Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1900-07-05
A JAPANESE DINNER,
HOW THE DlsTAsTEFUL FOOD IS
SERVED AND EATEN.

SERVED AND EATEN.
Sguattins Before Tables Six Inchea
High. One Wrcstlcx With Chop-
sticks nnd Tiny Bowls, the While
Waited Upon by Bnrcfootcd Maids.
To an American given to stiff joints
and corpulcncy Il 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 ii one is fortunate enough
to be the guest of a rich man, for In
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 a
real Japanese dinner, including chop
sticks, lacquer trays and tiny cups, is
thing never to be forgotten.
Japanese houses are made up of slid
ing screens instead of our solid parti-
tions and in summer are all lcftopen, so
that, seated Mt dinner one looks out
over the gardens, seeing the lights OF
the city in the distance, and the scent
OF thousand flowers blows in with
every breath of air.
The guests remove their shoes ON
entering the house and, except when
provided with Il pair of cotton over
shoes, must spend the evening in
stocking feet unless happily the host
has an extra pair. The wife of jap
nnese gentleman does not preside at
his table unless there are ladies in the
party, but appears With the tea and
swcetmcats. which always precede
dinner, as do our cocktails and sherry,
etc. She merely grccts the guests and
appears again only when the goodbys
arc said.
Silken cushions are scattered about
the floor and the guests are arranged
according to rank, for the Japanese
are. of course, great sticklcrs for form
and ceremony. Little tables, some six
inches high, are placed before each one
and barefooted waiting maids in grace
ful 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 on their knees, make their
best bow, touching their foreheads to
the floor. Chopsticks take the place
of knives and forks; but, unlike our
weapons of attack, are made Of wood.
They are never 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 an example by remov-
Ing The covers from the tiny bowls, and
the guest, doing likewise, finds an as
sortmcnt of food quite new and gem
much skill one attempts getting the
food on chopsticIls 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 il 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 q
chopstick, shoveling the food in, as
one would potatoes into a barrel.
In each course there arc half dozen
dishes, and the host tells what they
are. First, suimono, bean soup:
lluchitori, clestnuts boiled and crushed
into mush; kamaboko, fish picked
fine and rolled into little balls and ball-
cd; 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-
kns and bread arc unknown guam
titles.
The second course is small fish
boiled whole. One has chance hero
to get in some fine play With the chop
potatoes or lotus roots, Il salad of on-
ions, peas and string beans, with few
leaves of lettuce: sunomono sea snails
served with eggplant mashed, and cha
man mushi. Il thick soup made of fish
and vegetables, with mushrooms for Il
relish.
The third course is a curry of rice
and picked vegetables, and for n fourth
and final course you have sobo, sort
of buckwhcat Nermicelli served with
soy and Il 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 rises
and proposes the health of the host and
one other guest until the whole party is
disposed of. This custom is rather
hard on the guests, for sake is fiery
stuff and goes to ones head more
quickly than our own brandy. To
make matters worse, after one has
drunk the health of all the company 1t
is customary to drink the health of the
mattresses, who bow their foreheads to
the floor in acknowledgment.
At the close of dinner the tabako
bon, II tray holding hibachi with live
Goals in n cone of ashes and section
OF bamboo for an ash receiver, is put
before each guest, and cigars and ciga-
rettes are passed around. When all is
over. one feels very hungry, stiff in the
joints and, If the dinner has been a
large one, very much in need Of stim.