The Bemidji pioneer., 1903-04-02
MEAL HOURS IN MEXICO.
Differences In Customs Noted by Visitors
from the United States.


dinner and supper, as they are called
differ but slightly. Dinner is served
usually about two o'clock. It be
gins with soup and eggs, and ther
follow number Of meats; eacF
served as a separate course, with az
entire change Of service every time
The meats are eaten quite alone.
few vegetables being served IN add
l5tion to the salad course, and such al
are used for garnishment. The des-
sert courses at a Mexican table differ
even more radically from those
served on American tables. Home
made pies, cakes and puddings are
practically unknown. The Mexican
housewife pays comparatively little
attention to the kitchen, and rarely
cooks anything herself. If pastry
is desired, it is purchased q the dull
ceria
Nothing, says Modern Mexico, is
baked in Mexican house, even the
bread being universally bought from
bakers. Mexican cooks do not, as
rule, understand pastry making, and
their sweets are limited to steWee
fruits, usually cooked to the con-
- a III : = 4
sistency Of the richest and sweetest
preserves, so that a very small por-
tion 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 fallsany-
where from $50 to an hour later.
This is probably one reason that
Mexicans are not more given to even
ing entertainments. Attendance
upon the theater entails the 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 leisarely supper
Of an hour or more, beginning 4.
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
.n;ne o'clock his faithful spouse, OF
some member Of his family, and, not
infrequently, all Of them, mother
and children, come trudging to the
scene Of labor with . basket con-
tanning d 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
tortilla, which, in addition to serving
often as both bread and meat, is also
knife and fork and spoon. Bits are
torn off, and BY deftly curling itintt
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
versal beverage among the masses
on the tableland, is also a usual ac-
compartment Of this meal.
The Mexican laborer Goes net 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 q clock
On his way home he stops at q
pulqueria to have all the drinks he
can afford, and arrived at his home he
may find something more to eat anc
he may not. 1t seems to make lit
tie difference to him. The Mexican
peon can eat more, or get along or
less, than almost any other laborer
on earth. In the southern part OF
the country, where the mountain IN
dians 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
q string. When hungry they break
off a piece Of this and mix it in acup-
ful Of water, and upon this single ra-
ton they will subsist for an entire
week.
US. Land oflice at crookston Minneset;
March 5. 1903,