The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-31
LEARNING TO EAT pol.
Acquiring q Taste for tho National Dainty
of the Sandwich Islands.

but are told it is to be eaten with the
fingers.
why, no one could take that stuff
up in their fingers!' you gasp.
80, yes, just see," and into a com
panion calabash your instructor dips
two fingers, and with a tvvirl. only ac.
quired by long practice, withdraws
them loaded with the compound, which
is at once transferred to his mouth and
swallowed, his countenance assuming
meantime an expression of beatified
epicureanism. You do not know what
expression may have taken its abode
upon your visage, but you know your
principal sensation is one Of simon
pure horror.
Now, you try it," says Epicurus.
Tentatively you thrust one finger into
the mess and gather up a minute dose
of the delectabl Wand. AS you raise
it toward your mouth your nose takes
cognizance of a sour smell that har-
monizes perfectly with the appearance
Of the poi. You close your eyes, and,
mentally breathing forth a devout
ejaculation, open your mouth and suck
the poi from your fingers. BY a sublime
effort of viii You keep your lips closed
over the mouthful, while your conpan-
ion looks on interestedlv. evidently ex-
pecting to hear your palate scream with
delight. Meanwhile your imagination
is working with lightning speed. The
poi is cold and clammy. The poi tastes
like stale yeast; it stings your tongue.
and an unutterable disgust possesses
your soul. You are sure you are going
to choke, though you know you dare
not, and you fguratively take yourself
by the throat and force yourself to
swallow the compound. You can trace
its progress through the esophagus by
the Mortified shudder that organ gives
as the mouthful passes along it; you
can hear the Will in your stomach
Shrek as the frog-lilSe lump makes its
appearance among b I'm, and you think
You are going to die then and there.
Don't you like it?" your hear some one
say. You struggle back to conscious
ness and murmur your fear that you
are not educated to such a high point
Of taste.
80, never mind" is the consoling
reply. You'll be so fond of it in a day
or two you can't keep house without it. y
You know better than that, but you
offer no contradiction to the assertion.
But if you would leave the islands
with conscience untainted by poi you
must hold to your resolution to alb
stain from tasting the stuff again. This
will be difficult to do. You will see all
your acquaintance dipping into their
calabashes and hear them eXpatiating
on the delights of poi, and you begin
TO aspire to taste again. You think
about it by day and by night, and at
last you venture. You take another
step along the downward pathway
As the poet has so touchirgly described:
You first endure, then pity, then en-
brace" the calab
Poi is a dish that must long remain
peculiar to the Hawaiian islands-al-
ways, in fact, unless some means are
contrived for preserving taro SO that it
will stand export. Poi is made from
taro, a root resembling the turnip. 1t
grows in the water, with a large, hand
some, green leaf, and it is almost
tasteless. There is also an upland
taro cultivated in the mountains by
the natives which has a more de-
cided taste, and which, as ! learned
throat like horseradish. The low taro
is the chief vegeta bic in the island. and
in early days constituted the natives
principal crop. When cooked it as
sumes a mottled gray and white ap-
pearance very like the lava rock that
abounds every where in the islands. The
process of manufacturing the poi is
quite lengthy one. A great hole is
dug in the ground, and into this the
taro roots are placed around piles of
hot stones. The earth is then heaped
over the place and the taro left to
steam When the taro is thoroughly
cooked, which operation often takes
several hours, the roots are dug out
again, peeled, and put into huge stone
receptacle, in which they are pounded
to pulp. This work is performed by
the men. 1t is an arduous task, and
on hot day (and nearly all days are
hot on the islands) the pounding of poi
is a scene over which it is desira Bile TO
draw a veil. The poi FOUNDER not only
earns his bread by the sweat of his
brow. but mikes it as well largely with
that fluid.
The ''poi of commerce. is now made
by machinery. The natives, how
ever, still make their own. When
the mass is thoroughly beaten and
proper consistency, about like good
thick paste, strained through a coarse
cloth, and set away for two or three
days, until it begins to ferment, when
ii is ready to be eaten. II then tastes
4 little like buttermillz, and is very nu-
tritious and wholesome. The natives
eat it by the gallon. Give the average
native = big pot of poi. half a dozen
raw fish, and Z bottle of gin and vou
may have the kingdom and the rest of
the earth as we'll lie viii SQUAT uoon
the ground. break the head of one of
the fish, take a bite from its raw side.
pack it in mouthful.of poi, and wash
the whole CUwn with a swallow of gin.
and repeat the process until all have
SinTularly enough. revolving as this
sounds. the actual scene is far from be-
ing disgusting. l have watched a dozen
natives feeding thus. ali dipping poi
from the same Gala bash. and seen less
dainty and cleanly table manners in
many backwoois hotel in the states.
Why should we swallow a raw oyster
without winkinr and shivcr at the
thought of raw fish is one of the ynvs-
teries OF aesthetics few can solve.-San
Francisco Call.