The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-09
CHINESE FOOD TESTED.
Prof. Jana Making Experiments for
the Government.
From the San Francisco Call


California. is living ike white man
again. For three weeks Prof. JANA
tried the diet OF John Chinaman. Col
lege professors are seldom gourmands
but there are not many Of them who
would voluntarily infict their palates
with Chinese fare
Prof. Jafa has charge Of the expert
ment station Of California. The object
Of these stations, which the Department
Of Agriculture at Washington has es-
ia ohshed throughout the United states,
Is 70 get data on the verious food mate
rails and their nutritiye and economic
value The reports submitted by the eX-
perts ere published at Washington in
bulletin form and are then sent broadcast
70 colleges and dietary students.
Last year the food experts met in San
francisco. Few Of our visitors leave US
without carrying away some souvenir of
Chinatown-from a chopstick to a kino-
no. These gentlemen. whose business
1t IS to anaiyZe, weigh and compare ghe
food Of mankind were more interested in
the food shops Of Chinatown than the joss
houses. The curious roots queer looking
vegetables and seeds fascinated them
more than the tumtum Of the Chinese
theater or the tinkle Of the cups in the
tea house.
1t has always been accepted as true
IN their diet, and this apparently without
serious detriment 20 their physical de-
ye4opment. Evidently their vegetables
are the equivalent Of the materials that
make up our own vegetable dietary and
presumably possess an intrinsic value for
such a purpose
The visiting food experts were much in
teresied in the Chinese dler. The result
vas that the authorities at Washington
ordered report on the Chinese vegetable
foods which was forthwith prepared by
Mr.. Walter c. Blasdale. an instructor Of
chemistry az the University of California
This report gives the analysis of the prin-
opal Chinese vegetables found in the
Chinese quarter.
description and analysis Of the Chi
| nese vegetables by no means covers the
ground of the Chinese diet So Prof
JANA prepared to make a study of the
| food Of the three Classes of Chinese-the
professional man, the man doing average
Ia Dor, and the man doing hard labor
A Chinese dentist was elected as the
professional man, and he was instructed
now TO weigh and 1abulate every ounce
OF food consumed al his table. A Chinese
lau' dry man was taken as the type of
the aVerag manual laborer and Chinese
rdener the hard worker
sam Lung and Charlie Hop were the
gentlemen who played mine host to the
assistant professor of agriculture of the
state University. Pref Jafa was fire.
quenty accompanied by T. j. Snow, who
heirs him in his dietary experiments. The
Chinaman objected to the professor max
ing the experiments, hut he persisted
i Charley Hop runs large vegetable gar
den in Berkeley and the vegetables fiud
thelr way to many a professors table
But why professor should want TO come
to his table was to1 much for Charley
& "sabe."
I Then Prof Jaffa solved the problem. In
the classic halls of learning at Berkeley
IS enc Walt Fong, a graduate of Stan
ford Univer y. and now doing post
graduate WI a Berkeley Mr. Fong has
accepted American clothes, taken an
American wife and is imbibing all the
knowledge that our two un versities offer
10 the student in mining engineering. For
all that he has parted with his, Mr.. Fong
comes from the land CT pitfalls
So Mr.. Fong went to Sam Lung and
Charley Hep and successfully pleaded the
professor cause Thy were convinced
that college professors are outside the
lie of ''whi e devils" and that it is not
necessary to burn punk after their exits
and entrances.
/ 1t was easy TO initiate the Chinese den
/ tist into the mysteries of tabula ting his
! diet, but Sam Lung and Charley Hon
needed some one 1T their elbows to see
that 1t was properly done. Fer unless the
q ita is abs )iut ~ rect any conclusions
drawn therefrom would be valueless. Mr.
| FonS having given them the open Sc
same Prof. Jaffa, a;sisted by Mr. Snow,
began his work
After The first few Gays the Cinnamon
got used to having either Prof. Jaffa or
Mr.. Snow with them al meal time The
! Mclean men wee there to tabulate the
feo', but after day or two they were
a ked to stale it, and, according to both
gentlemen. some of the Chinese dishes
were so tempting that they did not need
! urging.
Both sam Lung and Charley Hon once
they Understood the matter, were inter
! ested in The exp riment and as careful
as Prof. Jaffi that the nightly dietary ac.
cotnt should be perfectly correct. char
ley Hop, the Chine gardener, confessed
That when first preached on the subtec,
| OF havtrg an on sider watch his meals he
thought it was a scheme OF the tax col.
lector to tax them for all food consumed
over certain fixed amount INV. men ali
| cat heap hig.~l always give them hear
ple1ty, so 1 much ahaid" he exclaimed
| When convinced that the tax collector
had nothing to do W tn 1t Charley took a
most intelligent interest in the proceed
logs.
The dentist has such an Anne fcanized
| larder that 1t proves very li,tle regarding
the Chinese diet. Following is LIST Of
the food materials used by the Ilund v
men and gardeners during three we ks.
| Many of them sound strange to the Can.
I casian car and taste stranger yet 10 his
palate:
/ Lean pork and beef were the only IN ats
used; the other articles were fish. shrimps.
I fresh and dried; canned squid obal3ne
fresh and dried; bean cheese, bean
| sprouts, vermicelli rice. native cabbage.
! dried lily flowers. lotus roots potatoes.
| Chinese radish, taro roots. water chest
! nuts, dried fungus, aIgae ard bamboo
! shoots. In addition they consumed a small
| quantity of bread. butter and sugar and
| large quantities Of tea
! Many of these articles need expll~a-
| ton. The water chcstnuts grow wild in
! China and are sweet juicy ard RESENT L.
! the chestnut IN flavor Taro rot has
| about the consistency Of a sweet potato.
is very popular among the Chinese. and
a number OF white people here. who have
tasted them in Chinatown use them at
| their own tables.
! Several species Of fungi are used In the
! Chinese dietary, the most popular che be-
! ing yellow In color except the top which
| Is brown or purple. Two other species Of
| fungi are sold KS delicacies, retail e as
high as 81 per pound. Aigae is also larg :
| ly used. IL looks like tangled masses o.
| horschair but when boiled ferns n celia
tinous mass that is used for thickenine
purposes, especially with dried shrimps.