Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-07-27
AfEAS7 IN SAMOA
Develops Into a cons'omerated
Scramble For Food.
A SCENE OF WILD DISORDER.

The Native Guests Steal All the Eat
abIes Within Reach. Which They
Pass Over to Crowds Of Waiting
Relatives Gathered on the Outside.
The principal native foods Of Samoa
are bannnas, breadfruit. taro. fish aud
pork. Bananas prepared "Fa Samoa"
would not appeal very strongly to an
epicurean taste. for they are gathered
unripe ana baked under heated stones.
as all Samonn cooking is accomplished.
A baked green banana favors some
what roasted chestnut. but not
enough to cause any mistake between
the two.
The breadfruit. in my estimation.
appeals more strongly 10 IL white
mans taste than any oiher Samoan
food The large. nlealy balls are bak-
ed. broken open and eaten. usually
with one or other ut the two Samoan
sauces paluSanli and fai-ai Paln-
sami is made from the young shoots
of the taro plant. cOcunnut milk
and sea water. Fatal is evaporated
cocoanut milk The milk IL poured
into leaf. the ends and edges tied ut
the top. aud II Is then baked until the
water evapnrates. leaving thick
cream. which Is very rich and quite
palatable. Faro is the root or bulb
of Il plant which Is an exart counter
part of what we call elephant ear" in
the United States and is somewhat
like. i, YAM. hut inclined To bp stinSy
or shreddy The inside of Il baked faro
bulb il very solid aud of Il bimish tint.
The fish needs no explanation.
Pork is the supreme delicacy. accord
ing to the S;,monn mind. and II is al
ways eaten in half cooked state.
Since a Sanluun will sell his birthrigilt
for a piece of pig. one half grown Is
worth $40 or SID and will always hnd
a market: therefore 1t Is easily seen
that pork can be afforded only on h"I-
iday occasions The Samoan method
of killing pig is unique. The AMI
mails feet are tied together. and 1t IL
laid upon its back. Then two large.
heavy natives place 2 by scantlins
across it's neck. after which they seat
themselves one on each end Of the
scantling
As the unfortunate pig is slowly
stranxled to death his heartless execn-
TONERS calmly talk politics. The rem
son for strangulation in putting hog
to death Is simply this: A pig Is held
in such high esteem that 1t breaks the
Samoan heart to see even the blood
being wasted The blood L. used In
conjunction with the fatty parts of the
entratls aud when baked forms some
Kind Of pudding. I have never tast.
ed this kind OF pudding myself. but
samoan will tell you that 1t is simply
delicious. and / am willing to take his
word for 1t. Even the cleaned entrails
are utilized. and right here In Samoa
We can again bring into use the Chi
cago stockyard phrase that ''only TIL"
squeai is lost
well remember the first and only
Samoan feast ever had the pleas.
ure Of attending. received an invi-
tation one day from Samoan whose
friendship had formed to attend
feast the following night which he
was giving to dedicate his new home.
There were several white men present
and about fifty natives. We were ar
ranged in two rows facing each other.
sitting cross legged. and in front of
each was small mat on which was
profusion of food. including lupe
tor pigeon,. piece of pork tpalusami'.
taro (breadfruitD-iD fact, everything
which goes to make Il Samoan feast
all to be washed down with cocoanut
milk. had taken two or three
mouthfuls of the pigeon when no
ticed that there was u ring of natives
each with basket waiting impatiently
Just outside the house. AS turned to
the man on my right for the purpose
of asking why these people were as.
sembled outside l sensed movement
in close proximity on my left Turning
quickly around. ] was just in time to
catch farewell glimpse Of my fine
supper being dumped bodily into one
Of those waiting baskets. saw at
once the reason for that overflow meet
ing outside. The woman who sat next
to me had taken a favorable opportu-
nifty when my back was turned to pick
up my mat and dispose of my meal to
her whiting relative. who had attend
ed tue overflow meeting with a bas-
ket.
Then ensued conglomerated scram-
BILE. and the feast was turned into a
scene of wild disorder as each native
strove to Guido his neighbor in secur-
ing the most food to send home. The
strategy. flank movements and tart
that they exhibited under the inspiring
grab game so far provoked my comedy
bump that was more than repaid for
the loss Of my supper in wntching
their energetic struggles to obtain food
gratis
was afterward informed that the
spectacle | had witnessed was simply
the natural course Of Samoan feast,
that they always ended the same way
and was indeed fortunate to have
secured taste OF so of my pigeon
Los Angeles Times.
The indispensable Boy.
Caller-How Is your new office boy
getting along these days? Lawyer
Oh. tine: He's got things 30 mixed no
now that | couldn't get along without
him.-T'uck.