The Saint Paul globe., 1900-01-28
caught in the Mediterranean sea and me-

caught in the Mediterranean sea and pre-
served In Oil; chicken, candied cherries,
peas. pickles, lobster, mushrooms, beans.
and so forth. 1t was pointed out that
they brought even spinach from the home
land; cook said that the imported cam
ned vegetables were much better than
the fresh ones grown here In the Italian
and Spanish restaurants, the dishes are
similar to the French; In the former th8
imported spaghetti is the characters ic
food. The Spanish restaurant k sepe i'm
port very little food from their native
land; practically nothing that differs ma
terially from the French and Italian
FOR THE CHINESE. =
The Chinese import more varieties OF
food than any other people. The char
acter of it is Illustrated by the following
list of delicacies: Sharks fins. birds
nests, air-bladders of eels, snow-moss.
rock-moss. dried oysters. The sharks
fins have the skin. and nuscula1 tissue
removed; they ard the birds neSts are
used chiefly in making soup. A dish of
sharks fins, air-bladders, or birds nests
cost 81 in some of the restaurants.
Beche de mer, or tripang,. a sea slug,
which looks like a spoiled cucumber, and
is found near the coral islands in the
Southern Pacific. is sold at the same
price, some varieties of the tripang sell
for $500 ton ir the Chinese markets.
1t is imported skinned. dried, cleaned,
and smoked. When stewed for a long
time, it becomes a gelatinous mass. and
tastes like a well-cooked calfs head
Dried fish of various kinds are import
ed; a most uninviting food they are.
when exposed for sale in the stores Of
Chinatown Some, as they hang In the
windows, still contain the cuttlefsh bone
with which canary bird cages are often
supplied.
Nuts, sweets ard vegetables are i'm
ported from China in large quantities.
Preserved pears, apricots, star fruit.
dragons eyes, citron and pineapples are
all to be found on the bills-of-fare, usual
ly at 10 cents a dish. Dried Ii chee nuts
sweet and palatable, tasting like dried
fruit, are offered to all the sightseers
who stray into the quarter. Concerning
the liquors, 1t is sufficient to mention
the white-rose wine, palm-root wine and
white-rice liquor.
The food imported from Germany is al
most all familiar There are little stores
on Second avenue where there is hardly
a native product for sale. Potatoes
brought all the way across the Atlantic
because of the "navor are doled out by
the pint. Sausage, salt and smoked fish
of many varieties, cranberries. cheese.
salted goosebreaSt, gingerbread pre-
served fruit, and one hundred and one
other articles of food (of which Bismarck
herring Is not the least importantly are
for sale in these places. all prepared In
Germany.
The Russians import caviare In great
quantity; it is distinctively RUSSIAN
dish prepared from the salted roes of the
sturgeon or some other large fish. A
sort of candy, called Khalva, also comes
from Russia The importations of Rus-
sian tea are very large. and of Russian
tobacco and spices. Much Of all this
comes from Odessa.
In Essex street, which is In that part
of the Ghetto where the Russian Jews
Hive. there are several Odessa stores.
They contain all the articles mentioned
and many others of a similar character.
.There are so many tnings, Russian
said, "'that j cannot begin to think OF
them ALL"
The Syrians cling to their own food like
the Chinese, but they have no Such
strange dishes as birds nests on their
bills of fare. They serve mutton and rice
with everything both they buy mere )
They import a. vegetable, which looks
like a large red pepper, apparently for
the sake of the skin only, for they re-
move the contents and stuff 1t with
chopped mutton, rice and nuts. 1t Is
pleasant to the taste of an American.
They import, also. the leaves which they
wrap about boiled rice and fine meat
and serve hot out of the water. They scorn {
the coffee which Americans buy; their
own comes from the East in the bean
and is ground here. Such delicious cup
of coffee is not to be had anywhere out
of Washington street, and the best is to
be found at the place kept by MageeD
Fiani. The nuts, wine and onions all
come from Syria; the imported arracx n
white liquor favored with anise seed) Is
the national drink" In addition to inn
porting a great deal of their food. the
Syrians treat that which they find here
in way to make it., though palatable,
hardly recognizable.