Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1908-09-17
! DINNER J. MENU
Delicacies and Some Of the
Horrors Of a Chinese
Dinner.

Canton, China, March Especial
Correspondence Steele Ozone. 4 have
partaken of a genuine Chinese din
ner, eaten in the home of gentle
man Of high class and you, may take
my word for it that the experience
is not what 1 would recommend to
anyone unless it were for the same
reason that I took it-curiosity. I
have had a lot to say in my former
letters regarding the general unclean-
illness Of all things Chinese, and when
I was invited to dinner in the home
of a wealthy Chinese l thought I
would find something different. I
was disappointed, not only in that
respect but in others. When
reached the house with the friend
through whom the invitation came
to me q was ushered into a bleak and
almost bare room with dirt floor and
scant furniture. Outside a cold rain
was falling and the interior of the
house was so cold that I was COM
PEELED to keep on my heavy ulster
overcoat, and stamp my feet to keep
warm.
The floor of the room looked as if
it had not been swept for ages, and
with every person that came in from
the street tramping more mud it can
be imagined that the dirt floor was
not ina very presentable condition.
We sat in this cold room for nearly
two hours before dinner was served.
We were ushered into what might be
termed the library, for there we're a
few books on some shelves, and four
Of us sat at a table. The first guest
of honor sat opposites;the host, the
second guest at the slfost's right, and
the third opposite ..the second. No
women sit at the table in China.
Wine and oranges were first served.
The Whine, a sake, was much finer
than any I had tasted in Japan. The
dishes were placed around the table
symetrically, and each person helped
himself from the central dishes, there
being no dish or plate for the indi-
vidual. When rice was served it was
in individual bowls. Following the
orange came water chestnut, served
crisp, and with delicious flavor.
Then came peanuts fried in oil and
served cold. They were better than
any peanuts ever tasted at home
and L would advise my readers to try
them. Next came watermelon seed,
which I found insipid and tasteless.
1 cannot understand why the Chinese
consider them a delicacy.
Then was served something, the
taste and memory OF which fingers
with me yet, and almost gag when
I think of it. 1t was goose egg
four years old. just what periods of
decomposition and chemical change
it had undergone am unable to say,
but it had flavor that I did not get
rid of for days. A friend of mine
said it tasted like the scrapings of
charnel house. How he knows I did
not find out, but never having tasted
the scrapings mentioned am unable
to say. It certainly tasted bad
enough to be anything CHASTITY.
Next came salted chicken followed
by salt pork, both good and palat-
able, the chicken especially SO. This
was followed by clover leaf and bam.;
boo, served as spinach, and with de-.
licious flavor. Sharks fin in a gela-
tinous mass came after a. fish served
in a rich gravy. The fish was better.
than any I have ever tasted, and the
sharks fin was SO good that I wanted
more, but etiquet prevented my ask
ing for 1t. y.
Having begun the meal with the
dessert tt was natural that 1t should
end with soup, and it was served in,
bowls without spoons. It was q thin,
curdled bean soup, very poor in fla-
vor. Then came the inevitable rice,
boiled with neither sugar nor SALT
but tasting good. This was served in:
beautiful lacquer bowls, just as it
was served in japan.
The chicken was taken in the fin-
gers from the general bowl, and as ]
got . leg for my share I was at loss.
to know what to do with the bone,
as there Was no bone dish and / did.
not want to put It on the polished:
table, i asked my host what to do
with the bone, and he said to throw
st on the E1oor. Tho floor, . dirt one,
served every purpose from slop jar To-
scuspid dor, g + sup l,ose one more bone
did not max much difference. In
fact could se D number Of bones
left from former II h, 20 j SUP