The daily sentinel., 1902-01-20
A SULTAN'S DISHES.
ABDUL HAND HAS GOLD AND
SILVER PLATE.
Tho Sultan of Turkey Is . Costly Mon
arch to sustsin-He and His House
hold Use $4,000 Pounds of Bread
Daily.

It costs q good deal to feed a mon
arch; the cheapest OF them are most
expensive luxuries. The sultan Of
Turkey is a most costly article Of
bric-a-brac, especially for bankrupt
nation. The cost of the mere neces-
saries Of life for him and his house
hold amounts to about $7.500,0OO a
year. This seems an enormous gro
Gerry and butchers bill, but it must be
remembered. that including his 300
brevet wives, the palace eunuchs, and
the servants and officers Of the i'm
perial household, no less than 5000
people are catered for daily when Alb
dull Hamid is "in residence" at Yildi1
or Dolma Bagtche palace. Enormous
quantities OF bread are consumed by
the sultan and his household, tho pal
ace bakeries turning out no loss than
$4,000 pounds daily. The bakery star
ID small army, for, besides the bak-
ers, there are the buyers and the
slaves who purchase the -four and rye
and the fuel for the fires. One ton Of
rice is used daily in making the inev-
table "pillaf" or pilau without which
no Turk thinks he has really made .
meal. This dish consists of rice boil
cd with mutton, kid or fowl, and ia
vored with raisins, spices, butter and
tho cook only knows what else. Then
there are consumed daily 600 pounds
OF sugar and a like amount Of coffee.
not to mention huge quantities Of
other groceries, fruit and vegetables.
The water for the household Is brought
to the palace in great round casks
from two streams which empty into
the Bosporus.
AS every part Of the Turkish admin
istration is nearly as rotten as Tam
many Hall (but not quite), there u
little doubt that portion Of this enor-
nous amount Of food Ia disposed Of as
perquisites by the palace onicials; for
even 5000 people scarcely could con-
sumo all that the sultan pays for daily
in the shape Of food. The sultan him
self is small eater. His breakfast
consists of fruit, coffee and q roll, and
at luncheon he eats pilau. fruit and
some sweets. He seldom drinks spirit
uous liquors, but INDUCES in large
quantities of sherbet and eats an in
credible amount of ice cream. All the
food for the sultan is prepared by one
man alone, and is cooked in dishes Of
silver, and sometimes even Of gold.
Each dish is sealed when 1t leaves the
kitchen. and when brought on the
table the seal is broken in the sultan's
presence by the chamberlain. In or
der to test the food for poison. the
chamberlain takes a spoonful out OF
each dish before his imperial master
touches it. The food always Is served
to the sultan in tho same dish In
which 1t is cooked, and the padishah
eats out of the dish with his fingers.
never using a plate or knife or fork
except on occasions when he has some
foreigners to dinner with him. Some
times he will use a spoon, but prefers
his fingers to all extraneous aids to
dining. As each course is served two
slaves approach the sultan. one bear
ing bread and the other pancakes upon
golden trays: SO 1t takes twice as
many slaves as there are courses to
get the sultan through his meal. Only
the sultan and the higher palace om-
cials are allowed pancakes with their
meals; the underlings have to be con-
tent with bread.-New York Press.