STRANGE MEAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1928, Page 11

STRANGE MEAL

WORLD’S QUEEREST MENUS.

Meats and vegetables, the staple article of diet in the temperate zones, comprise only a small part of the human food supply of the world (says Dr Austin H. Clark, of the world-famous Smithsonian institute in Washington). “Fastidiousness is an attribute rapidly acquired by all peoples with increasing prosperity,’’ he declares. ‘We have thus eliminated from our list of edibles many items that are important economic factors elsewhere. We disregard cats and rats, for instance; yet when cooked in other countries and called rabbits these are not so bad. “Sentiment, too, has always been against snakes, though they are eaten in some places, even in this country, and they are very good to eat, as I can testify. South American Indians eat monkeys, but the flesh is tough and strong. We have been known to eat skunks, and in some Eastern seaside places large bats are .highly esteem&d* “Chicken and rice three times a day formed by entire bill of fare once—for a period of six weeks. We then caught a whale, and I acquired 401 b. of good fresh meat. I still look back on that whale meat as the finest meat I ever tasted, resembling the best of beef, but more tender. Nearly all kinds of birds are eaten unless their flesh is nauseating, as in the case of vultures, or too bitter to be swallowed, as in the case of spruce grouse. Hawks are a delicacy, as are herons and parrots. I have even seen the English sparrow in our markets, and in days past our fathers feasted royally on robin pies. “Some of the larger lizards, especially the iguanas, are delicious and in high favor whenever they can be procured. -Crocodile meat is reckoned good food by the African, and the tails of alligators are enjoyed by southern negroes. The crocodile appears . regularly as a market food. In Siam and in Greenland the natives eat the flesh of the great Arctic shark, but an amateur may quickly succumb to what is known as shark intoxication. Fish eyes in the West Indies are considered a delicacy, and in North-eastern Asia boiled salmon eyes are a favorite dish. They resemble large blueberries. Sheep’s eyes, too, are very popular in Asia Minor. “Jellyfish often excite our interest because of their beautiful coloring. We never think of them as food, but jelly-fish are eaten in Japan and the Inland Seat Islands. This dish, flavored with condiments, is very appetising. The jellyfish in ages past was also relished as far north as Cornwall, England. The seaworms include one that is very important as food in many places in Polynesia. It is called the palolo, and when fully grown it averages about 16in. in height, and makes a fine stew.

“Squids and octopus are in. demand in many parts of the world, and form the basis for an important industry, especially in the Sea of Jarpan. I know from personal experience that both are very good when properly prepared. The seventeenth-year Ipcust, or periodical cicada, was eaten boiled by the American Indians, but while settlers never used it except in the manufacture of soap. “There exists in the eastern foothills of the Rockies a large moth, called the pandora. It has the longest life of all the moths, and its caterpillar larvae are particularly relished by the Pai-Utes in the Klamath region of Oregon. Dried grasshoppers form an ingredient of the most delicious curries in Calcutta. White ants, too, are eaten by Hottentots, and remind you, if you close eyes of sweetalmond paste. Large earthworms are also swallowed by the singing girls of Japan in the hope that they will in some way improve their voices.