Curiosities of Feeding.

Evening Star, Issue 7875, 6 April 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

Curiosities of Feeding.

Monkeys are eaten by the Chinese and others. The flesh is said to be palatable. Wolves are forbidden among the African Arabs, but are not unfrequently eaten by sick persons, from the belief that their flesh is medicinal. Five thousand cats are said to have been eaten in Paris during the late siege. According to Dr Garrod, the cat is downright good eating. A young one. well cooked, is better than a hare or rabbit. It tastes something like the American grey squirrel, but is even tenderer and sweeter. One thousand two hundred dogs, it is stated, were eaten in Paris during the siege, and the flesh fetched from two to three francs per pound. According to Pliny, puppies were regarded as a great delicacy by the Roman gourmands. The bear supplies food to several nations of Europe, and its hams are considered excellent. The flesh of the brown or black bear, which is eaten by the common people of Norway, Russia, and Poland, is difficult of digestion, and is generally salted and dried before it is used. Two bears were eaten in Paris during the siege, and the flesh was supposed to taste like pig. The Indian tribes of the interior of Oregon eat bears. The hedgehog is considered a princely dish in Barbary, and is eaten in Spain and Germany. It is frequently eaten by the sick among the African Arabs from the belief that the flesh is medicinal. Mice and rats are eaten in Asia and Africa, and considered delicate morsels. The taste of rats is considered to be something like that of birds. The Chinese eat them, and to the Esquimaux epicures the mouse is a real bonne bouche. Rats and mice were eaten in Paris during the siege. The porcupine is reckoned delicious food in America and India, and resembles sucking pig. The Dutch and Hottentots are fond of it, and it is frequently brought to thetableattheCapeof Good Hope. The equirrel is eaten by the Natives of Australia, the North American Indians, and is a favorite dish in Sweden and Norway. The flesh is tender, and said to resemble that of a barndoor fowl. The flesh of the beaver is much prized by the Indians and Canadian traders, especially when it has been roasted in the skin after the hair has been singed off. It is also used in South America, and said to be excellent eating. Catlin calculates that above 250,000 North American Indians subsist almost exclusively on the buffalo through every part of the year. The beef is tough, dark colored, and occasionally of a musky flavor. The reindeer is eaten ia Siberia, and is the favorite food of the Esquimaux. It is the principal nourishment of the Laplanders.

The flesh of the horse is eaten largely by various nations. The Indian horsemen of the Pampas live entirely on the flesh of their mares, and eat neither bread, fruit, nor vegetables. A Berlin newspaper states that there were at a certain date seven markets for horseflesh in that city, in which during the first ten months of the year there were 150 horses slaughtered. A meeting was held in 1864 at the Acclimatisation Garden in Paris for the purpose of promoting the greater consumption of horseflesh as an article of food. In 1866 the first horse butcher's shop was opened in Paris. Sixty-five thousand horses, it is asserted, were eaten in Paris during the siege, and the flesh was facetiously called " siege venison." On the 6th of February, 1368, a memorable "banquet hippophagique" was given at the Langham Hotel, under the auspices of Mr Bicknell. According to Pliny, the Romans at one time ate the ass. The wild ass is still in muoh esteem among the Parisians, who consider it as equal to venison. One thousand donkeys and two thousand mules are reported to have been eaten in Paris during the siege. The flesh of the latter is delicious, and far superior to beef ; roast mule i B , in fact, an exquisite dish. Ass's flesh forms the basis of the renowned sausages of Bologna.

The elephant is eaten in Abyssinia and other parts of Africa, also in Sumatra. Some steaks that were cut off Chanee, the elephant that was shot at Exeter Change, on being cooked were declared to be " pleasant meat." The three elephants that were eaten in Paris during the siege were pronounced a great success. Snakes are eaten by the Chinese, the Natives of Australia, and by those of many other countries ; but the flesh is reckoned unwholesome, and liable to occasion leprosy. A nutritious broth for invalids is made in some places from the flesh of the poisonous viper.—The author of ' Three-cornered Essays.'