The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-01-02
MANY STRANGE FOODS.
Birds Nests, Rats, Monkeys, Dogs, and Other
Things Considered DeIicacies.

found in the cluster of islands of that name
| of the principal exports of the islands. They
are held in the highest estimation by the
Chinese, as an article of food.
In Abyssinia, according to Bruce, they cut
| steaks from live COW, and eat the flesh warm
| with its natural heat.
In Siam the flesh Of crocodiles is sold regu-
| larly in the markets as human food. They
are eaten by the natives of Africa also Hero
| dotus says they are eaten by the Egyptians
near Elephantine, though worshiped and their
lives sacredly preserved by the inhabitants OF
other parts of Egypt.
The alligators of North and South America
were eaten by the aborigines, as they are still
| in some parts of these countries.
The general rule is that beasts of prey are
| not good for food, but there are striking ex-
| ceptions to the rule, and, among others, the
| tiger is sometimes eaten in India.
There seems to be no really good reason
why rats should not he eaten, and in the
country where they originally belonged
| China, they are commonly used for that pur-
pose; as, indeed, in Paris, during the siege
people were often glad to sit down to feast
| of this kind
The fox, though an object of sport, is sell
dom thought of in connection with the table,
| yet it is sometimes eaten by the Indians
| Several species of monkeys afford food for
the natives Of their habitats Travellers who
| have tried them declare them good.
The so-called king of beasts is usually asso-
| ciated with eating rather than being eaten
yet the lion is an article of food among the
natives of the countries he inhabits.
Dogs are eaten by the California Indians in
| times of Distress they do not use them for
this purpose in ordinary times because they
are too valuable to them for other purposes
| Marco Polo says the Tartars used dogs fo7
| food as did also the Mexicans the native dog,
or Alec.
The chase of the horse for the purposes of
| food was one of the chief occupations of man
| in Europe in the Neolithic Age The Tartars
eat horses as regular Diet and there are many
butcher shops in Paris and Vienna where only
| horsehesh is sold.
The wild ass is eaten in Abyssinia; and the
| flesh Of the sucking foal is esteemed by the
Laslio great dainty.
The milk of asses is also used in Abyssinia,
as is the milk of mares by the Tartars.
The tallest and awkwardest of all creatures,
the giraffe, when grown to maturity, is de-
Tended from all human teeth by its impene-
trable toughness, but when young it is es-
teemed highly as food.
The rhinoceros, the elephant, and the hip
popotamus, three most gigantic of creatures,
are all edible, and, indeed, greatly esteemed
as food.
The porcupine has repulsive exterior, but
n delicious fufa ypban r1rnrarit- ear1-a1
How strange it seems to eat moss Yet,
the Iceland moss found in the west and north
Oft that country, is excellent for eonsumptives,
and is used in Iceland in times of scarcity.
The Old World species of locust form arti-
cles of food with certain semi-ciyilized and
savage races, by whom they are considered as
delicaeies, or as part of ordinary diet.
There is q kind of clay eaten by certain de-
graded people in the Carolinas.
Grasshoppers are eaten by Indians
To most people in our country snails seem
to be strange food, though they have been
used for n long time in France, Italy, and
Spain. The helix pomatia, or the edible
snail, which is the kind that is used, has in
recent years been tarmed in this country and
sold in the New York markets.
The selection of the tongues of birds as an
article of diet seems to strange, yet the
tongues of song birds and the peacock were
great delicacies among the Romans.
Few of us, or, indeed, of any people, would
think of eating parrots, especially if anything
else could lie gotten, yet the Romans esteemed
them for the table.
Cranes are sometimes used for food
The American ostrich, of South America,
is eaten, both flesh and eggs. The eggs of
the African ostrich are used, and the flesh,
when the bird is young.
The albatross, largest and strongest of birds,
produces eggs that are edible.
There is weed in this country, much
cursed by all who have to do with the soil
and its products called in vulgar phrase
''pussly" No one in this country would
think of eating it, yet this foe of farmers and
gardeners is used as a salad in Europe and in
Egypt.
Acorns in the country are put to no use, un-
less it be for swine; but in Saxon times
''mast (" was valuable not only for herds, but
for man. In times of dearth aeorns were
boiled and eaten by the poor in England and
in France, rs one species is still in Southern
Europe.
Beech-mast has been used in time of famine
and distress.
Whales are no longer eaten by civilized
men, but in the 18th century their tongues
were held in great esteem In parts of Europe
Whales are now, with seals and walruses, the
chief food of many inhabitants of the arctic
regions. Of the narwhal the Greenlanders
eat flesh, fat and skin.
Isnglass is o strange food; it is q gelatine
prepared from the air bladders of different
kinds of fish from large rivers that flow into
the North and Caspian Seas.
The fat dOrmOuse was eaten by the Romans.
1t would seem strange to us to sit down to
q meal of the flesh of the camel; yet it is COM
monty used by the people whereit flourishes.
The armadiloes of South America are re-
pulsiye to look upon, but they are eaten by
the natives and Portuguese and Spaniards,
and, when roasted in the shell, are con-
sidered great delicacy.
The Opossum of America is passed by by
most people; yet it is considered one of the
best of foods by negroes, and, indeed, by
others who are accustomed to it.
The muskrat and TaccOon, well known to
all, are seldom thought of as food, yet gun
ner cannot please negro better than to shoot
either and make him present of the spoils-
The hedgehog of Europe is commonly eaten
by the peasantry of that country.
The jaguar of America is eaten by the ma
tives.
The kangaroo of Australia finds place at
the t;.oles of many in that country.
The polar bear sometimes affords food to
the people of the cold regions it inhabits.