Evening star., 1939-05-17

SuCH euuCdllOlldl ehIllOlIS as lne
restaurants offer.
Take the biggest market here-a
block square and occupying five or
six floors above and below street
level. The endless foodlined corri-
doris are an invitation to a stroll
long enough to counteract later in
vestlgationS with a knife and fork.
The thing that first hit my eye
and the market is laid out to please
the eye as we'll as the appetite
was a stall of strange creatures that
swim, crawl and run in the sea-
octopuses, etc. Tender little fellows
galloped over the bottom of their
tank or shrank timidly from the
public gaze. Their big brothers had
been stripped of their arms, all
eight of them. These limbs, geo.
metrically arranged, were laid out
before me in boxes of ice.
Smothered in Onions.
Having read about octopuses eat
ing men, it occurred to me that I
might turn the tables on the greedy
cephalopod. I therefore ordered
octopus tonight-large octopus, the
bigger the better.
The waiter. who is my pal q
overtipped him several times before
I learned the difference between
the milreis of Brazil and the pesos
of Argentina) brought me my octo-
pus smothered in onions-pretty we'll
smothered, I'm happy to say.
Such sections Of the cephalopod
as l had the temerity to excavate
tasted like slices of last years gar
den hose, plus rather pungent
odor which anybody who ever ate
fish in a boarding house should be
able to identify. So much for the
octopus. but the mussels. the Snails,
sting rays, etc. were happier eX-
pertinent - much happier. They
were done to turn (manv chefs
here are Partisan, and one I know
of catered to a Balkan King, who
didn't die of overeating) and gar
nished with delicate sauces.
The meat stalls at the market
were artistic triumphs-carcasses Cf
baby lambs, sucking pigs. fattened
ducks, geese chickens. partridges
pheasants, all arranged in patterns
of color size and shape Even the
edible interior arrangements of
sheep and cattle were plated and
festooned in garlands. Bright, varl.
colored cheeses made pretty mosalcs.
and, in luxury meat stalls, special
cuts bore the hair and hide of the
contributing animal so that fastidl-
GUS Argentines could identify their
favorite breeds.
Lambs Sell for Sl.50.
Choice fat young lambs were going
for pesos each. less than S1.5O in
our money, or about the price of
a second-rate leg of lamb in the
States. Other prices were in por-
portion.
In a vast underground market
auctions disposed of wholesale guam
titles of beef in rapid order. The
proceeding sounded like a dozen
North Carolina tobacco auctions al
conducted simultaneously in Span
ish. I was glad I didn't have TO
bid on my beefsteaks there.
The fruit and produce sections
combined the best from temperate
cold and semi-tropical climates of
this vicinity-pineapples, citrus fruit,
bananas and avocados from Brazil
huge Chilean apples; grapes,
peaches, plums, olives from Mendosa
Argentina; chicory, lettuce ard
watercress, vast mounds of cauli-
flower: Japanese persimmons In
graded boxes, pomegranates and
countless melons, fruits and vege-
tables I had never seen or heard Of
But tonight, after miles of walk
ing between abundant quantities of
the worlds finest food, I found 1
wasn't hungry.
I'm afraid that octopus got me
after all!
Tomorro1C:; A Woman'S VieU of
ArOPntinp Women