Morning journal and courier., 1888-06-02
Some eff tho Odd Things That are Eater
in Various Countries.

Some eff the Odd Things That are Eaten
in Various Countries.
From the Philadelphia Timesl
Cookery, though universal. is by no means
the same the world over, and study of the
| is decidedly interesting. Our own table
| would present to the Dyak as curious a
spectacle as his feast would be to US, and
we could never accustem our tastes to the
bill of fare which the Celestial daily con-
suits.
Shark fms dried are sold in every Chinese
meat shop. They are the fms of the white
shark, and the best bring nearly four dollars
pound. When raw this eatable resembles
whalebone, but boiling it reduces it to a
glutinous substance which the Celestial con-
siders delicacy. Rich China men revel in
dishes of birdnest soup, which is a luxury
the poor cannot enJey. The material before
cooking resembles gravel more than anything
vegetable, and tastes little like gum arabic.
The birds form it by Inasticating q sort of
seaweed, and the nest, when finished, is trans
parent and disso1yes readily. Cinnamon OBJ
tain the luxury from Java, and, will never
learn that they could get this seaweed itself,
and make their own birdnest soup at cost in
finitesimal compared to the cost of the article
they import.
The Samoans have dish called "palolo,"
which rises from the bottom of the sea to
the surface. It is composed of countless
thousands of worMs allied to the Nereid fam
lily. They vary in length from an inch to a
yard and exhibit every conceivable color as
they wiggle and twist on the waves. Whole
villages of Samoans go out in boats to col
lect this native dainty, and the feast that
follows is one of the great festivities.
sPalelo' is wrapped in bread-fruit leaves
and cooked in ovens. It makes its appear
ance from the sea 30 regularly that the in
habitants of the Figi group call October and
November little and great palolo, it being
first seen during the first named month, but
reaches its plentitude in November.
Among the African tribes the Bakalia are
fond of q dish which they style niavi. It is
neither fowl, fish nor beast, but is prepared
from the seeds of the njavi, which is one of
the largest trees in the country. No Ameri-
can wo1ld accept second invitation to dine
on njavi, the flavor of which is said to resen
BILE scorched lard. The Bakalia even do not
set very high value on this dish. They are
great meal eaters, and for savages, are the
cleanliest of cooks.
Ostrich eggs form one of the staple articles
of Bushman diet. He is not particular how
they are served, and the age of the egg is
questioned, Roasted in the fires of the
kraal, OF eaten raw, as they often ere, they
The bird itself is eaten as well as its produce,
and some parts of it are said by travellers to
form a dish fit to be set before q king.
Reade in his Savage Africa" says that
Bushman can enjoy anything, from
roasted elephant foot to q grilled serpent,
which latter is one of the queer dishes among
them.
Speaking of elephants foot takes us natur-
ally to the Kaffirs, where this dish is the
crowning triumph of their bill of fare. Night
is the time generally selected by the Kaffr
for the enjoyment of this prime luxury.
with great gusto, but the feet are esteemed
the delicacies of the feast. A hole is dug in
the ground and fire made on the bottom
It is allowed to burn down to heap of Goals,
which are scraped out by the cooks. When
the oven has been freed from embers the
foot is rolled into it and covered with twigs
and green leaves. After this the hot embers
are replaced and roaring fire started over
the heap. In this manner the foot is baked,
and when tho fire has burned low the con-
tents of the oven are lifted out by several
men and the feast begins. Travellers who
have Toasted with the Kafirs on occasions of
this kind have paid glowing compliments to
their cookery. The natives are said to love
elephant foot next to the marrow taken from
the leg homes of the giraffe or Gland, but the
preparation of this food does not afford the
enjoyment which is associated with the dish
we have described.
The Kaf6rs are fsnd Of locusts also. They
eat them whole, just a. most civilized people
devour shrimps. They have, too, a certain
fendness for lions flesh, about the toughest
dish anyone can sit down to. The late Ger
don Cumming, who was familiar with the
secrets of the Kafir Kitchen, used to say
that "a very good idea of the meat
which is usually obtained in Kafirland
nay be gained by taking the very worst part
of the toughest by ten and subtracting the
gravy"
I know eff no people who get oysters from
trees but the Mandigoes. through whose
country flow the Senegal and Gambia rivers
The bivalves are taken fron the branches,
to which they attach themselves during high
tide. Here is Mandigc bill of fare which
Beade, the explorer, leaves on record for the
amusement of the curious: "Then followed"
he says, ''gazelle outlets, la papillote; two
small monkeys served cross-legged and with
liver sauce on toast; stewed iguana, which
was much admired; a dish of roasted eroco-
dile's eggs; some slices of smoked elephant
from the interier); few agreeable plates of
fried locusts, land crabs and other crustacea;
the breasts of mermaid. or manatee, the
grand bonnie beuche of the repast some boil
ed alligator and some hippopotamus steaks. "
While this dinner does not equal in course
some of the elaborate feasts of civilized
lands, certainly no one will say that it lacked
variety.
Letus seeds form one of the most common
dishes known to the Barri of Central Africa.
The pods when gathered are bored and
strung on reeds and hung in the sun for dry
ing, before they go to the table. Along the
upper Nile another wing Of the Barri tribe
bleed their cattle monthly and cook the bleod
with their Hour and meal. They esteem this
q luxury and the dish is eaten with great
relish.
There are thousands OF queer dishes among
the tables of the world Captain HALL. the
on raw blubber to keep his health amid
the cold Of the northern winters, and he has