The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1882-12-07
Como Queer Dishes.

likes all dislikes with regard to specia
1orms OF food, from cannibalism to fruit
cake, we find among people physically
constituted alike in every respect This
person eats his meat burned to oinder .
that will touch only what is rawly ,ln,
derdone. George III. preferred his
when it was semi-putrid his successors
weakness was hot plum bread crumbled
up III lot Of cream. Lord Bacon is
said to have lived whole weeks at inter
vals on nothing but oranges while the
)Hider Pitt could not endur the sight OF
fruit, and never suffered any to be
brought into tho apartment where he
was. In Brazil the goose is considered
coarse and unfit for food, and tile natives
OF hlalacca will not eat fish of anykind.
Antlpathies grounded Oh religious scru-
pies, such as the proverbial detostation
OF pork which Jews are supposed to
entertain, and tho fastidiousness of
certain castes Of Hindoos, hardly come
under this category but it may be OBJ
served that the Jewish dietetic system,
as laid down in the book of Leviticus,
has been demonstrated by tho physiolo-
glsts to be the most perfect sanitary
code that could be devised.
Amongst mammals and birds, it is
difficult to say what species are not eaton
III the countries where they abound.
Probably the big dogs and cats would be
exceptions, though one hears new and
then OF mighty hunters broiling stoals
from tho lion which has just fallen q
victim to their powder and shot: but
III China and other parts Of the East
the smaller domestic varieties are re-
cognlzed luxrries of the table, and are
exposed Tor sale as such in the markets.
ID country so over-populated rs China,
| every morsel OF any substance that is
edible is eagerly sought out and devour
ed, 30 that not only cats and dogs, but
rats, mice, slugs, and almost every thing
III earth, air, OF water, go to feed the
halt-starved masses. Rats are split
open, dried, pressed and powdered with
Underground white bark, which gives
them tho appearance of haddocks as
they hang in long strings over the ven
doris stall. The birds nests convertible
into soup, so often quoted, must not be
coh1ounded with the industrial products
or our own birds, which might be boiled
long time without yielding much nour-
ishment, unless the bird happens to be
inslde ; edible nests really consist If
KIND OF isinRlass, ana are constructed
by small sen-bird out OF the gelatinous
bones OF dead and dccaying fish. Most
OF them are brought from some caverns
on the sea shore north of Shanghai :;
but they arc net very plentiful, and there
Is no great demand for them, The soup
Is thick, shiny and glutinous, and neither
so misty as might be expected, nor as
nice rs could be desired.
On the Isthmus of Panama tho tapir
and sloth are eaten by the Indians, who
also consider the agouti and other small
rodents grcat delicacies. In Parngua,
the capybara, tho great amphibious
guinea-pig, MS big as all ordinary porker,
Is standard dish and throughout the
whole South America roast armadillo ia
highly esteemed, and may be seen in all
the cafes and restaurants of tho cities.
turned OH their scaly backs, and the in
terror filled with a rich sauce composed
OF lemon and spiccs-much too greasy
1or most pal"tes-though tho flavor Of
the animal itself is delicious. Monkoys
and parrots nre eaten in Mexico they
are both very dry and insipid, but it is
stated that the bord is not to be despi-
sed II properly dressed. That most
malodorous marsupial, the opossum, is
reconEn,zed as IN article of food in Rio
drando 90 Sui and other provinces
winch 1t lDhabits, where however, they
bury 1t I'D tho earth until tho flesh is
FREQ from it, characteristic offensive
Smell before cooking it. Its cousin the
dnsyure. Is treated tho same way in
Australia, where it shares the honors Of
the table with kangaroo. II he were a
Doid man who first swallowed an oyster,
that was bolder who first investigated
the alimentary properties of q crab.
Surely he must have beon in the last
extremity OF hunger when he broke
open tho hldeous spidory lstacean and
"wont for" its uncanny internal arrange
ments. Land crabs, tho most dostruc-
tive pest of tropical countries, are far
moro delicate in flavor then their sen
faring brothron, but are much smaller,
and are prepared for the table in a differ
ent way. When bcsfarge, the great
French swindler, escaped by night from
the convict prison in Cayenne, no sank
up to his waist IN quagmirc, and being
unable to extricato himself, was eaten
alive by these crabs.
|
Callfornia Wtns..