The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-12-31
WHOLE NO. 1854.
Curious Foods and
Their Physiological Effect
BY GEORGE ETHELBERT WALSH.

"Ouiu mover suspect the origin OF
the tempting dish Now physiotpglsts
who have studied Eastern conditions
claims that the rat gives more nour-
ishment and Is far cleaner and more
wholesome than our great American
hog.
The Chinamen's Eggs and tho Japs'
Seawceds.
The Cinnamon offer for sale duck
eggs whose ages are decidedly prob
lematical. While eggs nearly ready
to hatch may seem repugnant to
Western nations, they are not I'm
furious to the health, but on the con-
trary are very wholesome and nour-
ishing. 1t is said that the Cinnamon
prefer stale eggs to fresh for physio-
logical reasons described by some of
their wfsest savants. Likewise they
eat shark fins, which possess great
nutritive value. and are recommend
ed as q preventive OF scurvy and
bowel disorders. The birds nest soup
of the same race is a healthful diet.
1t is made by the secretion of the
mouth glands of birds, and contains
mineral elements which are essential
~ 6COh hNoiNh. hG hColo VI lucS0
birds are very highly priced, and the
soup is only for the wealthy. They
are becoming almost as rare as gen.
uine terrapin and canvas-back ducks
in this country, and substitutes are
now palmed off on the novice who
is anxious to taste the national dish.
Lizards are eaten as feerly in China
as frogs legs in this country.
The Japanese make the most won
derful use of seaweeds OF any nation
In the world. Besides converting it
into thin paper and weaving 1t into
mats and rugs, they eat great quanti-
ties, and its wholesome nature is tes-
tilted by many. The seaweed con-
tains saline qualities which keep the
system in good condition in hot
weather. On the coast OF France
seaweed and anemones are also
eagerly consumed. The anemone Is
stuffed like peppers and boiled. To
the novice 1t tastes much like crab
meat, and is both wholesome and ap-
petizing. Fish and sea products
which in this country are thrown
away as waste are eaten in great
quantities by the poor of Italy and
Spain, and we have not yet been able
to show that what we call choice fish
is any better than the common food
OF the fishermen of Europe.
Curious Foods OF Our Land,
But 1t is not necessary to go across
the ocean or to the far Orient to find
curious foods of diet. We have the
clay eaters of Georgia and other parts
or the South; the Indians OF the Flor
ida keys, who dry and roll earth
worms into dainty -four for food; the
conch eaters OF the Bahama Islands:
the ant-eating Indians of Arizona.
and the honey-ant eaters of Mexico.
In the West we have certalns tribes
OF Indians which grind up grasshop-
pers into a meal and eat them with
great relish. Near Lake Mono, CAL
ifornia, there is abundant a fly known
scientifically as Ephydra. The fly ia
| SO numerous at certain seasons of the
year that the larvae are washed up
in great windrows on the shores of
the lake. The Indians gather these
larvae, which are worm-like crea-
lures, and, after drying them in the
sun, beat and reduce them to food
| that looks a good deal like rice. The
food is called koo-chah-bee, and is
very fattening and nouTishing. At
the harvest season the waters of the
lake are covered by an oily substance
which is supposed to come from the
| insects. Many birds besides the In
| dams gorge themselves on this cur
| ious food.
Down in Mexico on Lake Texcoco
there is another fly known as ahuatl
which is eagerly eaten by the natives,
and at Lake Chalco sedges are Guilt
waited for the insects to lay their eggs
on. When the eggs are deposited
on the sedge grass. they are gathered
in quantities and ground into a meal.
The small cakes made Of these eggs
are delicious despite their queer
origin
In the selection OF all these queer
| foods 1t is not entirely the lack of
better foods that has decided the ma
! tives in their choice. There IA a
| physiological factor which should not
be forgotten. The queer foods are
in nearly all cases wholesome. nour-
fishing or tonic I'm effect. They NAV
not be exactly remedial foods, as we
classify many OF our fruits and veg.
etables, but they are adapted to GER
tain physiological needs OF the human
race in those climates. From the
American Home Monthly.