Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-09-28
onn Articles or DIET.


r.r,oa. Edible Thi.es That MigAs -
Add~S to NAa's BiiI u fsrs.
We should. be sorry TO Be told Al
.h,,.t the training of the turtle. wnicn
f..ts.. rnysteriousiy; still less shouid ~
;uouirs into the carniyorous haoats On
The couy.- eel. which is said to DO ouEy
sor him. Tie rats that run loose ABOUT
he sewers ere decidedly to be avoane0'
but We have tasted the rats that naso
nm rio, in Isolated wheat ricks, and We
can cou,eienlsoasly aver that they are
both sweet aasl succulenf.
Their Hszsi, IL white IS that OF sWees-
bread ard has unquesslonSoiy noto
aayor. We understand that held nice
an. .+,I, more delicate, and considering
the simple and wholesome naoits "
their yirtusas lives we can wei oenese
il. The .Englishman in Paris spsAD
~ a saIrui served soon after the begin
,,;,s, of the siege Of the Commune, ana
the very memory Of It seems 70 nave
made his mouth water. Yet the Town
mice scarcely gave the experiment ialr
trial for they Lad been shared on the
bastions between the outer Douiesa1os
and the forsiiications. There Is no rea-
son why squirrel should not be excellent
for the squirrel would hop into the
..uc-pan ready favored after having
fatteue,l on nuts aud fragrant tonnage.
sonirrets are email AID shy and DIM
enl, IN catch. 50 that We do not near
mueh Of THEN even III gypsy CUISINE.
But the hedgehog figures frequently ~
those sylvan repasts, though he Is hardly
liz, enough, to be- sent to table as piece
he resistance. The primitive manner OF
cooking hir. ~u,a.rsedes the most costly
retiueuleuis uf elaborate batteries de
cuisine. The elephants foot. or rather
the slice below the pastern. which is a
famous daiii in eastern hunting camps,
is treated -. precisely similar principles,
which shows that the simplest cookery
IF all nations has much i'll common, Ike
their folklore. Shakespeares British
hedgepig, like its cousin. the porcupine,
by the way, is shrouded in a plastic
tenement OF clay. Then he is laid to
temporary rest in bed Of smoldering
einders. When supposed To be done to
u turn. the dwarf pig is dug up. and
then the priclly skin is detached with
the splitting Of the case Of clay. All the
generous juices, with their bouquet,
have been confined and transfused.
We need not say that the frog is more
palatable. although we do not think
that in England We have the small green
kind of the southern French swamps
and the sedsy lakelets of Calabria
After all, these foreigners are only to
our domestic friends as the oysters of
Ostend or Marenness to the coarser Of
he British qualities. Toads are not to
he tackled with IMMUNITY; the toad, like
the skunk, is overcharged with venom,
and he keeps the troops of his natural
enemies at bay by the instructive knowl
edge that he is an animated poison cata-
putt. Nor is the snake often eaten i'll
England. Yet we dare to say that snake
meat might be preferable to starvation,
or possibly to the stone breaking yard
of workhoIlse. We know at least thai
the iguana or great tree lizard of the
tropics-and he claims very close kin
bred with the deadly serpents-is habit
ually served at the most sumptuous
tables.
As Tom Cringle says, when break
fasting off iguana among the Cuban
pirates, he should never have distin
suished the creature from chicken had
it not been that the bones are trifie
big. Messrs. Edwards and Bates and
Wallace inform us that the canoe men
on the upper tributaries of the Amazon
can always make themselves happy with
alligator, although they only have re-
course to it as last resort. Their chief
objection is that the meat tastes musky.
Even hardened alligator eaters, however,
have qualms with regard to the cayman
caught near their villages, for there Is
generally more than one notorious man
cater, although identification is difficult,
who has his haunt among the tree roots
near some favorite bathing place, and
on principles of reciprocity has weak
ness for human beings. London Satur-
| day Review.