The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-04
~ BLANCHE McMANUs.

r INTENSIVE production and local
concentration make France less
Il liable TO suffer from a food
blockade than any other Euro
pean country.
We hear much about complicated
French food. but in reality vegetable
soups. potatoes. beans, cheese, bread
and wine constitute the simple and
vegetarian foundation of the famous
French cuisine. Then come those more
elaborate dishes which give the repu-
tation for complication and put on the
muscle and the sinew. Lastly there
are those dainty sauces, those insid-
dous entremets. the garniture OF
French food, whose Pumping qualities
are responsible for the rather excess
sive avoirdupois which Is the French
characteristic.
The Americans first thought in siz-
ting up the food supply Of France Is
ecepticism as to It's efficiency. Nothing
o. produced IN great quantities. There
are no big packing houses, no big fac
tories Of package food. no large output
Of canned stuff. no great movement Of
food supplies from one part Of the
country to another. Yet France I'M
ports less foodstuff than any other
European country and exports even
In war times not only more than any
other European country but a larger
variety Of products.
France has a sample Of every Euro
pean climate within her political con-
fines and can grow successfully al
most every known food. While the
- tvS oil 10 arlx
doubled on many staples. there has
bsen little rise in food prices, except
In the case OF sugar. in France.
The nation does II by the concen-
tYaked. intensive method Of provision
an4. Each little neighborhood depends
upon its own nearby resources, grows
within It's small radius what II eats,
even to meat and the making into
-four Of the wheat which II grrws
Any surplus goes 10 Paris. but first
Of all the neighborhood wants are
taken care Of. Consequently when the
war came there was no scarcity. there
was no dlslocation OF the markets
through the inability to ship food
about through the country.
To buy or sell market stun In any
but ones local market. held usually in
the town square in open air booths
md stalls, Is never dreamed Of and
those luxuries which are brought in
from outside are surtaxed tn the ex-
tent that their sale is never very
great. This may even restrict trade
within the nations own boundaries
hut it makes for local larders being a,
at all times full and just now this is
what Is helping France out.
Here is the sequence OF the French
menu and its most characteristic c
dishes. and here is shown the special
part of the astronomical map OF
France which furnishes their ingredi-
ents.
We begin with oysters, though ths
French are not always So extravagan'
as to take both oysters and soup
French oysters are an acquired taste
which is coppery, but once prejudic'
against the suspicious purple will
which they are edged is overcome tn
oyster gourmet will swear by them
They are small, thin and costly. anc
therefore reall. belong TO the trim
mings OF the French menu. They arr
farmed along both the Atlantic anC
the Mediterranean coast; but tn
Marennes OF the Charente- Inferieur'
and the square little bivalves NJ Ar
cachon are most in vogue, 100000
OF them a season being eaten in Pari
alone.
Arcachon Is a charming seaside re
sort little known 20 the outsider, wher
the French aristOcracy goes TO ca
oysters on the oyster fats themselves
farmed by quaint oystermen in blaz
ing scarlet Jackets and maids IN be
witching white coiffes.