Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-05-28
COLUMBUS, O., THURSDAY MORNING
Ohio Statesman,
Curiostsies of Animal Food.


For several years past the fantastic
French have been luxuriating on horse
flesh, and it was only the other day that
a wild Englishman gave a grand dinner
party, at which choice cuttings from a
tavorite horse were served as the leading
delicacy of his table, The horse was
eighteen years old, and had been ridden
on many splendid hunt, but those facts
of course only tended to enhance the
luxury. If the civilized people of the
present day can do such things without
being rebuked-do such things, and be
commended by those whose instincts are
not equal to those of the horse, then
may we cease to wonder at what the
barbarous nations of the earth are in
the habit of doing in the art of gastron-
omy. AS the great Yankee nation is
wont to manifest its independence by
initiating the preposterous fashions in
dress of Paris and London, we are some
what apprehensive that it will not be
long before our generals will go to war
mounted on jackasses, and our hand
soonest carriages be drawn by mules or
goats, while our thoroughbred and
beautiful horses will be everywhere
slaughtered and roasted for the gratifi-
cation of the rich and refined. Dismiss
ing our fears on that point, however, we
have thought that d useful book might
be written on the American habit of eat
ing to excess and with lightning rapidi-
ty; but that also is theme which we
cannot now discuss. All things consid-
cred, we presume there is not country
on the globe in which more can be found
to tempt the appetite than in our own !;
and for that reason it has occurred to lis
that brief account of the extraordina-
ry things which are eaten by people of
other nations, might be amusing, if not
instructive. We do not propose to SUBJ
nit any original information on the sub
ject before us, but only compilation of
the more striking facts hitherto COM
mented upon by travellers and natural
lists, and especially by the statistical
writer, Peter Lund Simmons.
And first as to the mammalia. In
certain parts of Africa, in Trinidad,
Ceylon, Borneo, and South America,
boiled and roasted monkey is considered
a delicacy-the red spider fox and howl
ing monkeys each possessing a peculiar
flavor. Indeed a gorilla steak, to the
South African, is morsel not to be ex-
celled; but as this custom is too nearly
allied to cannibalism. Anglo-Saxon trav-
elers have seldom been tempted to par
ticipate. = In the islands of Mauritius
and Malabar several varieties of the
bat, some of them with wings four feet
in extent, are eaten by the natives with
avidity; but the story that the Dutch,
when in possession of the former island,
were fond of the monkey, is said to be
incorrect. The Arabs do not object to
the flesh of the hyena, although so rank
that the dogs will not touch it.; and it is
well known that the polecat is eaten by
the aborigines of North America, while
the oppossum is appreciated by the bet
ter classes of the Southern States. In
Italy the fox is considered fit for the
table of cardinal; and while raven
GUS Esquimaux dogs will not touch this
animal after killing, the Indians them
selves consider it excellent food. The
natives of the Malay Peninsula eat the
flesh of the tiger, which is thought to in
spire courage, and the Hottentots and
other African races are wont to feed
upon the lion; while-the American In
dians have no scruples in regard to the
wolf, the panther, the cougar, or the
lynx, many varieties of people esteem
the flesh of the dog; the ancient Greeks
and Romans thought it light and whole
some, and the common people of modern
Rome depend upon it to a considerable
extent; in China they are fattened for
for the table; in Zanzibar stew of
puppies is a luxury even with the king;
and in the Sandwich Islands pet pup
Ply is often placed before a hungry guest,
and roasted dog is common among the
natives of Africa and the Indians of
North America.
In Australia, where alone the kanga-
roo is found, it is considered deiicacy,
and its liver, when dried and then
pounded, is used as substitute for
bread /; and it is remarkable fact that
the aborigines of that country always
eat their food roasted, being without the
utensils for heating water or cooking
liquid food. These people also enjoy
frogs, snakes, moths, and grubs, but alb
hor oysters. Among the Esquimaux
roasted mice are considered delectable,
while the walrus, the porpoise and the
whale are among the necessaries of life.
In some of the West India Islands and
in Brazil fried rats are considered supe-
rior to frogs, and among the Chinese rat
soup is only equalled by a soup of cat
erpillars boiled in thin gravy with on
ions. In various parts of South Amer
lea the ant-eater and armadillo, the lat
ter roasted in its shell, are constantly
eaten, and are said to resemble roast
pig. In Africa and India the flesh
of the elephant is generally eaten, and
the paws considered an Apician luxury.
In Abyssinia tile descendants Of Ras-
selas doat on a hippopotamus or rhinoce-
ros steak. The nomad tribes of North
ern Asia and the aborigines of America
are famous for their horse-fesh feasts :;
horse-steaks have long been authorized
and publicly sold in Copenhagen, and
one of the latest gastronomic innova-
tions in France and Germany is the use
of horse-hesh. The Persians and Tar
tars hold the flesh of the common and
wild ass in high esteem; and wherever
the camel and the giraffe are found, they
a.e frequently eaten, the tongue of the
former and the marrow of the latter be-
ing considered delicacies u -sa-a.. "a
The pathological tastes of the human
race are more appropriately and gener-
ally diffused than is the case with the
mammals; and with the exception of
few such birds as the crow and the bus
tard, both of which are sometimes eaten,
all the feathered tribes seem to have
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