Strange Foods Popular With Many Peoples

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 12

Strange Foods Popular With Many Peoples

Dishes Considered To Be Delicacies

Meats and vegetables, the staple articles of diet in the temperate zones, comprise but a small part of the human food supply of the world, asserts Dr. Austin H. Clark, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. “Fastidiousness is an attribute rapidly acquired by all peoples with increasing prosperity/' said Dr. Clark, and one of the first symptoms of an incipient attack is restriction in the number of kinds of food consumed. In America we have aways had abundant food, and have been able to pick and choose our diet. Thus we have 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 America, and they are very good to eat, as I can testify. South American Indians eat monkeys, but the flesh is tough and strong. In our own country we have been known to eat skunks, and in some Eastern shore places large fruit bats are highly esteemed. Whales Excellent Food “Chicken and rice three times a day formed my entire bill of fare once, for a period of six weeks. Then we 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. Whale meat is excellent as food, but the irregular supply naturally prevents its widespread popularity. “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. Hawk§ are a delicacy, as are herons and parrots. Why, 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, especialty’ the iguanas, are delicious and in high favour when ever they can be pro-

cured. Crocodile meat is reckoned go 3d food by the African, and the tails of alligators are enjoyed by Southern negroes. In Siam the crocodile appears regularly as a market food.

“In Greenland the natives eat the flesh of the great Arctic shark; but an amateur may quickly succumb to what :Ls known as shark intoxication. In the "West Indies fish eyes are considered a delicacy. In North-eastern Asia boiled salmon eyes are a favourite dish. They resemble large blueberries. Sheep's eyes, too, are very poplar in Asia Minor.

“Jellyfish often excite our interest because of their beautiful colouring - . We never think of them as food. Yet jellyfish are eaten in Japan and the Inlind Sea islands. Flavoured with condiments, this dish is very appetising. In ages past the jellyfish was also relished as fair north as Cornwall, En gland. 'Among the sea worms there is one tha.t is very important as food in many places in Polynesia. It is called the palolo. When fully grown it averages about 16 inches in length and makes a fin-a 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 Japan. I know from personal experience that both are ve;ry good when properly prepared. 4 The 17-year locust, or periodical cicada, was eaten boiled by the Indians, but white settlers never used it save in the manufacture of soap. The ancient Greeks thought well of the cicada and it was a favourite with the poets. “In the eastern foothills of the Rockies there is a large moth called the pandora. It has the longest life of all the moths, and its caterpillar larvae are particularly relished by the PaiUtes in the Klamath region of Oregon. Quantities of caterpillars are gathered and dried for winter use. I have tried them, but they seem to fill my mouth with dust. The “manna” of the biblical ancients appears to be a term applied to these dried caterpillars or other insects. “Grasshoppers, when they are abundant, are eaten by the Arabs, being ground up in hand mills as a substitute for flour, or boiled or stewed in butter. The Hottentots feast upon them, too, and make a coffee-coloured soup from their eggs. In Calcutta dried grasshoppers form an ingredient of the most delicious curries. White ants, too, are eaten by Hottentots, and remind you, if you close your eyes, of sweet-almond paste. Large earthworms are swallowed by the singing girls of Japan in the hope that they will in some way improve their voices.”