Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-08-16
JEsTs BY EPIcURE
German Makes Many Jokes
About American Cooking.
Criticises Our Sweet Tooth and De
clares Our Roasts Are TasteIess
Tells of Chickens as Big
as Storks.

New York-Ernst Won Wolgozen,
who came to New York last winter TO
study social conditions, is a man OF
letters and in his own country ranks
higher in a literary sense than many
Of his countrymen who visit the Unit.
ed States. 1t was to be expected,
therefore, that he would carry home
valuable impressions of life here, but
he seems to have been impressed
chiefly by the crudities of the cuisine.
To him American cooking is so gro
tesque and naive a gastrcmonic sys-
ITEM that his ridicule of 1t lies in the
least serious fields of burIesque. AS
conclusion to all he observed here,
he thinks Americans want everything
SO sweet that a frequent visit to the
dentist is inevitable. From the cot
lee in the morning until the late sup
per he finds that Americans must
have their sweet tooth satisfied or
they are unhappy.
1t is not easy to say in what kinds
of homes Herr Won Wolgozen studied
life here. since he finds that the do
nestle service in the best houses Is
so poor that it is difficult to get the
dishes washed and the result of this
is the necessity of getting along with
one knife. This condition he says
makes il difficult to eat roast beef, as
the silver knives will not cut it and
there are no houses ir which both
kinds of kniyac ara fnrud
He remarks that of all the roasis
served ON New York tables, beef IS
alone possible t. eat. since lamb
chops and veal outlets are tasteless.
Perhaps the most astonishing state
ment he makes in reference to the
roasts is that at certain house he
received for dinner honey as a com
pote. Surely this is unique not only
in his experience, but in that of most
New Workers. Compete or stewed
fruits are seldom served in American
families. but are to be found on the
tables of Germans. so Herr Won VOL
gozen must have had this experience
in the house of some of his com.
patriots.
Came" he says in one place, lis
much more eaten in the United States
than it is with us. Poultry grows to
the most improbable dimensions here,
have seen chickens as tell as storks
and as fat as a poodle dog.
THE flesh of these abnormals
large beasts is, however, not tender,
and the limbs in particular acquire
an entirely different character from
the flesh on TIE breasts. 1t turns
brown ard succulent in the roasting,
while the white flesh remains dry and
flavorless."
1t is evident that what Herr Won
Wolgozen describes as a chicken must
have been turkey. Some of his 9th
er experiences at table were more
remarkable. but they probably hap.
pened in a boarding house-if they
happened anywhere. He says that
young chicken is even served with
sweet -four sauce, which he finds
"ery disagreeable, since even In the
finer houses the servants will not
wash the dishes and it is necessary
to eat everything on the plate With
the chicken and the sweet sauce.
He says that in his boarding house
after soup a piece of fish was served
to him. About this plate from which
he was supposed to eat the fish were
lair many small dishes containing
vegetables, chicken and various com
binations of vegetables and meat. He
was compelled to eat these on the fish
plate and liked only potatoes. which,
baked in their skins, he found de-
licious. He observes with the air of
an authority that all the fish from the
Atlantic ocean are so poor that only
the river and freshwater fish are re
garded as worth eating"
Il do not think" he said, that there
is in the three kingdoms of nature
anything that is not to be found in an
American salad The groundwork of
this is composed of two or three large
green leaves. On these is poured oil
mixed with vinegar, and there arises
more or less striking structure OF
all impossible sours and sweets, salts
and bitters, toughs and tenders, liquid,
edible and inedible objects"