Evening star., 1925-03-20
CHICAGO STRESSES
US. FOOD FANCY
Celebrates TWo-Score Ami
VerSary of Chop Suey, Held
American Product.

Chicago celebrates the two-score
Anniversary of chop suey, and IL
lus.rhSca how a luncheon fad among
State street shoppers literally trans
formed hillside landscapes in Japan
and China
Chop suev is n stranger to China
1T is as American as the ice cream
soda or hot dog'-but its making
requires bamboo sprouts from China
and Japan" says a bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society. when
the United States began buying the
succulent sprouts the effect upon the
thrifty farmers of Honshu and
Kiangsu was akin to a Nebraska a
to wheat. Edible bamboo had been
scrub bamboo; soon its yield WED with
timber bamboo
Jack and the Bamboo Stalk.
"Of course it did not take an Amer
fcan food fancy to show the Orient
that bamboo sprouts were good ca t.
ing. The japanese variety OF the
grass which yields the most luscious
sprouts is known as Moso'-a desig
nation that goes back TO the "a par
agons of Chinese fllal piety.
Once a widowed mother, so the
story goes, fell I'll in Midwinter. and
boo shoots. Her devoted son dug
down in the snow to find them for
her. and the gods rewarded his piety
by raising up shoots that grew to an
amazing size. Japanese artists, TO
this FAY, perpetuate this Jack and the
osYnboo stalk legend by their draw
inEs of the boy, Moso.
The actual facts about the bamboo
are fabulous enough. 1t is a grass
nd los nf mn 9
uses than any tree. One root may
project a hundred straight, polished.
jointed stems into the air; these grow
a high as 120 feet, and t4eir rate of
growth has been marked at more
than feet a day.
"A Chinese or Japanese family eat
bamboo, sleep under 1t, sail the river
on it, write with a pen and paper
made from IT, comb their hair with it,
cut their food with It, pipe water
with it and make their bird cages of
it. Western people multiplied its uses
by their inventions and employ 1t for
airplanes, flutes, hairpins porch
screens and photograph needles.
Bamboo Natures' Gift.
Bamboo has been called one Of ma
lures most valuable gifts to man. In
parts Of kiangsu Province, China, and
would not be amiss to speak of the
bamboo age, keeping in mind. how
ever, that the bamboo civilization is
much farther advanced than the date
palm civilization of the Sahara or the
'cocoanut palm civilization of the
South Sea Islands
The giant bamboos are true
grasses. They send underground
stems long distances through the soil.
binding it together with hard, flint
like root stalks, or rhiZmoes. From
this network Of roots and rhizmoes
they send upward the most rapid
growing shoots of any plant known
While the shoots are so fresh and
tender that they can be snapped off
with the hand and cooked to an
asparagus like delicacy; bamboo wood
is the strongest known timber for its
weight and its hard. siliceous exte rior
makes it serve for knives and whet-
stones.
Hrass vaiued for Its Beauty.
.'k1etipite ito numerous uses the
grass is valued also for its beauty.
The trees of China and Japan lend
charm to many landscapes. They
are waving plumes of delicate green
foliage, which. whether seen against
the skyline or backed by darker
mass OF forest, always give a pecu-
liar softness to the scene
Makers of scores of manufactured
products would be inconvenienced if
they were deprived of bamboo; cpl
cures would be saddened; but the
American small boy would be DESC
lated If the millions of bamboo poles
shipped here every year were cut off.
What would he do for his fishing
IodS?'