Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-23
THE STRANGE FOODS
Which Tickle the Palates of People
the World Over.
sEAwEED, ,LOCUSTs AND ELEPHANT
And other Odd Articles Of Diet Devoured
With Relish.
SOME CURIOUS ENGLISH DELICAcIEs


h To the new number of the Scottish Re-
uie,o Mr. A. J. II. Crespi contributes an in
teresting article upon strange foods. "Sea-
weed, says DR.. Crespi, "is eaten on the
coasts of Scotland and ireland in vast
quantities, and, though unpalatable and
flavorless, is at times the chief food of some
of the poorest. When dry it is richer
than oatmeal or Indian corn in nitrogenous
constituents. and takes rank among the
most nutritious of vegetable foods. Laver
| is an exception to the low estimation in
which seaweed is held, and is favorite
condiment. We have known it eaten
in large quantities in North Devon, and
with much relish. To prepare seaweed for
the table it should be stepped in water to
get rig of the salt with which it is impreg-
mated, and a little carbonate of soda re-
moves the bitter taste, which to some pal
ates is most disagreeable. 1t should then
be stewed in milk or water till mucilagi-
nous, and is best favored with vinegar or
pepper. Fungi are almost everywhere
largely eaten, though in England less at
tention is paid to them than they deserve,
and few kinds appear at table. A curious
error is to suppose that fungi are eatable
| and toadstools poisonous; no such line Of
demarcation exists, nor, strictly speaking,
has the name toadstool any precise meaning.
Very many fungi are edible. and the COM
mon agaric usually eaten IN England is not
the most palatsble and wholesome. Few
| foods are more savory, and none are greater
fn khnn oEo1 finn 40
souls of vegetarians yearn for them.
cANNIBAL1sM DYING OUT.
The most repulsive food which human be.
| ings could eat is man. Fortunately, canni-
balism, although once very general. is now
mainly confined to the most degraded tribes
| of the South Sea Islands, and to some dis
tricts of Australia and Central Africa. Lind
| say, of Pitscottie, relates that man, his
| vile and family were burned to death on the
east coast OF Scotland for eating children
whom they had stolen; and during the
French Revolution the heart of the unfor-
tunate Princess Lamballe was actually torn
| out of her body by one of the yelling savages
near, taken to a restaurant and there cooked
aud eaten. Human flesh is said not to be
unpalatable;S and this is confirmed by the
horrible narrative given by Lindsay; he
mentions that as one of the girls was being
fore chide We with me, as if / had committed
an unworthy act? Give me credence and
trow me, il ye had experience OF eating men
and women's flesh ye would think 1t so de-
licious that ye would never forbear it again"
The Tannese of our own day distribute
human flesh in little bits to their friends as
delicious morsels, and say that the flesh of
black man is preferable to that of white
one, for the latter tastes salt; other csnnibsls
hold the same.
LIONS AND ELEPHANTS.
The lion is eaten by some African races,
although its flesh is in small favor wi tn
them. while the Zulus find carrion so much
! to their liking that, according to DR.. Colenso,
they apply to food tee ming with large colo
nies of grubs the comprehensive word
"uborni," which signifies in their uncouth
jargon great happiness" David Living
ston tells us that the aboriginal Australians
and the Hottentots prefer the intestines of
animals, and he adds that sit is curious
that this is the Fart which wild animals
always begin with, and that 1t is the first
choice 4f our mon The -hippopotamus Ia
another favorite meat of the Africans, when
they catch it. Its flesh, when young,
is tender and palatable, but it be-
comes very coarse and unpleasant
with advancing years. The Abyssini-
ans find the rhinoceros much to their liking;
80 they do the elephant, which is also eaten
in sumatra. DR.. Livingstone speaks of
elephant foot as excellent. "We had the
foot cooked for breakfast, and found it
delicious. 1t is a whitish mass, slightly
gelatinous and sweet, like marrow. A long
march to prevent biliousness is wise pre-
caution after a feast on elephants foot.
Elephants tongue and trunk are also good,
and, after long slmmering, much resembles
the humps of buffalo and the tongue of an
OK; but all the other meat is tough, and,
from its peculiar favor, only to be eaten by
hungry man." The elephants eaten dur
ing the siege of Paris were said to be great
success, and the liver was pronounced finer
than that of any goose or duck.
LocUsTs AND WILD HONEY.
The people of Zanzibar should stand high
for the comprehensive character of their cui-
sine. Among other delicacies are small
monkey and fruit-eating bat. Locusts are
relished by the Bedawin of Mesopotamla
and some other Eastern tribes; they are
placed on strings and eaten on journeys with
bitter and unleavened bread. The Hebrews,
who were prohibited eating many kinds of
food which our larger experience teaches us
are palatable and wholesome, as well as
some that we do not venture to touch, were
permitted to have their fill of locusts. The
locust Is an article OF Olet 10 tnlS Qay, DuG
only of the very poor; it is thrown into boil
ing water, and eaten with salt. To live ON
locusts and wild honey conveys more ac-
curate picture of extreme poverty and fru-
gality to a traveller in the East than to any
one else. Locusts, however, are not always
cooked; sometimes they are eaten fresh.
They are said to have strong vegetable
taste; the flavor largely depending, as might
be expected, on the plants on which they
have been feeding. DR.. Livingston, who
showed his common sense by not being
fastidious. considered them palatable when
roasted.
Some of the savage tribes of South
America are accused of eating everything
that by any possibility will support human
life Humboldt saw children draw enor.
nous centipedes from their holes and crunch
them between their teeth, but insects and
their larve are favorite foods in many parts
of the world.
CATERPILLAR DELICACY.
In the West Indies a large caterpillar,
found on the palm tree, is reckoned great
delicscy-and why not let us axis? To our
civilized taste, however, carrion and bad
eggs seem food which no human being could
relish. Not SO; the Chinese prefer stale to
fresh eggs, and the Pariahs of Hindoostan
fight greedily with the dogs and jackals for
putrid carrion. They would relish the