar excellencies of lamb and pork
. These Sandwich dogs are fed with peculia