The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-06-20
AMERICAN FARE A
Chinese PUZZLE
0rientaIS Put to Test In
Feeding West
ernerS.
CROWDS WATCH DINERS
ELBOW EACH OTHER IN EFFORT
TO GET GOOD VIEW.

Chicago. June 19.-while the Chi
nese share with the French the honor
Of being the worlds most expert
cooks. an occasional palate fails to
appreciate Oriental gastronomic tr'
umphs and a traveller into the inferior
does well to take his own prov;siors.
.ccording to the experiences of Roifil.
T. Chamberiin, member Of the recent
University Of Chicago Oriental expe-
dition, who tells some of his expe-
riences in the current number Of the
University OF Chicago Magazine.
The Chinese are as much puzzled
over the mysteries Of western fare as
the Occidental is over birds nest pud-
ding or even more. bizarre concoctions
dear 20 the Chinese palate, DIR. Cham
berlin says, and gather around as Gu
riOusly as a circus crowd when the
keepers are feeding the lions
Watching the Aienagcrie Feed.
AT breakfast or dinner" writes
Dr. Cham berlin, "this curiosity makes
little difference, for these meals are
eaten within the semi-private recesses
of the linn. but the noon luncheon
while on the march Is taken in the
public court Of some wayside inn or
some teahOuse. There is nothing TO
keep back the swarm OF inQuisiive
spectators except the Intellectual ef-
forts Of the servants and a pair Of
soldiers whom the local magistrate
sends along to serve as an escort A
crowd Of a hundred peering villagers
press in as close to the lunch table
as they dare and elbow each other for
choice positions in the front row,
where they may watch the foreign
mcnagerie eat.
Not a motion by one OF the diners
on exhibition but what is observed by
a score OF eyes. If the encircling wall
Of vastly amused spectators draw
rather too close under pressure from
the less favored ones behind. or be
comes too noisy the soldiers make
show OF forcing tile assemblage back.
just as policemen clear necessary
space for the players on a crowded
baseball field at home.
But these crowds are so thorough
ly good natured that they are more
amusing than offensive. Il is a free
circus for them and. like a group Of
boys around a monkey cage. they en-
Joy nothing more than joke turned
on one Of their own number"
The diverting sight Of prominent
and otherwise dignified citizens being
carted around the streets Of interior
Chinese cities in wheelbarrOws is also
described by the writer.
I'm the heart Of west China" he
writes. ION the plains Of Chengtu,
capital OF the splendid province Of
Szechuan, the Chinese wheelbarrow IS
the local specially for passenger and
freight alike. The parallel grooves in
the middle Of its principal streets
which at once catch the travellers
eye are not car tracks, but the burrows
which the wheelbarrOws have slowly
worn in the stone pavements.
Riding into this region ourselves in
the somnOlent ease OF swaying sedan
chairs. which had carried us over
nearly 400 miles Of paved path from
central China. we were not a little
surprised 20 see leading citizens and
bespectacled scholars. otherwise dig
nified. pushed along dusty country
roads I'm squeal1y wheelbarrOws The
squeak seems TO be an indispensable
asset Big Chinese parasols easily in
tcrcepted the headache compelling
sunbcams. but nothing subdued the
squeak or warded off the clouds Of
dust which whstened the wheelbarrow
passenger from skull cap 10 shoes"