Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-08-04
QUEER THINGS MAN EATS.
Earth, Seaweed, Birds Nests, Turtles,
Frogs, Snails and Coal Among

Them.
Complaint is often made that the
average daily meal in the ordinary
household is a monotonous round of
mutton and beef In the majority of
instances this simple and oftentimes
uninteresting cycle of food is conf
PEELED on the score Of convenience
and economy, although with little
more thought and trouble than are
usually bestowed on this matter we
are convinced that more variation
could be contrived. The subject oe-
serves greater attention than it has
hitherto received and the results i'll
all probability would be pleasing.
In this connection it is interesting
to consider some of the more or less
odd materials which man has been
led to choose for the purposes of food.
Environment, of course, must be d
factor in regard to this choice, and
necessity also 1t is hard to imagine
that earth would be used for choice
as food, and yet such has been the
case in many countries during fam
inc. The Laplanders mix earth with
a rock -four and the poorer classes
in Hungary are driven occasionally to
eat an earth which contains but
trifiing proportion of nourishing prin-
ciples.
The use of seaweed as food is an
example of the determining factors OF
both necessity ano environment. IL
is not a little astonishing to find what
a number of seaweeds are really edi-
BILE and nourishing. Perhaps the best
known example in this country is
laver, which is a kind of stew made
from a weed, an alga (Porpyhra Ia
ciniata) The laver made on the
Devonshire coast and to be found in
sea algae, indeed, prove on analysis
to contain a considerable proportion
of heterogeneous matter, and as they
are usually tender they are digesti-
ble There are also several sea
MOSES which are esteemed for their
esculent properties.
Agar-agar is another example of
seaweed yielding nutrient jelly. 1t
is supposed that the edible birds
nest SO highly esteemed when prepa~r-
ed in the form of soup by the Chi
nese, has it's origin in the birds feed
ing upon agar-agar. On the other
hand, it is said that the substance
which the nest is composed of is Sc
creted from certain glands which are
developed during the nest building
season, but which lose this function
afterward. The viscid substance re-
sembles the mucin or albumin excre1-
ed by the sublingual gland.
The turtle may be regarded as an
odd article of food since it is the only
example of an edible reptile, at least
in this country. Frogs legs, again,
are rarely eaten in this country, though
they are easily digested, possess deli
cate flavor, and have about the same
nutritive value as chicken. Neither
is the snail esteemed as an article
of food in this country, though IN
France it is partaken of in large guam
titles and so good is it that it has
been called ''the poor mans oyster.
The edible snail, however, is a par
ticular kind and is generally collected
in considerable numbers from the
vineyards in the south Of France. In
Spain the snail is served in most
excellent and appetizlng manner and
in Paris a dish of selected snails is
reserved for the special use of the
gourmet. Coal would appear to be a
strange article of food, but instances
are known in which children and cats
have been found consuming it in a not
negligible quantity. There is no evil
dence, however, although coal con-
tains an abundance of one of the most
important elements of food. e., car
bon-that in this forni it is in the
least degree assimilated.-The Ian
Get.