MEXICO'S STAFF OF LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11730, 21 June 1916, Page 4

MEXICO'S STAFF OF LIFE.

TORTILLAS AND FRIJOLES. Since the flays of the Monteaumas, Mexico s staff ol life hns "taken the form of tho tortillas, made of Indian corn, | indigenous to the country. Til© Indian womon first boil the {.rrnin and then, while adding water, grind it to a stiff paste ou a. motaU\ or flat, mortar. T his paslo usually is mounted with the hands into thin cakes and is cooked nmoh after tho fashion of tho '* hoo cake," of Dixie land. Tlio frijole, or Mexican boan, i'recjuently fried in tat, is another staple, both when served alone and when constituting an important ingredient of tho famous chile con enrtie, a sort of goulash, compounded, customarily, of beef and beans, will a plentiful .seasoning of chili, the Mexican pepper. / The hot iamale has made its -way across the border, but it does not bavo tho same flavour when taken from a can, as when the particles of meat aro seasoned with pepper, mixed with com meal, wrapped in corn "shucks," boiled until thoroughly cooked, peeled out of and ; eaten from tho shuck. One of the odd dishes of Northern Mexico is tho pipian, made of finely ground squash seed, boiled in a saucepan. While the tortillas, frijoles, chilo con earne and tamales, washed down with liberal potations of pulque, may be considered the foundation of his menu, tho peon, of Southern Mexico has various appetisers which aro unknown to tho peon of tho north. There is, for example, the water wheat," which is not exactly what its name implies, but the eggs of flies. The native Mexican eats this with the same epicurean relish that tlio Chineso mandarin oats his expensive bird-nest, tho Central African his raw hippopotamus, tlio Canton merchant his stall-fed dog and the West) Indian his palm worms stewed in fat>. The water-wheat fields are ponds in which tho peon places bundles of reeds a few feet apart, so that their tops are just above the surface. On these reeds, or rushes the insects deposit their eggs in incredible numbers. The bundles are then removed and the crop is shaken off. The eggs, resembling fine fish-roe, aro made into small cakes and are sold in the markets, to be eaten either as we cat cheese, or mixed with corn meal and fowl eggs. Lovers of chocolate bonbons and drinkers of cocoa are indebted to the ancient Mexicans for the cocoa* bean. The Montezumas called tho beverage made from this bean, which was at one time used as money, clioeolati, from choco (cocoa) and lati (water). Another valuable bean from tropical Mexico is the vanilla, which grows on a climbing orchid.-—' - ' Geographical Society Bulletin."