Evening star., 1886-07-17
WHAT PEOPLE EAT.
Strange Dishes Used In Different Parts
Of the World.

Of the World.
THE UNINyrTING FOOD OF THE ALASKA IN
DIANs-BREAD BAKED IN A SoUAw's HAT
CURIOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD AMONG THE
CHINESE, &c.
What people eat is q subject which would fiil
an encyclopaedia, but still the great variety in
diet In different parts OF the world is we'll illus
trated in few cases Of exhibits in what is
known as the section of food at the National
Museum. The labels IL printed one after an.
other would make strange bill-of-fare that
would astonish guest at a modern hotel. One
could order from such bill a cake of dried sea-
weeds from Alaska, prairie potatoes or bread.
root from the northwest coast, an edible birds
nest from Siam, smoked trepang or sea cucum.
ber from China and perhaps a soup made of a
sharks fin from China and a porpoise sausage
from, Philadelphia. He could have loaf OF
bread made by grinding the pods of Mesquite
He could have delicious looking baqs ar rolls ha oi
vegetable isinglass from Japan, and if his
meat was tough he could have cooked with it
an infusion of the leaves and fruit of the
Jamaica papaw tree, which, it is claimed,
makes the toughest steak tender. He could re-
gale himself on bread fruit and other delicious
native products of the South Sea Islands, and
have with his dessert cakes made by Alaska
Indians by drying and pressing blackberries.
Thus he could 60 on changing his order from
day to day, and each day finding something
new to delight or surprise his palate. In most
cases the surprise would exceed the delight.
The articles used for food by different peoples,
/ and especially the barbarous or semi-civiiized
nations, among whom caterers who search the
markets OF the world for delicacies are un.
known, seems to depend more upon the supply
than upon the tastes OF the people.
THE NORTHWEST COAST INDIANS
On the northwest coast, where nature is not
prodiga, the Indians subsist chiefly upon fish
ing and hunting. For vegetables they have
such things as dried and leathery looking sea-
cakes of spruce bark and other dry, tough and
uninviting roots and leaves Among the Nee
shenam Indians, crude salt. obtained from
museum is in the form of black Jumps The
Zunis prepare salt which is of a dirty color.
The oy the &c coast
sun. The Chinese like the dish and prepare it
on the Pacific coast of America for shipment
the i indians I'd ans Of St. FsuTs Island, Alaska,
Is chewed, just as white men, or a good many
of them use tobacco. Indians on the Co
Apaches favorite dish is made of clover
seed and Leaf, which are eaten raw or
after removing the stones and preserve them in
that way. Some of the Indians make dishes
out of rose pods and seeds: Berries of dark
color, known as cloud berries, are dried and
pressed into cakes by the northwest coast In
dians. The Neeshenam Indians, OF California,
like mushrooms, which they prepare by boil
ing. They also like truf1ies, which they find
underground or in thickets, and eat raw or
roasted. Grape roots are made into wine by
seeds are utilized by Indians to give variety to
their fare. The Oregon Indians eat the pond
lily seed capsules. Large water lily seeds. or
Eou-ka-ptn nuts, are eaten by Arkansas lu-
dianS in the iOrlA OF mush or baked In cakes.
The Pai-utes eat cakes made Of service berries.
The berries are sometimes pounded up with
GRAssHoPPERS,
which impart additional flavor to the cakes.
ThpSo Indians also licOrice roasted
and pounded, and very thorny gooseberries,
which have to be softened by scalding. The
Neeshenam Indians prepare horse chestnuts
by steaming them in pits. The manZinita ber-
rieS and mesquite beans form q staple arti-
Gle of food among many tribes of Indians
in the southwest. The berries and beans
ar or aov oner of
and seeds are used in the same way. Among
some Indians OF Arizona and California gourds
are ground into -four. In New Mexico, Ari-
zona and Utah the Indians eat dried melons
and pumpkins. The cactus fruit and seed EN-
ter into many .EHreparstions: Black looking
out Mexico, are made of cactus fruit. Prickly
pears are used extensively 10y California In
dians They are preserved by drying and their
seed are ground into meal The prickly pears
were introduced into California by the Catholic
fathers and are cultivated ny the Indians. A Loaf
or cake OF bread made by the NeZPerces Indians
from ground kause root, looks as tough and
inedible as an oak plank. Sunf1ower seeds are
ground into flour and made into bread by
L
leaves were originally used by Choctaws, and
were introduced by them as an article OF food
to the white settlers OF New Orleans. Various
kinds OF meats are used by the Indians. In
California acOrns are eaten. In seasons of scar
city the Indians get the acOrns that are stored
away in the trunks of trees by wood-peckers.
The Apaches make bread out of juniper berries,
and the Navaj joeS eat clay with their potatoes.
Some OF the California Indians eat pine cones.
In China very fine white -four is made OF
white beans.
FROM OTHER LANDS.
The Japanese make bread in thin, white
waters, very palatable looking. Among the
exhibits is a cake or brick of brick tea, such as
is used in Thibet and Siberia This Is made of
fallen tea leaves and stems, which are steamed
and pressed into bricks or cakes. There are
also shown the shells Of the snails eaten In Eng
land and Europe, and considered a great deli
cacy, sample of bOutargue, sort of caviare,
made by the Greeks from the roe of mullets,
shrimps salted and dried in the sun by the
Chinese, dried cephaiapods imported from
China and sold by Chinese merchants in San
Francisco, eggs preserved in brine by the Chi
nese, shark ins shredded and prepared for use
In soups reindeer meat dried and pounded by
the Nashope Indians, sun-dried turtle from
Jamaica, pemmican made OF buffalo meat
barnacle shells gathered for food by the north
west coast Indians, and variety OF other curl
articles of food used in different parts of the
world. One OF the most interesting articles
shown is u broken dish, upon which rests 8
lump of some material of q dirty white color.
This is labeled "tossil butter and dish" Jokers
always have some remarks to make about
bOarding-hOuseS when they see this. The Gu
riosity, however, did not come from a board
ing-house, but was dug up Out of an old cellar
by Virginiun. The butter which was on the
dish was turned by natures chemistry into
substance known as adipocere, from its resem-
biance both to fat and wax. Some years ago
barrel OF pork, changed TO adipocere, was tished
out of the Mississippi into which the barrel
had fallen from steamer. When the pork or
rather the adipOcere was found it retained the
shape of the barrel, although the slaves aud
hoops and barrel heads had rOtted away and
disappeared. In some cases human bodies,
after intermeEt, have been found transformed
into this waxy substance.