The Portland daily press., 1892-09-24
ODD PARTICLES OF DIET.
Various Edible Things That Might Be
AtIsied to Mans Bill of Fare.

ODD PARTICLES OF DIET.
Various Edible Things That Might Be
Aa,ssd to Mans Bill 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 conscientiousiy 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 well believe
I it. The g Englishinan 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. SO 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 to table as piece
de resistance The primitive manner Of
cooking him supersedes the most costly
re6nements Of elaborate batteries de
cuisine. The elephants foot, or rather
the slice below the pastern, which is q
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. Shahespeare's British
hedgepig, like its cousin, the porcupine,
by the way, is shrouded in a plastic
tenement.ofs clay. Then he is laid to
temporary rest in bed of smoldering
cinders. When supposed to be done to
a turn, the dwarf pig is dug up, and
then the prickly 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 wehave the small green
kind Of the southern French swanlps
and the sedgy lakelets of Calabria.
After all, these foreigners are only. to
our domestic friends as the oysters of
Ostend or Marenness to the coarser of
the British qualities. Toads are not to
be tackled with impunity; the toad, like
the skunk, is overeharged with venom,
and he keeps the troops of his natural
enemies: at. bay by the instructive knowl
edge that heis an animated poison cata- :
putt. Nor is-the, snake often eaten in 2
England. Yet we dare to say that snake
meat might be preferable to starvation,
or possibly to the stone breaking yard
of a workhouse. 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- lis habit
udlly SOAtCA CU tkAO Alcot hPUdOoo
tables.
AS Tom Cringle says, when break
fasting off iguana among the Cuban
pirates, *he should never have distin-
guished the creature from chicken had
it not been that the bones are trife
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 10 it as last resort. Their chief
objection is that the meat tastes smusky.
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
eater, although Identification is difficult,
who has his haunt among the tree roots
near some favorite bathing place, and
on principles of reciprocity has weak
nessfot human beings.-London Satnr-.
!. day. Review. VI