The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-16
KITCHEN CURIOsITIES.
QUAINT DISHES THAT APPEAsE EPI-
GURRAN APPETITEs.
The sayages' RfII Of Fare-BiPds, Beasts,
Reptiles and Insects That Fail n
Prey 10 Mans Appetite.
ISt. Louis Post.l

Reptiles and Insects That Fail n
Frey 10 Mans Appetite.
fst. Louis Postl
Man is all but omnivorous, and yet 1t
ID the most difficult thing to induce @
man, civilized or barbarous, to taste
and like new dish. When Capt. Cook
fret 4 ~ 74!lslted the Sandwich Islands, he
invited the King of Owyhee to dine with
him, and his Majesty was induced to
inaugurate the repast with a mouthful
of bread, Wand entirely novel to him.
No sooner had he got taste than he
spat it out with every symptom OF dis
gust, and, declining further prandial
ventures, returned home to his Gus
tomary roast dog and decayed fish. The
Japanese refuse beef and milk, but eat
rats. The New Hollanders surfeit
themselves with stale shark, rancid
whale blubber and earth worm, but re-
gard with horror the white mans simple
breakfast of bread and butter. The
negroes of the West Indies revel in the
luxuries OF baked snakes and finger
long palm worms fried in their own fat,
but their delicate stomachs revolt at
the thought of rabbit stew. The Rus
sians eat tallow candles; the Green
Ianders drink train oil. DR.. Living
stones favorite, the Barotse, affects
crocodile steaks, and one Of his African
friends, so the doctor states, made q
contented supper one evening from
A Billie MOLE AND TWO MICE,
A Frenchman prefers lively frog, a
few snails, and--when he can afford it
q tart Of the diseased livers of geese,
which favorite esculents John Bull dis
likes, preferring solid beef and mutton.
Sir John Ross states that an Esqui-
Hnaux will eat twenty pounds Of meat
and oil day. A Tongouse allowance
Is forty pounds of reindeer meat, and
Russian admiral saw three Yakutes eat
a reindeer at sitting. A visitor to New
Zealand relates that two natives OF that
cannfbal isle went out to the shore,
after hearty supper, and finished the
half-putrid carcass OF o shark at one
moonlight sitting and Capt. Stuart, the
Australian explorer, saw New Hol-
lander eat over 100 jerboas, or vaulting
rats, at sitting. He placed q number
for q few seconds under the ashes;
then, with the hair only partially
burned off, took them by the tail and
bit off the bodies one after another.
When he had eaten dozen bodies, he
stuffed the dozen tails into his mouth to
chew up leisureIy.
Tt Ia q notable fact that the most CIV
ilized nations are the most liberal in
their gaStronomic tastes. Next to the
Chinese, whose ultra civilization has
betrayed them into the liberation Of
half. Matched eggs, sharks fms, and
bird 's-nest soup, comes the Frenchman,
and next to him follows the American.
Modern travellers have exploded some
most unwarrantable prejudices. DR..
Shaw enjoyed lion. which he found to
taste like veal; DR.. Darwin had pas
sion for puma, the South American Hon
DIR. Brooke found melted bears grease
not only
PALATALE BUT DELICIOUS;
and Capt. Cook Youch for
the excellence OF the dog.
Mr.. auckland tasted boa constructor
and found the flesh exceedingly white |
and firm, and much like veal in taste
Sir Robert Schomburg found monkey
very palatable, though before dissec-
ton 1t looked disagreeabiy like roast
child and Gordon Cumming Is loud In
praise OF baked elephants trunk and
feet.
or course line must be drawn some
where. The baked missionary Of the
New Zealand cuisine, the under done
human thigh Of the Feejee Islander and
the broiled fingers which are thought |
"a dainty dish to set before the King"
OF Sumatra, are not to be recommended. |
Nor would man be thought illiberal |
who should fail to appreciate stew of |
red ants in Burmah although ants are |
said to have an agreeable acidity when |
properly prepared), parrot pie In Rio |
Janeiro, roast bat in Malabar, or cut |
tle-fish fry in the Mauritius.
Soyer asserted that civilization and |
cookery advanced hand in hand. Dean |
Swift said: "a nice man is a man with |
nasty IDEAS" and though, as Monies
quie asserts, there may be valid reasons |
for not eating pork, there may be rea-
sons
QUITE AS UNIMPEACHABLE
Tor eating giraffe, buzz ard, anaconda or
horse.
Man has no consistency. The French
of the Antilles delight in the guiana, a
nideous lizard. but they refuse the
delicate and pork-like meat OF the
young alligator. Eels are q favorite
would not go down. During the famine
the Irish would not eat corn meal. ALI |
oivilizen nations reject dog and cat as
articles, though those animals
are clean feeders, but make staple OF
swine, the most foul feeding Of beasts.
and pigeons are table Injuries
but nobody bankers after crow, which
d cleaner bird than either. John Bull
will not taste squirrel, though every
American mouth waters at the mention
0f the savory squirrel stew. But such
inconsistencies are endless.
Tt is curious to note the different parts
of animals that are eaten. Sleeps
head, pigs head, calf's head and brains,
Ok head; in England the heads Of duck
ind geese, OK tongue, reindeer tongue,
Falrus tongues. cranes tongue, and in
America sheep and pigs tongues. In
China the tongues OF fowls and ducks
ire high priced dainty. John China
nan relishes also the nav and fins of
he shark, while In Siam the dried
Iinews Of various animals are prime
luxury. Feet are generally liked from
be web Of ducks and geese in Europe,
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