The Opelousas courier., 1899-02-04
THE MARKETIN HAVANA
PICTURESQUE COOKS. UNFAMILIAR
FRUITS AND STRANGE FISH SEEM

FRUITS AND STRANGE FISH SEEM
Crowded at Daybreak by Spanish, French.
Chinese and Colored Chefs of Both
Sexes-Fish Must Be Alive-The Oys-
tiers Grow on Trees.
The Havana market is crowded at
daybreak by Spanish, French, Chi
nese and colored cooks Of both sexes.
Some chefs, who affect the dignity of
q coat, are accompanied by their ap-
prenticos or s~cullions, who carry
baskets. Spanish cooks, who usually
are employed in second-class r%estaur-
ants, wear fat, red WOODEN caps, and
shuttle along slipshod with their
baskets slung over their shoulders,
az Nile oblique-eyed Chinese wear all
! i P,rh of queer headgear, loose trousers
lighthouses. Coloren women don
b~andafas, which bf3iHa a dash of color
to the aae ,e, as they waddle along
through the market, Meir fat sides
shaking with laughter, while they
boi%sterously greettheir friends as they
go from stall to stall, haggling with
the marketmen. Marketing is always
done by the cooks in Havana, because,
explains the New York Sun, employers
are aware that they can drive o better
bargain, even taking into account the
perquisities allowed them by trades
people.
Golden, juicy orange are symmetri-
cally piled on the stalls. flanked by
punches of luscious yellow and red
bananas, and nutbrown zapotoes which
outwardly resemble an Irish potato,
but contain a luscious pulp inside that
atones for their ugly exterior. Ma
meyes are a rich, dark red fruit, in
cased in understanding bark. Be-
sides these fruits there are roseapples
with the perfume Of the rose, fragrant
pineapples, pomegranates, fresh figs,
red or white guavas, star apples,
almonds. tamarinds, anones, mamon-
cillos, alligator pears and guanabanas.
The last have a prickly green rind and
a white pulp like cotton wool, with
black seeds, a most juicy and refresh
ing fruit, often used as a refreshing
drink. Cubans are fond OF cooling
drinks, made of almonds, guanabanas,
or tamarinds, and rarely take any.
other beverage for their luncheon.
Green cocoanuts contain O sweet
liquid like water, as we'll as a soft
white pulp. Other tropical fruits
which abound in Cuba are manages,
chirimoyas and ~ciruelas. which are
Juicy and sweet. Fish caught in
Cuban waters are especially nice, and
the pargo, a species of red snapper, is
very toothsome; as is the cherna,
which tastes like salmon. No Havana
cook will buy fish unless they are
alive, and the fish market with big
tanks full of fresh fish, with white
marble slabs and scales, IS very pic
turesque. The other sea food is also
excellent, although the shrimps, lob
sters, and mussels are somewhat
small. The oysters grow on the sub
merged branches of shrubs and trees
on the coast. These branches are
broken off and sold in the market, but
the Cuban oysters are small and in
ferior to the American. Terrapin and
turtles are very fine, and tortoises
have handsome shells, which bring q
good price in the market. Sea crabs
and land crabs are also good. The
latter grow to q large size, and their
bodies stand high from the ground on
their claws. Land crabs
burrow in holes, and their locomotion
is clumsy, sounding like that of a
drunken man. Cooks feedthese crabs
corr meal for several days before
they cook them, as this makes them
more palatable.
A ~favorite way of fattening poultry
in Cuba is to put them in barrels and
stuff them with walnuts and cornmeal
for several days before they are killed.
Just before Christmas turkeys are
driven through the streets in droves
of from forty to a hundred, from door
to door, for people to make their own
selection. This custom furnished the
Spanish poet, Salvador Rulda, with a
theme for a Christmas song. Guinea
hens, mountain rats and a variety of
small birds afford plenty Of game for
sportsmen in Cuba.
Beef is killed the day before it is
used, for it cannot be kept fresh longer
than one day on account of the exces-
sive heat.
When the cook returns from the
his presence is made known to
the household by squacking ducks,
cackling hens or squealing pigs, for
all such live stock are brought from
the market, and they e~xpostulate
on being carried around in
such close quarters. Ambiguous and
with soft eyes, utter a cooling,
plaintive note, as though with a sad
Of the tragic fate in store
for them.
American cookery is almost I'M
known in Cuba, and the favorite cui-
is French, Spanish, or Cuban.
Good cooks command high wages.
require two OF more servants,
according to their means, because
every branch of domestic service is
separate. A cook only attends to his
kitchen, a waitress to her table, and o
laundress to her department.