Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-10-08
ODD ARTICLES OF DIET.
Various Edible Things That Might Be
Added TO Mans Bill of Fare.

Added TO Mans Biii of Fare.
We should be sorry to be told all
about the training of the turtle, which
fattens mysteriously; still less should we
inquire into the carnivorous habits Of
the conger eel, which is said to do duty
for him The rats that run loose about
the sewers are decidedly to be avoided,
but we have tasted the rats that have
run riot in isolated wheat ricks, and we
can conscientiously aver that they are
both sweet and succulent.
Their flesh is white as that of sweet
bread and has unquestionably more
flavor. We understand that field mice
are still more delicate, and considering
the simple and wholesome habits Of
their virtuous lives we can we'll believe
it. The "Englishman in Paris" speaks
of salmi served soon after the begin
ming of the siege of the Commune, and
the very memory of it seems to have
made his mouth water. Yet the town
mice scarcely gave the experiment fair
trial, for they had been shared on the
bastions between the outer boulevards
and the Notifications. There is no rea-
son why squirrel should not be excellent
for the squirrel would hop into the
saucepan ready favored after having
fattened ON nuts and fragrant foliage.
Squirrels are small and shy and diff
cult to catch, 80 that we do not hear
much of them even in gypsy cuisine.
But the hedgehog figures frequently at
those sylvan repasts, though he is hardly
big enough TO be sent 10 table as piece
de resistance. The primitive manner of
cooking him supersedes the most costly
refnements Of elaborate batteries de
cuisine. The elephants foot, or rather
the slice below the pastern, which is a
| famous dainty in eastern hunting camps,
is treated on precisely similar principles,
which shows that the simplest cookery
of all nations has much in common, like
their folklore. Shakespeare British
hedgepig, like its cousin, the porcupine
by the way, is shrouded in a plastic
tenement Of clay. Then he is laid tC
temporary rest in a bed Of smoldering
cinders. When supposed to be done K
a turn, the dwarf pig is dug up, and
then the prickly skin is detached will
the splitting Of the case Of clay. All th'
generous juices, with their bouquet
have been confined and transfused.
We need not say that the frog is more
palatable, although we do not thinl
that in England we have the small greer
kind of the southern French Swamp
and the sedgy lakelets of Calabria
After all, these foreigners are only T.
our domestic friends as the oysters o
Ostend or Marenness to the coarser o
the British qualities. Toads are not T.
be tackled with IMMUNITY; the toad, lik
the skunk, is overcharged with venom
and he keeps the troops Of his natura
enemies at bay by the instructive knowl
edge that he is an animated poison cata
putt. Nor is the snake often eaten il
England. Yet we dare to say that snak
meat might be preferable TO starvation
OF possibly 10 the stone breaking var
of a workhouse. We know at least tina
the iguana or great tree lizard of tn
tropics-and he claims very close kir
bred with the deadly serpents-is habit
ually served at the most SUMPTION
tables.
As Tom Cringle says, when breal
fasting off iguana among the Cuba
pirates, he should never have distir
guished the creature from chicken ha
it not been that the bones are a trifi
big. Messrs. Edwards and Bates an
Wallace inform us that the canoe me
on the upper tributaries Of the Amaze
can always make themselves happy wit
alligator, although they only have r.
course 10 it as "a last resort. Their chic
objection is that the meat tastes musk,
Even hardened alligator eaters, howeve
have qualms with regard TO the cayma
caught near their villages, for there
generally more than one notorious ma
eater, although Identification is difficult
who has his haunt among the tree ROO
near some favorite bathing place, an
on principles Of reciprocity has veal
ness for human beings.-London Satu
day Review