Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-23
ENGLISH VEGETARTANS.
EATiNc-HoUSES IN LONDON WHERE
NO ANIMAL FOOD is SERVED.

Well-CoOked Food and Plenty of 1t For
Thirty Cents Day--Yegetarians Work
ing Vigorously Among London's Poor
Bright Men who Believe in the Fad.
have visited nearly all the one
dozen vegetarian restaurants that
flourish in London, writes an Ameri-
can correspondent from the British
capital, and have made the interest
ing discovery that by living at these
places man can g~t well-cooked food,
and plenty of it, for about thirty cents
day.
Though owned by different people,
those restaurants are run on one gem
eral plan and are earning handsome
incomes. There are three floors. On
the first is the main dining room, or
coffee room, as it is called, where
meals are served la carte at oil hours
of the day; on the second floor is the
smoking and reading room, where
patrons can have access to all the
morning papers and can play chess if
they wish, and on the third floor is
the twelve-cent table d'hote dinner.
which is served every day from - to
3 o'clock.
At the lunch hour the coffee room
on the first floor of the restaurant in
Queen street, which is down in the
"city," is filed with tidy and we'll
dressed crowd of men and women,
though in proportion to the men the
women are about as one to ten. On
this floor one often sees silk hats and
frock coats, though land this always
seems strange to an American) most
of the men retain their hats at table.
even when there are women in the
room. The prices on this floor are
somewhat higher than on the floors
above, and the service is slightly bet
ter. There is white sugar on the
table instead of brown, and the spoons
and forks-there are no knives-are
of German silver instead of pewter.
which is used on the upper floor.
Rolls are served in this room instead
of chunks of bread, but I could not
see that the soups and savory dishes,
sweets, etc., were any better than
those upstairs.
A plate of very good soup, either
pea, macaroni or Scotch broth, is
served for six cents, though the wait
ress assured me there was no meat
stock in it; but when asked what took
the place of the stock she was unable
to say. For ten cents one could get a
lentil outlet, which was very appetiz-
ing and looked like meat croauette.
The potato stew was even better than
the outlet, and was served with butter
beans for ten cents. There were var
ious other "savory dishes" which is
the vegetarian's name for what meat
eaters would call an entree, at from
four to ten cents each. Plain vege-
tables were four cents and ten cents a
plate. though the savory dishes were
80 very filling that plain vegetables to
accompany them were not so much in
demand. The sweets were, of course,
like those served in ordinary restaur-
ants.
To see the twelve-cent table d'hote
dinner in full swing one should go to
the restaurant in Poultney, which is at
the beginning of Cheapside, between
l and 2 o'clock on any day except Sat
urday.
In the large bare-looking room on
the top floor are about q dozen long,
narrow tables. At these tables sit
perhaps 100 men, and it is doubtful
that if in any other dining room in the
city of London can be found more di-
verse types Of humanity eating to-
gether. The majority, of course, are
rather seedy, but here and There one
sees well-dressed prosperous-lo s-looking
man, and fine intellectual faces are not
uncommon. The man with frayed
cuffs and dirty tinger-nails and vest
minus a button or two sits besides the
dapper-looking law clerk. and neither
pays any attention to the other. The
chances are that they have both come
here for the same purpose-economy;
for plentiful and well-cooked dinner
for twelve cents is consideration to
many who would be quite indifferent
to the ethical side of vegetarianism.
The cashier assured me, however, that
many of the customers were strict veg
etarians, who wished to encourage the
movement in every possible way.
On each table is a large bowl of
brown sugar and another of salt, from
which the customers help themselves
at discretion. "A fork and4wo pewter
spoons are laid beside each plate, but
as vegetables do not require to be cut,
there are no knives on any of the
tables. The tablecloths are, of course,
brown linen and scrupulously clean,
but if one is so fastidious as to require
napkin it is necessary to hand over
cent for it's use. Though I looked
carefully, 1 saw only two men in the
whole room who had evidently thought
it necessary to indulge themselves in
this luxury. On leaving 1 offered the
waitress twelve cents, as she had
courteously answered all my ques-
tions, but she declined the tip, saying
they were not allowed to accept gratu-
tiles under any circumstances.
Between and 7 o'clock tea is served
on the first floor, or, if desired, it can
be had in the smoking room on the