The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-08-21
Food Fit for Man Is a Question
of Custom.
Certain Dishes of White Man
ScOrned by Savages.
CATERPILLARS TASTE GOOD
That Is Providing One Knows
Not What He Eats.
Some of the DeIicacies(0 OF
the Natives Of Africa.

Over on the dark continent" the
natives eat such delicacies(O as cat
erpillars. mice, beetles and white ants
Even the mere suggestion of indulg-
ing in these viands of the African
aborigines would be repulsiVe to the
average Topekan and would make a
few of the more SenSitiVely inclined
quite i'll. On the other hand, the
primitive natives look upon the whites
with amazement and a ceItaiD degree
of cOntempi because of their liking
certain articles of diet which the
blacks scOrn.
The question naturally arises wheth-
er. after all it is not merely matter
of custom that determines the fitness
of food for human consumption
In the early nineties in Rhodesia,
Great Britain's frontier colony, many
a pioneer ate with relish food pre-
pared by natiVes-that is until the in
gradients were known.
For instance, to learn that one had
been indulging in a grub worm stew
was thought too repelling for words.
Too Shiny for the Native.
The writer, who later spent six years
in Rhodesia. considered frog legs a
great delicacy, and often asked his
black boy cook to prepare his favor
tie dish. This the native did, but the
scowl on his couEtenance indicated his
reluctance to do so. He asked how it
was that white man could. eat any
thing so Shiny,
There are many fastidious epicures
in this country who are willing to pay
high prices for frog legs, and while
one Otter hears of bullfrog farms now
adays, there are large numbers of
persons who are squeamish when it
comes to the thought Of eating frog
flesh. They simply have to be edu-
Gated to it. Oysters are generally
eaten. although to many children the
thought is repulsive; it is often a ques-
ton of learning to like them. Custom
certainly governs likes or dislikes to a
large degree.
Everybody among the blacks of
Africa eats locusts or grasshoppers. An
American who had been in Africa ate
a small r-alive-because
of a dare made by half dozen of his
friends who put up two bits each as
an inducement a reporter on Chi
cago newspaper heard of the stunt and
the photograph of the fellow who an
neXed a dollar and a half for swal-
lowing an insect,
Locusts and Wild Honey.
The Kafirs eat locLsts and wild
honey, as did the people of Biblical
days. The former, which are nothing
more nor less than huge grasshoppers
several inches in length, move in
swarmS so dense at times that the rays
of the sun are obscured At dusk they
alight on the forest trees, bending the
limbs with their weight. The natives
bag them when they are benumbed by
the cool night air They are boiled
and placed flat granite rocks to
dry. They are then stored away in
great earthen pots and used as oc
casion demands. The legs and wings
are discarded, a little salt added, and
then the insects are warmed prepare
tory for use. They are eaten one
would eat potato chips And one who
has partaken of grasShOpper fries"
is authority for the statement that
they arc not half bad.
\ relish concocted with ground pea