The Evening post. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1888-1889, 1888-11-27
All MnY,S STREET MARKET.
Queer Vegetables, with Odd Names, that
Cinnamon Delight In.
~, K,,I Itufld

Cinnamon Delight In.
New YOrk Worid.
Lee Fong Is the pioneer Chinese truck
gardener and farmer In America. His brother,
Lee Foo, IS his partner, and together they
cultivate a thriving little plantation OF two
acres in tho far-ofr and beautiful region Of
Astoria H. l.
Three mornings every week Lee Fong and
Lee Foo drive down to Chinatown from the
Ninety.second street ferry, porchcd high
on the seat Of nn old wagon whose ribs
and spokes still bear lingering traces OF
former beauty and pushing on relns
connected with bay horse that
is not given TO shying, curvetting or carocol-
Ing to any great extent. They supply Chinese
vegetables to the Chinese storekeepers In
Mott. Pcll and Bayard streets, aud to Mr..
Yuet Sing, who maintains the big grocery
under the joss house, ut No. 10 Chatham
square. These Chinese vegetables all come
from seeds that Foug aud Foo imported from
China last winter when they made up their
minds that farming was the proper thing ior
them TO try. They are called "ong qua" "la
qua" aud "bak toi.n The principal customer
Of the Lee Brothers Agricultural Company
(lmited), is n modest young gentleman
named All Moy, who does business on the
curbstouo on Mott street, in the heart OF the
Chinese quarter He is q coy youth aud
uOUtsl. iit 10 hlENlu W uuoMtl Hlhul HutE
tions about himself or his vegetables, but he
deals honestly with his customers aud gives
them fair weight No kind of food Is sold
among the Chinese by measure or by count.
Everything Is bought by weight.
An artist did some quiet marketing 10 order
to establish confidential relations With the pro-
prlotor whose chief characteristic was per
petua tendency to say "sik cent pound" to
every question that was asked him. Every
one OF his vegetables, including big invoice
| of sugar cane from Louisiana and some New
| York State apples, was held ut that figure.
| He weighed everything he sold on quaint,
| old-fashloned scale, whose rod was mahogany,
very old and much polished by long friction.
The chances are that with it Moy's ancestors
| weighed out food to 500 Chow citizens long be-
| forethe United States were heard Of. The weight
! Is clumsy hunk OF rusty iron, and the di-
visions of weight are indicated along the
| rod by hundreds OF brass nails, which arc
driven so skilfully that the rod is not cracked
anywhere. The vegetables sold by All Moy
| attract large crowds of Cinnamon every morn
ing after Lee Fong has driven away. The
greatest Of all these is ong qua, which Is a
squash with odd convolutions, and Of weird,
graysh green coloring. There Is bloom , on y
very tender. "FIim good to cook,h ex-
planned All Moy. "Cook, boil, belly nice to
eat an good for pickle"
La qua and cha qua are distant relatives OF
| ong qua. Cha qua is cucumber covered
with furry spines and about four times as big
as our ordinary gherkins. 1t is boiled and
eaten like squash or picked with spices La
qua is a small squash much used for the
making of sweetmeats. 1t is candied and put
away dry in boxes like candied ginger. Bak
toi is an odd sort of vegetable. To an Ameri.
can IT is n combination OF cabbage, celery and
caulinower. All Moy says: "You cook him
fry little OF boil" which are probably as
good as any other ways Of serving bak toi
The heart OF the vegetable is like the heart OF
the cauliiower. Its stalks are white aud re-
semble celery stalks, and at the top they
broaden out into very fair imitation OF 6
cabbage leaf
There is another variety Of toi known al
gal toi This Is like the other, with the ex
ception that its stalks are green. 1t is used fol
boiling, cabbage fashion, and is also put II
soup like okra. The sugar cane, called gan
chiah, is fine thing for a man to eat whC
wants to have luck. Fan-tan players are very
fond OF it. The cane may be eaten raw, but 4
is best picked and fried in lard. All Of thu
distinctly Chinese vegetables have the peculiar
tastes that all Chinese foods show wheI
brought into contact with the American
palate. They are usually bought up ant
cooked before they have time to decay.