Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-06-01
GROWING IN FAVOR.
ARE WE BECOMING A NATION
OF FROG-EATERS7

ARE WE BECOMING A NATION
OF FROG-EATERS7
They are Now Regarded as Delcacy by all
Epicures-They Date Their Popularity from
the Philadelphia CentenniaI-AlI First.CIass
Caterers Now Serve Them-The Sources Of
Supply.
Philadelphia Times.
Strange how the frog has leaped into
gastronomic favor. Prior to the Cen
tennial Exposition, twenty-four years
ago, Americans, as rule, looked upon
the croaking batrachians with horror
and classified them with snakes and
snails in the list of repellent edibles.
Up to that period, inheriting the pref
udices of our British ancestors, we
scornfully spoke of the French as
frog eaters" putting them in the
same gustatory classification in this
one respect with the rat-eating China
man. But the Philadelphia centen-
NAL and the Chicago worlds fair
drove a heap of nonsense out OF the
American head. They made us all
more cosmopolitan. They taught us
many things; taught us changes in
architecture, changes in dress, changes
in household decoration, and, above
all, changes in our methods of eating
And the Philadelphia international
show first brought the frog, through
Gallic influence, into popular Ameri-
can favor. The little, but swell Belle
vue was not in existence in those days,
but if it had been frogs would have
figured in hidden way on its bill of
fare. To-day it is only one OF many
hostelries that can scarcely supply the
demand for the succulent legs OF the
developed tadpole. The Bellevue
alone now finds thirty dozen of the
sweet-tasting batrachians scarcely suf-
ficient to supply the daily demands of
its patrons, and it is not unusual for
minor establishments to be unable to
serve their customers with the nimble
hind legs of the croakers of the
marshes. The Continental hotel, al
though it is mainly managed OH the
American plan of eating what is pre-
sented to you AMI paying whether you
eat or not, disposes of fifteen dozen
frogs every day, barring Sundays.
So universal and constant is the de-
mand for this recent popular addition
to the food.list OF America that cater
ers have found it necessary, in order to
be provided with supply of frog legs
from one years end to the other, to
pursue the nimble reptilian greenback
from almost the Atlantic to the Pa
cific. When cold weather comes upon
him and puts film of ice over the
pools into which he plunks his body
on the approach of stranger. the
frog buries himself in the mud be.
meath the marsh, and there he hiber-
mates until the approach OF warmer
weather. Watching these conditions,
the hunter pursues him as he does the
reedbird, killing the latter as bobo-
link in the South during the spring |;
as rice bird in the estuaries of the
Potomac during the late summer, and
as reedbrd when the frost swells the
milk in the wild grain which -four
ishes in the marshes of the Delaware.
At the present time the frogs, which
make mouths water in Philadelphia,
come from Norfolk, TO which point
their captors bring them from the
swamp lands which are fed by the es-
tuaries of the James and York rivers.
When early snow ilecks the earth in
that favored region, frogs disappear
and then the hunters search for them
in the swamps of Georgia and even
further south and west. This is the
source of supply until early spring,
and now the men and women OF "the
Neck"-that fiat and marshy strip of
land which forms the southern end of
the city of Philadelphia-go forth
armed with various means of capture
and earn many an honest dollar by
supplying frogs to the restaurants of
Philadelphia and New York. With
the approach of summer the earth of
frozen Canada becomes moist and
loose, and from its crevices emerge in
vigorous croakiness, with fat, yellow
bellies, richly colored green backs and
thick legs, the largest frogs known in
the world and which command the
highest price in its markets. These
form the chosen source OF supply until
Jack Frost again puts in an appear
ance, and once more the caterer casts
a longing eye toward the Norfolk
marshes.
Thus runs the story year in and
year out.
Why not raise frogs now that they
have become of value?
Well, that is about as easy an under
taking as the propagation of terrapin.
A well-known dealer in the now popu-
lar batrachians was questioned upon
this subject. Said he: Frog culture
is still in its tadpole state and prom.
ises to remain there. Frogs breed just
like fish. 1t is easy to get the spawn
and to hatch it. The hatchings, of
course, are tadpoles; a minute, globu.
lar mass, with vibrating tail. These
little fellows at first are half transpa-
rent, but rapidly darken in color and