The Dickinson press., 1900-07-28
A JAPANESE DINNER.
HOW THE DlsrAsTEFuL FOOD IS
SERVED AND EATEN.

sauatting Bcsore Tables Sic Inches
High, One Wrestles With Chop
sticks and Tiny Bowls, the While
Waited Upon by B%arefooted Maids.
To an American given to stiff joints
and corpulency a Japanese dinner is a
tedious experience, especially when
he's used to business lunches and the
like. But it Is worth trial and dis
comfiture If one is fortunate enough
to be the guest Of q 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 q
real Japanese dinner, including chop
sticks, lacquer trays and tiny cups, is
a thing never to be forgotten.
Japanese houses are made up Of slid
ing screens instead Of our solid parti-
lions 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 mir.
The guests remove their shoes on
entering the house and, except when
provided with n pair of cotton over
shoes, must spend the evening in
stocking feet unless. happily the host
has an extra pair. The wife of q 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 Jul cocktails and sherry,
etc. She merely greets the guests and
appears again only when the goodbys
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 or their knees, make their
best bow, touching thca' foreheads to
the floor. Chopsticks take the place
Of knives and forks; but, unlike our
weapons Of attack, are made Of wood.
They are lever 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 IN example by remov-
ing the covers from the tiny bowls, and
the guest, doing likewise, finds an rs
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 a barrel.
In each course there are half a dozen
dishes, and the host tells what they
are. First, suimono, a bean soup;
kuchitori, chestnuts boiled and crushed
into q 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. A
The second course is q small fish
boiled whole. One has q chance here
to get in some fine play with the chop
sticks-umani, bits Of fowl boiled will
ions, peas and string beans, with a 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 6
relish.
The third course is a curry Of rice
and picked vegetables, and for a fourtl
and final course you have sobo, q sor
of buckwheat vermicelli served will
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 rise'
and proposes the health Of the host ant
one other guest until the whole party i
disposed Of. This custom is .rathe
hard on the guests, for sake is fer!
stuff and goes to ones head NOR
quickly than our own brandy. T
make matters. worse, after n ha
drunk the health of all the company !
is customary to drink the health of tn
mattresses, who bow their foreheads t
the floor in acknowledgment.
At the close of q dinner the tabak
bon, q troy holding a hibachi with liv
} Goals in a cone Of ashes and a sectio
Of bamboo for an ash receiver, is pu
before each guest, and cigars and cigs
rettes are passed around. When all
over, one feels very hungry, stiff in til
joints and, If the dinner has been
large one, very much in need Of a stin
ulant.-Boston Transcript.
$500 Reward
For all horses branded N on left shou
der, this side Little Missouri river, no otht