The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-14
CHANGE IN WICHITA
How Mexican Foods Continue
TO Appear Here.
POPULARITY OF PEPPER
And Other Highly Seasoning
Quality Constantly Growing

AS Wichita grows and its interests d.
versify, all sorts of little retreats and
hooks for companionable spirits spring
up. Among them are Chilli cabins
Any night in the week you will see
little groups passing BY brilliantly lighted
saloons and respondent restaurants, on
their way to the Chilli institutions.
The Wichita man, who gets the Chilli
habit talks it. He claims and IS backed
up by his friends and their testimony
that Chilli cured him, possibly. OF rheu-
ratism, malaria, or what not
1T tones you up" the Chilli expert
says conhdentally. 1T warns you up.
It puts you On your feet It gives you
an appetite. When you cannot eat any
thing else, you can eat Chilli. Il is my
only medicine
Which is interesting enough, but not
as interesting as the steady advance Of
the Mexican diet up through Texas, Ok
Iahoma and Kansas For il IS a fact that
while America is sending into Mexico all
sorts Of machinery and other evidences
Of a mechanical millennium, Mexico IS
pushing her dietary catalogue into the
United States in a slow, stealthfuI way
it is true, but none the less surely.
OF course. there is haphazard an
alyticaI theory about this. based on the
premises that the Mexican dishes are the
evolution Of four hundred years Of ex-
pertinent with diets in the west and
southern country Of which Kansas is a
part geographically If not politically.
The belief is exploited that highly pep
pered articles Of food are what man
in q hot country wants; that they viii
preserve him and keep him toned up.
But an analogy in this connection can
be given which knocks the theory into
a cooked hat, Mesquit. low Mexican
shrub, IS creeping northward through Ok
lahona and will some day reach Kansas.
Formerly it was not known in Oklahoma
at all, but it is now quite distance
north and is still coming.
There Is probably no better explanation
for the entertainments Of highly seasoned
food into this land than there is for the
onward march Of mesquIt.
The first herald Of a new diet in this
northern state was the hot tamale. In
former years it made its appearance only
on the streets and at night and the bust
ness was monopoHzed by a Mexican who
could successfully starve for the years
which were necessary to establish 4
trade for ii. That was ten years ago
and while tamales were known and ap-
preciated in Wichita at that time ia
male" was Greek II Kansas City. Since
then Kansas City has grown a tamale
trade.
Soon after Oklahoma opened Chilli
concarne appeared there, and Immediately
after in Wichita. For a long time the
character Of the buildings in which it
was served, little, out-of-the-way, dark
hooks excluded all but the late providers
Of the masculine sex Now, clean, well
ordered and inviting places attract both
sexes Of the best Of the community and
the Chilli devotees are both masculine
and feminine. The ingredients Of the
best Chilli served in Wichita are Mexican.
The Chilli used is Of the hot variety,
which Mexico only produces, and the
beans are not beans. but Mexican rejoles.
the staple diet OF all Mexico. They are
shipped in from the south.
If Mexico's other staples follow, no one
would be much surprised. Garlic is prac-
tically unknown here as a seasoning quail
ity but it may make an appearance. Tor
tea, the Mexican pancake, would not be
popular here, because it is not seasoned
and in Mexico is only a bread which IS
tolerated because the people have none
better. But the red-hot manages and
very sweet tropical fruits, ike the cher
romoya and the pon1egrsnates are sure
10 come and divide honors with the ba-
rapid transit is possible. And by the
way, the banana men say that the vicin-
ity surrounding Wichita IS the greatest
banana consuming locality in the United
States
At all events there /. from the south
an eaeroachment on this portion Of the
United States ana Wichita as its chief
city shows the earliest manifestation OF
H. Bermuda grass has become common
lawn here. High Mexican hats appear
frequently enough 70 no longer occasion
comment The big crowd which els
Wichita streets on Saturday nights is not
found in any other city or town in kan
sas- The Saturday night promenade i.
distinctly southern custom.
Wichita, having its connections with
northern cite. and being located in a
northern state Is really in the same Iati-
tude with Tenne-.ea and North caro-
lima The only reason cotton has never
been raised here Il because the farmer.
have nor tried t.
When the Orient road Is completed and
passenger trains shoot through here
four OF FIVE times 4 day from Mexico.
a more marked change along this lire
viii be noticeable There is no doubt
90 IL