The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-03-06
WHAT FILIPINOS EAT
ONE FAvORITE DISH OF THE NATIVES
is GRASSHoPPER PIE.

1t Is a Wonderful Dish, Prepared In
Such a Way That the Insects Pre-
serve Their Shape-Moths and Bats
Are Also Culinary Dainties.
Your correspondent having had the
privilege Of investigating the kinds OF
food eaten by the native people of the
Philippine Islands some interesting infor-
nation may be given concerning the way
in which the Filipino makes up good
dinner at low cost. Probably the most
common article Of food, that would not
be desired by Americans or others than
the Filipinos. is the grasshopper. In
these islands the grasshoppers not only
grow in great numbers, but the size OF
the insect is large. There are those who
make business Of catching the grass
hopper during the best season for them.
which is in May, June, July and later.
There are several methods used by the
natives for catching grasshoppers. The
most effective is the net. This is large
butterfly net, arranged with netting plac-
ed over hoop, and to the latter is tixcG
a long handle. The native takes this
handle and with the mouth Of the net to-
ward the grasshoppers he rushes forth,
bagging considerable numbers at each
run. The grasshoppers always go in
swarms, except the advance guard and
the stragglers, and if anything occurs to
disturb their fight they get confused and
tumble into bags readily or fall into the
open mouths of nets. They fly so closely
\ that they cannot we'll escape, as when
they turn slightly out of their course they
come into contact with other grasshop-
pers next to them.
Grasshopper catching is profitable
business in the Philippines. Grasshop-
pers sell at 50 per sack, gold, in the
larger cities of the islands. where the peo-
pie do not have chance to get at the in
sects in the field. The sacks Of the is
lands hold about a bushel. The grass
hopper is a regular article in the markets
for the entire year, as, after drying out,
the hopper can be kept indefinitely. 1t
is in the operation Of drying that the
grasshopper is made eatable. never
saw a native eat a green grasshopper,
but I have seen them eat the dried ones
by the pocketful on the street or in COM
pany at entertainments and by the dish
full at the table at their homes. Your
correspondent has tried the prepared
grasshopper and has experienced no seri-
Gus results.
The hopper is first so thoroughly dried
out in the heat of the sun or in the bake
oven that there is nothing left that Is
really Objectionable, and a nice, crispy
article Of food results. This tastes sweet
Of itself and something like ginger snaps.
The natives usually sweeten the grass
hoppers more by using q sprinkling OF
brown sugar. Then the confectioners
make up grasshoppers with sugar, choco-
late trimmings and colored candies IN
such a way that very nice tasting piece
of confectionery is obtained.
The housewife of the Philippines takes
considerable delight in placing before
you a nice grasshopper pie or cake. The
grasshopper pie is the most wonderful
dish, as the big hoppers are prepared in
such q way that they do not lose their
form or any Of their parts.
Another article Of food which is rel
ished by the natives is procured by col
lecting large quantities Of moths from
the rocks Of the mountainous regions. In
several spots in the mountains in Panay
and other islands Of the southern portion
of the Philippine group l saw moths ex-
listing so thickly in the rocky tissues that
they could be scraped off into buckets by
the quart. The moths seemed to mass IN
the crevices and there hang. One could
get barrel Of the moths in very short
while.
The natives have not failed to investi-
gate the worth of the moth as an article
of food. Their mode Of catching consists
in going to the hills in parties Of dozen
or more with the proper bags and articles
for collecting the moths. The scraping
process is used in some sections of the
islands, while in Negros isle / noticed
that they adopted different scheme.
Here they spread bamboo net on the
ground beneath an orerhanging colony OF
the moths and then proceeded to disturb
the insects with the point of spear or
piece of bamboo The little insects lose
their hold and drop to the mat. They
are slow Of action, and before they can
crawl away the game is bagged.
The dainty natives will not eat the
wings or the heads of the little moths.
and so they now take steps to remove
these. Objectionable parts. This operation
consists in creating heat to such an ex-
tent that the tissues in the heads and
wings become baked and crumble off.
Often the moths in their present stage
of preparation are eaten with some sugar
or with other articles of food. Again,
the moths are used in conjunction with
other mixes Of food in the form Of pud-
ding and prepared dishes. The cocoanut
Is literally used in mixtures with the
moth and cocoanut cake and pie, and
moth filings are common.
The horrible bat of the islands. which
here grows in many cases to the size Of
the American chicken hawk, is also eaten
in some sections Of the Philippines. The
best classes Of natives, however. do not
eat the bats. The mode Of catching the
bats is peculiar. The cities, towns and
barrios Of all Of the islands OF the Philip
pine group are quite overrun with bats,
which fly through the streets at night in
large numbers. They fly slowly and seem
incapable Of lodging articles in their
path. Therefore the native takes long
pole, puts sort Of combination hooked
ARRANGEMENT at the top and takes posi-
ton in q street, and with the pole held
erect waits for bats to come along and
hmm into the hooked portion. AS the
native sees bat coming he plans to have
the hook in it's path, and as he moves the
pole, so as to bring the hook into contact
with the head of the bat. the latter usual
" strikes it with bang and drops to the
earth stunned, when the native proceeds
to promptly put the bat to death. After
standing in this position for an hour OF
more the native has little pile of bats
at his feet. These he takes to the market
the next day and receives about cents
each for them. The bats are eaten only
IN small mart. The wings, head and, II