Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-10-06


/ rel1 guarded by the inscrutabIe man
ner Of the Chinese The result, how
ever, is delicious when prepared by
| the Chinese In the proper manner.
Large quantities of these dried oysters
and other preserved sea food are sold
/ In the Chinatowns Of New York and
San Francisco, When one buys fish in
Chinese markets or. in fact, anything
else, it is well 10 be on ones guard
against deception. Things are not
what they seem is nowhere more true
than in China. For instance, while red
and fresh looking gllls are q sign Of
freshness in fish, too often has the red
ness been put on by hand by ingenious
John.
Theoretically. the Chinese have only
two mealtimes. one in the middle of
the forenoon and the other between 8
and 9 in the evening. Practically they
DO not hesitate 20 eat whenever they
have an opportunity. The constant
Rim and chief pleasure of John China
mans existence are to obtain feast at
the expense Of some one else. He will
go to any pains to smuggle himself in
at a wedding or other festiyity where
good things to eat are to be had. and
his endeavors to prove relationship
with the celebrating parties are often
extremely amusing TO be eaten out
of house and home is only a phrase
with us; with the Chinese it is often
stern reality. As with Hindooism and
Judaism. Confucianism enjoins on its
followers certain dietary regulations
but these have long since fallen into
dlsuse and are universally forgotten or
disregarded
The staples of Chinese food do not
vary greatly from our own, save that
the poorer Chinese have not nearly so
large a variety of foods to choose from
as we have. Save in the north, among
the Mongols and Mantchoos. butter,
milk and cheese are despised-justly in
the case of the butter, which is a viii
lainously rancid mixture of uncertain
composition. In the neighborhood of
Annoy and Canton snakes. snails, grubs
and other reptiles and insects are eaten
by the poorer classes. Other curious
ly in the low class restaurants. The
following are a few of the items from
the bill of fare of one of these: Cats
flesh. black cats flesh, black dogs
grease. black cats eyes. Black cats
and dogs are more highly esteemed
than those of other colors. being sup
posed to give more strength to the
tap 4
strong enough to enjoy Chinese fare
hardly seems to need strengthening.
The standard Chinese drink is tea or
white wine made from rice. In some
parts of China they drink great quanti-
ties of hot water. The Chinese, rich
and poor, are exceedingly fond of
sweets, and no Chinese meal, among
the richer folk, Is complete without
sweetmeats of some sort
Celestial cookery is often very we'll
done 1t is not confined to women for
male cooks are common and quite as
proficient as cooks of the other sex.
The dishes, although sometimes CRATE
full to the American palate, for the
most part are too highly seasoned or
The Chinese have a vastly greater va
riety of spices than we have, some of
them, in fact, being quite unknown to
Americans Among the richer Chinese
masters of the culinary art are held in
high esteem and command very high
salaries. The other side of the picture,
cooking among the poorer Chinese, is
not so pleasant. They boil everything
they eat in the same vessel and seem to
have absolutely no regard for cleanli-
ness. 1t is not well to watch Chinese
cooking going on if one is to partake
of the resulting meal
In the matter of fruits and vegeta-
bles China has few if any equals. No
where else is a greater variety or bet
ter quality to be found, for they have
all of our fruits and some of which we
know nothing. Nuts of all kinds
abound and are prepared in numerous
ways, while Chinese preserved ginger