Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-07-05
A JAPANESE DINNER.
HOW THE DIsTAsTEFuL FOOD is
SERVED AND EATEN.

To an American given to stiff joints
and corpulency Japanese dinner is a
tedious experience, especially when
he's used to business lunches and the
like. But 1t Is worth trial and dis
comfiture If one is fortunate enough
to be the guest of a rich man. for In
Japan hospitality is one of the cardinal
virtues.
Western customs and usages have
found their way into many homes of
the wealthy, whose dinners and
lunches are the counterpart of those
with which we are all familiar. But
real Japanese dinner. including chop
sticks, lacquer trays and tiny cups, Is
thing never to be forgotten.
Japanese houses are made up of slid
ing screens instead of our solid parti-
tons and In summer are all leftopen, so
that, seated at dinner, one looks out
over the gardens, seeing the lights of
the city in the distance, and the scent
of a thousand flowers blows in with
every breath of air.
The guests remove their shoes on
entering the house and, except when
provided with q pair of cotton over
shoes, must spend the evening in
stocking feet unless happily the host
has an extra pair. ne wife of Jap
anese gentleman does not preside at
his table unless there are ladies In the
party, but appears with the tea and
sweetmeats, which always precede a
dinner, as do our cocktails and sherry,
etc. She merely greets the guests and
are said.
SIlken cushions are scattered about
the floor and the guests are arranged
according TO rank, for the Japanese
are, of course, great sticklers for form
| and ceremony. Little tables, some six
inches high, are placed before each one
and barefooted waiting maids in grace
full and prettily tinted kimonos bring
in lacquer trays with several tiny COW
cred bowls.
Before leaving the trays on the
tables they set them on the floor, and,
dropping on their knees, make their
best bow, touching their foreheads to
the floor. Chopsticks take the place
Of knives and forks; but, unlike our
weapons of attack, are made of wood.
They are never used twice. unless fam
lily heirlooms. when they are Of carved
ivory of the most exquisite workman
ship, as are also the lacquer trays,
bowls and cups.
The host sets an example by remov-
ing the covers from the tiny bowls, and
the guest doing likewise, finds an as
sortment of food quite new and gen
orally most distasteful. Mastering up
much skill one attempts getting the
food on chopsticks from the tables to
ones mouth The first few times most
of it falls on the floor or on ones lap.
The wretched sticks wabble and cross
each other as If focused. When al
most desperate, the good host is apt
to come to the rescue by suggesting
lifting the bowls, and, with the aid Of a
chopstick. shoveling the food in, as
one would potatoes into barrel.
In each course there are half dozen
| dishes, and the host tells what they
are First, suimono, a bean soup;
kuchitori. chestnuts boiled and crushed
into a mush: kamaboko, FISH picked
| fine and rolled into little balls and bak-
ed; sashimi, raw fish cut into thin
| slices and covered with ice. This is
| dipped into rich sauce called soy, and
is really very good Little cups of
warm sake, the native brandy made of
rice, are served with each course. Nap
kins and bread are unknown guam
| titles.
The second course is a small fish
boiled whole. One has a chance here
to get in some fine play with the chop
sticks-umani, bits of fowl boiled with
! potatoes or lotus roots, salad of on
ions, peas and string beans, with few
leaves of lettuce; sunomono sea snails
served with eggplant mashed, and cha
man mushi. a thick soup made of fish
and vegetables, with mushrooms for a
relish.
The third course Is a curry of rice
and picked vegetables, and for fourth
and final course you have soho, sort
| of buckwheat yermiceili served with
| soy and a sweet liquor called mirin,
shiruko, rice cakes, seaweed and con-
fectionery of all sorts, which are very
sweet and tasteless.
During the dinner each guest rises
and proposes the health of the host and
one other guest until the whole party is
disposed Of This custom Is rather
hard on the guests, for sake is fiery
stuff and goes to ones head more
| quickly than our own brandy. To
make matters worse. after one has
drunk the health of all the company it
is customary to drink the health of the
mattresses. who bow their foreheads to
| the floor In acknowledgment.
At the close of a dinner the tabako
bon, tray holding hibachi with live
Goals In a cone of ashes and section
Of bamboo for an ash receiver, is put
Before each guest. and cigars and ciga-
rettes are passed around. When all is
over, one feels very hungry, stiff in the
joints and, If the dinner has been a
large one. very much In need of a slim