Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

, is nothing very chic about the market
basket
It was Just a sensible old arrange
ment for bringing home the bacon"
Yet there were market baskets and
market baskets, even in those days.
Some were extra-capacious, wide
enough to hold q twenty-pound turkey,
with plenty of room around the edges
for cranberries, potatoes, beans, dried
black-eyed peas, celery, carrots and
many other edibles. for Washington
gala dinner.
Some of those old containers were
almost as large as willow clothes baskets,
the sort Walt Whitman mentioned in
one Of his poems, as filled with white
| towels for the benefit of river bathers.
Whitman must have seen those
baskets in the National Capital, where
he worked as Government employe for
several years, visiting the Civil War
hospitals after hours, and, one may
suspect, during hours, too, such was the
lure his errands of mercy had upon his
sensitive being.
The market baskets were filled with
black-eyed peas, in the dried form, We
have stated, upon the authority OF
Templeton Jones, himself, who has look
ed into old market lists.
I With such an honorable history. it
would seem that every household today
would know this delectable vegetable,
but not every home uses them, or seems
to know much about them.
Washington markets have always car
ried them, no doubt George Washing
ton grew them. and ate them.
They look very much like small beans,
with a bean-like flavor bettered by the
! Or of
One of the finest points to the black
eyed pea is that one can eat an almost
unlimited quantity of them without
arriving at a state Of repletion.
They are easily digested and their
flavor is SO delicate that it combines
harmoniously with other foods. A
curious trait of the black eyed pea is
that it is much better in its dried state
than when fresh.
The fresh pea lacks the peculiar del
| icate taste which dried peas possess in
perfection This is another similarity
to the entire bean family, which In the
dried state shows up very well on the
| family dinner table.
| Dried black-eyed peas. properly pre-
pared. are old-fashioned edibles which
are just as good today as ever A
quantity of the peas are placed in a
| cooking utensil with a quantity Of cold
water This is brought to boil. The
water is then poured off. and the peas
are washed in fresh. cold water. This
| is poured off and the peas again COW
cred with cold water. in which is placed
| strip of bacon and a bit of salt
| This is brought to boil and the whole
/ boiled gently for about 2l2 hours
+ This is the genuine, old-fashioned
manner Of preparing black-eyed peas,
which, with a little ketchup, or catsup,
| and a glass Of cold milk, with bread
and butter. make an entire meal in
themselves.
| Templeton Jones is convinced that
there will be a revival in the carrying
! Of the market basket. 1t is by no
means extinct, Of course, even now, al
though to one who recalls the old days
it rather fulfills the ancient saw about
being conspicuous by its absence"
All that is required. he feels, for its
return to glory, is change in the
mental habits Of the world, especially
of the women folk.
Let some Hollywood star, or other,
appear in all the picture sections with
a market basket on her arm, and let
this be combined with some change or
other-JoneS does not know What-in
the economic aspects of civilization, and
the world will shortly see grand rush
for market baskets.
The very wives who refuse to carry
them now. because they are not in style,
will then revel in the novelty-it will be
very chic, of caurse-of carrying a neat
basket swung over the left arm.
Maybe the full market basket will
point the way to return of the old
American prosperity upon which Amer
leans so prided themselves. Templeton
Jones says stranger things have hap
pened.