Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-13
STRANGE DISHES.
InsectivOrOus Epicures-An Effort in
America and England TO Get People
TO Eat Insects.

| afncfica anu England 10 Get People
| TO Eat Insects.
/ From the " Y. Commercial Advertiser
! Prof. Riley, of Washington, invited some
| friends TO breakfast with him a day or two ago.
! He placed before them dish of fried cicada, or
| seventeen-year locusts. The professor is in the
/ habit of eating iocusts and grasshoppers, and
evidently relishes them. His guests were a
/ little doubtful at first, but after eating them
agreed that there was no exception to be taken
to them, either in flavor or delicacy of taste.
| Mr. John Sutherland said this morning: 81
read the report of Prof Riey's breakfast, and
agree with him that cicada are delicious. They
eat the tenderest of veget tables. the choicest and
youngest tendrils, and are the essence of pure
vegetable matter. Prejudice against certain
/ kinds of food is the work of the imagination,
and founded almost entirely on the looks Of
| things. There are crabs and Holsters, which are
! Infinitely more unclean than either the cicada
priced more highly. Snafls are the scavengers
| or the sea. ana are never so fat and juicy as
when caught in pro proximity to dead horse or
| nothing enjoy more. They are perfectly clean.
! People will eat periwinkles, and like them.
| Often make salad of them. People ask what
| they are. say periwinkes, and they arc per-
| fectly satisfied. If | should say snais, as they
are, they would perhaps become sick. They
| should he caught and put in clean sand, and
then allowed to wriegle around. This process
and clean. They should then be parbobed.
% People are prejudiced against lampreys.
They are very good and equal to an ordinary
eel. There are many other kinds of fish that
/ persons object to. This seems unreasonable to
| me- They all come from the same water, and
! virtually live on the same kinds OF food. OF
| course there are some sorts Of fish far superior
| TO Others but all fish is good. 1 know persons
on just the same things as trout, and are equally
as tender ana toothsome 0fbirds, too, there is
the crow. A Young blue heron IS as GOOD as 81 the
/ most favored birds, but very few people can one
| find who will eat them. Not long ago some gen.
! somethin. that couldn't be gotten anywhere
/ else. 'Ail right said /. went and got some
pallets and fixed them up: They were corrugated
| served with Italian sauce. They ate them and
were much pleased. When about half through,
| what the dish was. l said rattlesnakes. Tom
Plaeide, the old actor, sent me some the other
| get anywhere else, gave them 10 YOU The
| knives and forks dropped with CHATTER on the
floor Two of the party were. triyhtfuliy sick.
/ been eating rattlesnakes. I'll never be able to
eat again When saw they were about as
! beef pallets. Immediately every man got we'll,
| resumed eating. and all were wonderfully hap
py. Tom plaefde and were great friends. He
/ he brought me one; we skinned it nicely, fried
it and ate it. Tom smacket his mouth, but
other things. Rattlesnake eggs are. however
Very nice. They have a faint musky flavor, and
! are delicious. There are many other things
tina: people will not eat now, but the day will
come when all these things will be regarded
| along with white bait, trout and other things of
| this Glass;
\ gentleman who ds well-known as O con-
noisseur in things eatable said: we epicures
! heard the story, no doubt, Of the definition of
epcure. No? Well, / will tell you. IN
every ship there is a sailor who is more intelli-
gent than the rest. He has probably been some
young fellow who has sowed too many oats
and been cast otfby. his family and friends.
to by the other sailors, and of him all hard
questions are asked, and ne nevar fails to an
swcr. Said one: Jack, heard one of the pas
sengers talking about another, and he said he
was an epicure! What does that mean?
"'Do you mean to say you don't know what
an epicure isl
That's what mean
" Why! why! an epicure Is a eenfounded
idiot VINO III eat anything
That is about SO. but nearly everything Is
good. In the south the negroes eat the common
dry land terrapins: eoons and common angling
latter very much. aud think they are pretty
good when tried. The devil II sh but few people
touch founders or white bait. know a young
man In this city who eats but three things as a
rule. viz beef, potatoes and bread. How much
he misses. This thing is purely matter of the
| imagination, and these prejudices are hard to
overcome because people get sick before they
\ writer in tine London Telegraph writing of
q book which has lately appeared In England,
recommending. the eating OF insects, gives these
historical instances:
In the east. lOcusts-the insects as we'll as
The yegetabie-are highly esteemed as food.
popular dish, and this is the only good point
about the locusta misratoria.' Dried locusts
food in Arabia, Syria. Egypt and other Orieen.
tai countries. 1t is, unfortunately, an indispu-
able fact that human beings have in various
ages and different parts of the world been tar 4
from dainty in their domestic dietary. They
have supped-and breaklasted, too-on hOr-
rors. There is an African race, for example,
! tn Ike
them. The Andaman islanders habitually live
on rats, guanas, lizards and snakes, adding
who do not object TO CONSUMING caterpillars
would probably soon pass on to serpents. Mrs.
airy. has related how she was cured of an inter
ihlttent fever by eating cobwebs. In some
parts q Hindostan the natives prescribe cob
lady whose case We have mentioned found
them far more effective than Quinine. The
pills, she tells us, are made OF common cObwebs
ana taken in doses of ten grains three times
day IT, however, cObwebs can be eaten, why
not spiders" The fact Is that man in his civil
iZed state has forgotten thousand articles of
food Which are known to the savage. He has
no faith in 'simples, though half the best medi-
could pick for himself in the woods and fields
| if ne liked. Persons who have unfortunately
now that ao3o>iy need starvc so long as there is
pie OF old shoe leather about At the siege
tells how Tie inha5tauls u: ate r firs Mo1 lG,
seed and rapcseed, and then cats. dogs rats and
mice When these humble friends Of man were
exhausted. they took to boiling the hides of
oxen and horses, and dcvourin. them and shoe
leather was in constant demand for dinner
tables Finally, they We're reduced to feeding
on nettles aad grass found between the stones
III churchyards, but at this latter point. of
course, many suecumbed TO starvation. 1t is
highly probable that civilized communities
consume without KNOWN. 1t things far more
objectionable than either nettIes or spiders
Has any statistician given us the probable
Quantities of animal fat which single person
ea.5 as butter In the course o. q twelvemonth,
or the amount of acetic acid aud yitrjol which
il found III the vinegar used to form an ordinary
salad? The dinner table is surrounded by mys-
teries. into which the bodest may be afraid of
prying too far
Some Famous Old NaiGs