The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-09-06
MEAL . N aExIcO.
DizsTssess 4 Customs Eshs b Nsitss'
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Of the French, consists only Of bread
and coffee. Lunch and dinner, OF
dinner and supper, as they are called,
differ but slightly. Dinner il served
usually about two o'clock. Il be-
gins with soup and eggs, and then
follow = number Of meatx; each
served as = separate coarse, with an
entire change Of service every time.
The meats are eaten quite slonsA
few vegetables being served in addii
tion to the salad course, and such as
are used for punishment. The des-
sert courses at a Mexican table differ
even more radically from those
served on American Ssbles. Home
made pies, cakes and buildings are
practically unknown. The Mexican
housewife pays comparatively little
attention to the kitchen, and rarely
cooks anything hepelf. If pastry
is desired, it is purchased Of the dull
eeria.
Nothing, says Modern Mexico, Is
baked in a Mexican house, even the
bread being universally bought from
bakers. Mexican cooks do not, asa
rule, understand pastry making, and
their sweets are limited to stewd
fruits, usually cooked to the con-
%sistency Of the richest and sweetest
preserves, so that a very small por-
ton is satisfying. Business hours in
Mexico begin in the afternoon at
$3.50 or three o'clock, and run until
seven or eight o'clock, in the even
ing, SO that the supper hour falls any
where from $50 to an hour later.
This is probably one reason that
Mexieans are not more given to even
ing entertainments. Attendance
upon the theater entails Il necessity
Of an unusually early supper, or else
its postponement until after the per-
Torrance, a thing that often occurs.
On the other hand, a leisurely
Of an hour Of more, beginning at
nine o'clock, brings the close pretty
close to bedtime.
The Mexican day laborer swallows
a bowl Of coffee at a street stand, ON
his way to work, if he is fortunate
enough to pass one, and has the
price, but usually he begins his daily
toll upon an empty stomach. About
nine o'clock his faithful spouse, or
some member of his family, and, not
i%nfrequently, all Of them, mother
and children, come trudging to the
scene Of labor with a basket con-
tanning a pitcher Of soupy brown
beans, tortillas (corn cakes that
form the staff Of life among the low
er classes), some rice and possibly
some bits Of meat are minced in a
t@ortilla, which, in addition to serving
often as both bread and meat, is also
knife and fork and spoon. Bits are
torn off, and by deity curling it into
cemicircular form and doubling the
end it is used as an effective scoop for
even liquid food. A jug of pulque,
the fermented juice Of the maguey
or century plant, that is the uni
yersal beverage among the masses
on the lakeland, is also a usual ac-
compartment Of this meal.
The Mexican laborer does not have
a midday rest, but works until about
three o'clock, when the morning re-
past is repeated without variation as
to bill Of fare. He begins his toll at
daybreak and is expected to work till
dark, with little regard to a clock.
On his way home he stops at a
pulqueria to have all the drinks he
can afford, and arrived at his home he
may find something more to eat and
he may not. 1t seems to make lit
tie difference to him. The Mexican
peon can eat more, or get along ON
less, than almost any other laborer
on earth. In the southern part Of
the country, where the mountain In
dams are at times drafted for work
in the lower country, these men
bring with them a ball of heavy corn
meal paste, about the size of their
heads, slung around their necks with
a string. When hungry they break
off a piece of this and mix it in a cup
full of water, and upon this single ra-
tiOo tLo,r v-f11 r,I..-t r.