IN FRENCH NOUMEA

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3471, 26 May 1934, Page 3

IN FRENCH NOUMEA

(By. B. R. Perry in Brisbane Mail.) “ Since Eve ate apples much, depends ,on dinner.” So wrote Byron, who in his. hectic day had a lively -appreciation both for dinners and Eves. And to his cryptic observation the men of all creeds and breeds—the hungry sinners—will utter a fervent “Amen,” or the equivalent thereof.

Australians and New Zealanders, in common with their Anglo-Saxon ancestors, regard their meals as more or less necessary evils." "They eat, as a rule, in a preoccupied way and solely so that they may live. Breakfast is a gloomy meal, luncheon is scarcely any brighter, and even dinner is not a joyous ceremony.

PLEASURES OF THE FRENCH.

How different it is with the Frenchman ! He lives for the pleasure he can get out of life. In short, he lives to eat and drink and laugh and love. And all these things he does thoroughly, and from each he derives the utmost degree of pleasure. How necessary, then, for madam e his wife to g-ive much thought to his. meals and his wines; how essential that she should cultivate a witty tongue to make hint laugh, a desirable appearance to hold his roving glance ! Many good colonial housewives can never hope to afford a trip to far-away France; but they need not go so far from home to study French methods of house-keeping. Four days’ sail north-east from Sydney is the French colony of New Caledonia, with the charming little town of Noumea for its capital. There the rare wines and perfumes of France maybe bought for incredibly small sums by comparison with Australian prices, and the proprietors of luxurious hotels -almost wrestle with one another in their anxiety to secure your patronage for the equivalent of 8s or 9s ;v day. A COLOURFUL PAGEANT. Noumea combines the lazy atmosphere of the tropic isles, the colour and romance of the East, and the rare charm of the French village life. It is pleasant to sit in La Place on a Sunday afternoon listening to the laughter and the clinking of glasses in the quaint little wine cafes; more delightful still to study the colourful pageant that, passes by one this gala day of the week. Here are diminutive Javanese women, pretty as butterflies in- their brilliant jackets and wrap-on skirts: laughing, ebony-hued Canaques, with gay flowers in their woolly heads; chic French girls, so incomparably dainty; flat-faced Tonkinese women, in loose pants and vests, and wearing atrocious mushroom helmets; Japanese women, in gay kimonos; full-lipped, slumberous-eyed halfbreeds of a dozen different dusky] shades. Many peoples, many tongues—and never a word of English ! KEEN HOUSEWIVES.

Frenchwomen are noted the world over for their keen sense of values when shopping; it is not surprising, therefore, to *find that they do their household buying between 5 and 6.30 a.m. in Noumea at the early-morning market. Almost every French household has its Javanese indentured servant or servants, and sometimes madame sends one of these to buy the fish and meat, and fruit and vegetables. Mostly, however, she prefers to go herself to see that she gets the utmost value for every franc.

La Place, a central park, is the scene iof the market; the friendly trees offer the only shelter for the stall-holder. There is little to distinguish those stalls from any others except for the fish stalls. No stinking fish, with baleful, glassy eye, for madame ! No, indeed ! She inspects them as they swim in a small tank of clear water. Having made her purchase, le poisson is scooped from the water, a cord is run through its head, and, still struggling valiantly, it is borne off in triumph by madame. TWO BIG MEALS. The absence of breakfast simplifies

madame's task somewhat for the preparation of dejeuner at 11.30 a.m.

and le diner at 7.30 p.m., and the cheap coloured domestic labour relieves her from the anxiety of the actual cleaning and cooking and serving. Her task, then, is to plan the courses, make the right purchases, hover round the kitchen to see that her instructions are being carried out to the letter, and then to ensure that m’sicur her husband is not kept wait* ing between .his courses.

It is not, however, such an easy task as it would appear on the surface, because his two meals a day are the most important undertakings for m’sieur. Does he not close his place of business from. 11 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. so that ,he may approach h,is first meal in the rigtht frame of mind and enjoy the siesta afterwards that hearty eating and drinking always invite ? Does he not finish his ordinary business of the day fully an hour before “le diner ” to permit of general relaxation and an appetising wine or so beforehand ? And is not the menu 1 something to be studied and discussed with consuming interest ?

Even in the most humble homes there are many savoury courses to be served at each meal, and the planning and preparation of these are by no means small tasks. And there is no fear that m’sieur may think le poisson commonplace, le- petit.qrois unsavoury, or la dinde r.oti.e. .overdone.

“ Feeding the brute ” in French Noumea is full of interest.