NEW FOOD FROM CHINA.

Mataura Ensign, 20 March 1909, Page 6

NEW FOOD FROM CHINA.

A new loud Lb coming, to town (says a London paper)—new, that it, in th» sense that comparatively few people ill the country have partaken of it. The snja or soya bean is a product of Man"dunin. In appearance it bomcwlut resembles the ordinary lentil, while in taste (uncooked) it approaches very nearly to the tasto of the common •split" pea. It hat only heretofore been brought to this country in very small quantities, and in spito of tbo tact that it constitutes almost the staple food o) the Chinese laborer it has never been seriously considered by Western civilisation as a bean with food properties. Travellers who have journed through / the interior ol Manchuria tell marvel-' lons stories ol Chinese carriers who will cover thirty miles a day regularly with a load of 1201b to 1301b upon their backs, and these laborers keep up their strength for this work by eating the '<>.ja bean. Some British physicians have recognised its value as a food for diabetes, ami it is also prescribed at (crtaiu German hospitals for tbo same complaint. The Japanese have for mauy years past laid it under contribution ■• the basis of their well-known and piquant sauce, and it is from one of the Japanese firms that Europe will shortly revive a consignment of, it it anticipated, well over 100,000 tone. A» a food the Lean is prepared in very similar fashion *" the method employed in cooking ;;r«iiiud rice.