CURIOSITIES OF FEEDING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1642, 24 March 1884, Page 2

CURIOSITIES OF FEEDING.

Monkeys are eaten by the Chinese and others, The- flesh is said to be palatable. Wolves are forbidden among the African Arabs, but'are not unfiequently eaten by sick persons from the belief that their flesh is medicinal, five thousand,cats are said to have been eaten in Paris during the late seige. According to the same authority, tho cat is downright good eating. A young one, well cooked, is better than hare, or rabbit. It tastes something like the American grey squirrel, but is even tenderer and sweeter, One thousand two hundred dogs, it is stated, were eaten in Paris during the late seige, and the flesh fetched from two to three francs per pound. According to Pliny, puppies were regarded as a great' delicacy by the Roman gourmands. The bear, supplies food to several nations of Europe, and its hams are considered excellent, The flesh of

the brown or black bear, which is, eaten by the common people of Nor« way, Russia, and Poland, is difficult of digestion, and it is generally Baited and dried before it is used. Two bears were eaten in Paris during the seige,i and the flesh was supposed to taste"like!| pig. The Indian tribes of the in-! i terior of Oregon eat bears. The; hedgehog is considered a princely dish!' in Barbary, and is eaten in Spain andi 1 Germany, It is frequently eaten by { the sick among the .African from the belief that the flesh .is!! medicinal. Mice and rats are; eaten in Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and considered delicate morsels. The taste of rats is considered to bo something like that of birds, The Chinese eat them, and to the Esquimaux epicures the mouse is a real bonne bouch. Eats and mice were eaten in Paris during the siege; The porcupine is reckoned delicious in America and India, : and resembles sucking-pigs. The Dutch and the Hottentots are fond of it, and it is frequently brought to table at the Cape of Good Hope The squirrel is eaten by the natives of Australia, the Noi+h American Indians, and is a favorite dish in Sweden and Norway. The flesh is tender, aud said to resemble that of a barn-door fowl. It is sometimes eaten by the lower classes in England and United States, and is said l to make excellent pies; Tho flesh- of the beaver is much prized by the Indians and Canadian traders, especially when it has been roasted in the skin after the hair has been singed off. It is also used in South America, and is said to be excellent eating. Catlin calculates that above two hundred and fifty thousand North American Indians subsist almost exclusively on the buffalo, through every part of the year, The beef is tough, dark colored, and occasionally of: a 1 musky flavor. The reindeer is eaten in Siberia, and is the favorite food of the Esquimaux, It is the principal nourishment of the Laplanders. The flesh of the horse is eaten largely by various nations. The Indian horsemen of the Pampas live entirely on the flesh of their mares, and eat neither fruit, nor even any vegetable with it. A Berlin newspaper states there were at a certain date seven markets for horseflesh in that city, in which, during tho first ten months of the year, there were one hundred and fifty horses slaughtered. A meeting was held in 1864 at the Acclimatisation Garden in Paris for the purpose of promoting the greater consumption, of horseflesh as an article of food. In 1866 the first butcher's shop was then open.in Paris, Sixty-five.thousand horses, it is asserted, were eaten in Paris during the siege, and the flesh was facetiously called " siege venison," On the 6th of February, 1868, a memorable "banquet hippophagiquc" was given at the Longham Hotel, under the auspices of Mr Bicknell. The Romans, according to Pliny, :tt one time ate the ass. The wild ass is still in much favor among the Persians, who consider it as equal to venison. One thousand donkeys and two thousand mules are reported to have been eaten in Paris during the siege. The flesh of the latter is delicious, and far superior to beef. Pioast mule, in fact, is an exquisite dish. Ass's flesh forms the basis, of the renowned Bolgona sausage. The elephant is eaten in Abyssinia and other parts of Africa, also in Sumatra. Some steaks that were cut off Counee, the elephant that was shot at Exeter 'Change, on being cooked, were declared to be " pleasant meat." The three elephants that were eaten in Paris during the siego were pronounced a great success. The liver was considered finer than that of any goose or duck, —London Society.