Part 1

THE

CURIOSITIES OF FOOD;

OR THE

DAINTIES AND DELICACIES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS

OBTAINED FROM THE

ANIMAL KINGDOM.

BY

PETER LUND SIMMONDS, F.R.G.S., F.S.S.,

AUTHOR OF “A DICTIONARY OF TRADE PRODUCTS,” “THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM,” ETC., ETC.

_Cassius._ Will you dine with me to-morrow?

_Casca._ Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating. JULIUS CÆSAR.

_Horatio._ O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

_Hamlet._ And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. HAMLET, Act 1, scene 5.

LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1859.

LONDON: PRINTED BY G. PHIPPS, RANELAGH STREET, EATON SQUARE.

PREFACE.

The sustentation of the body, and the repairing of its waste by an adequate supply of wholesome and nutritious daily food, is a subject of general importance, and necessarily occupies a large share of attention. But all nations have not the advantages of skilful cattle-breeders, slaughter-houses, well-supplied meat and poultry markets, and butchers’ shops graced with all the tempting joints of beef, mutton, and pork, which gladden the eyes of an Englishman, and keep up his stamina for labour. The traveller, the settler, and the savage, must be content to put up with what they can most readily obtain, and to avail themselves of many an unusual article of food, which would be rejected under more favourable circumstances, and with a greater choice for selection.

The subject of Food, in a physiological point of view, has been often discussed. Popular and learned treatises on all the art and mysteries of Cookery have been sold by thousands. We have had pleasant details furnished us too on the Food and the Commissariat of London.--But with respect to the animal substances, eaten by other people in foreign countries, we have known little--except from mere scraps of information.

The basis of the present volume is a lecture on the Curiosities of Food, which I delivered at several of the metropolitan literary institutions. Having been favourably received,--from the novelty of the subject, and the singularity of the specimens from my private museum by which it was illustrated,--I have been led to believe that it might prove generally interesting in a more amplified shape.

In order, however, to bring the details within a convenient compass, I have limited myself to a description of the Curiosities of Animal Food; but should the work be well received, I may follow it up hereafter by a companion volume, on the Curiosities of Vegetable Food.

In the arrangement of the materials for this work, one of two modes of description was open to me, either to dress up the details in characteristic pictures of the food-customs and viands in use in different quarters, and by different people; or to group the whole scientifically under natural history divisions. As the subject is curious and striking enough in its simplicity without the aid of fiction or embellishment, I have preferred adopting the latter arrangement, and have followed it as closely as the miscellaneous character of the selections and quotations would permit.

Many of the articles of food named are so outrageously repulsive, and the consideration of the subject, in a collected form, is altogether so new, that I have preferred citing authorities in all instances, so as to relieve myself from the charge of exaggeration, or the imputation of untenable assertions. For this reason, and from the varied and very extended nature of the field of enquiry, I can claim no merit for original writing in this work. I have merely desired to present the public with a readable volume; and I think its perusal will show that in this, as in other cases, truth is often stranger than fiction.

After a perusal of these pages, it can scarcely be said that, ‘there is nothing new under the sun,’ for many of the articles of food which I have described as being served up in different parts of the world, will be certainly new to many. Probably, some of the hints thrown out will make the fortune of any restaurateur in the city or at the west-end, who chooses to dish up one or more of the reputed delicacies, under a proper disguise, and with a high-sounding name.

P.L.S.

_8, Winchester Street, Pimlico, December 1858._

CONTENTS.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

John Bull’s partiality for Beef, 2. Comparative quantities of meat eaten in Paris, New York, and London--Different parts of Animals eaten by choice, 5. Want of courage to taste new Food, 6. Various kinds of Food eaten in different countries--Man’s omnivorous propensities, 7. Weight of Food eaten in a man’s life-time--instances of gluttony, 10. Ethnological view of the question, 11. Jerked beef consumed in Cuba--Varieties of--_tasajo_, _rebenque_, _charqui_, _sesina_, 12. Mode of preparing the sun-dried meat in Chile--_Grasa_ or melted fat, 13. Biltonge or dried meat of the Cape Colony--_Pastoormah_--dried Elephant’s flesh--Hung Beef, 14. Mode of preparing Pemmican, 15. Gelatine--Beef and Bone Soup, 17. Jellies unnutritious--Portable Soup, 18. Meat Biscuit--Mode of making it, 19. Utilization of the Blood of Animals for food, 21. M. Brocchieri’s experiments--Anecdote of an unlucky Pig doomed to perpetual blood-letting, 23. Arctic luxuries--Climatic difficulties, 25. A Tuski Feast, 27. A Greenland Banquet, 29. Animal Food in the Arctic Regions, 30. A Sledge made of frozen Salmon, 34. Frozen Food brought to the St. Petersburg Market, 35. A Russian Dining-room, 36. Cooking at Cape Coast Castle--Food customs and delicacies of the Aborigines of various Countries, 38. Raw-flesh eaten in Greenland and Abyssinia, 42. Australian Food delicacies, 45.

QUADRUMANA.

Monkeys eaten in South America, Africa, and the Eastern Archipelago, 46. Mode of cooking them. _Cheiroptera_, or hand-winged Animals--The Fox Monkey, and Bats eaten in the East, 50. _Carnivora_--Hyena eaten by Arabs--Pole-cat in North America--Foxes in Italy--Prairie Wolf in North America, 51. The Lion by the Arabs--The Tiger by the Malays--The Puma by the Americans, 52. No reason why Carnivorous Animals should not furnish wholesome and palatable Food--Bear’s Flesh--A draught of a Quart of Bear’s Grease, 53. Bear’s Paws and Steaks--Flesh of the Badger, 54. Dogs eaten in olden times by the Greeks and Romans, and still considered a delicacy in China, Zanzibar, Australia, and the Pacific, 57. Anecdote of a Dog Feast. _Marsupialia_, or Pouched Animals--The Kangaroo--Food delicacies from it--Mode of cooking, 58. Aboriginal practices and Food in Australia, 60. Kangaroo-Rat--Opossum--Wombat, 63. _Rodentia_--Marmot--Mouse--Musk-Rat, 64. Field-Rat--Rats eaten in West Indies, Brazil, Australia, China, &c., 65. Chinese Dishes and Chinese cooking, 66. California bills of fare, 69. Abundance of Rats in Hong Kong and in Scinde, 62. Salted Rats an article of export from India to China, 70. Bandicoot, Coffee Rat, Dormouse, Lemming, and Jerboa eaten as Food, 71. Beaver--Porcupine, 72. Anecdote on Rabbits, 73. Arctic Hare--Water Dog--Guinea Pig--Agouti--Paca and Viscascha, 74. _Edentata_, or Toothless Animals--Native Porcupine of Australia--Ant-eater and Armadillo, 76.

PACHYDERMATA, OR THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS.

Baked Elephants’ Paws--Mode of cooking them, 76. Cutting-up the Elephant, 78. African Haggis--Hippopotamus Flesh and Fat--Zee-koe Speck, 80. Products of the Hog--Reading Bacon and eating Bacon, 81. Swine feeding on Corpses in the Ganges, 82. Pigs fed on Mutton, 83. Acres of Pork in America, 84. ‘Going the whole Hog,’ 85. Origin of roast Pig, 86. Spanish Pigs, 90. _Toucinho_, or fat Pork, used in Brazil--Peccary, Rhinoceros, and Tapir eaten, 92. Horse-flesh, the recent endeavours to popularize it as an article of Food, 94. M. St. Hilaire’s exertions in the cause--Historical progress--Horse-flesh eaten in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe, 97. Experimental trials and cooking, 100. Horse-flesh eaten unknowingly in many cases, 104. Anecdote of Sausages--Evidence before Parliamentary committee respecting Horse Sausages, 105. Unwholesome Meat, 106. Blowing Veal, 109. Asses’ Flesh--The Quagga 110.

RUMINANTIA AND CETACEA.

Camel’s Flesh, 111. Axis Deer--Moose Deer--Caribboo--Venison not _Meat_ in North America--Reindeer, 112. Giraffe--Eland--Hottentot cooking--Antelope Tribe--The Hartebeest--Sassaby--Ourebi--Boshbok--Rheebok--Gnu, &c., 113. Alpaca Tribe--Sheep’s Milk--Large Tailed Cape Sheep--Dried Flesh of the Argali--Goat’s Flesh, 115. Bison Beef--Buffalo Humps--Musk-Ox, 116. _Cetacea_--Manatus, 117. Flesh and Tongue of the Sea-Lion, 118. Walrus Meat--Sea-Bear--Seal Flesh, 119. Flesh of the Whale eaten in various quarters--Porpoise, an ancient dainty--Mode of serving it at the tables of English Nobility, 120.

BIRDS.

No Carnivorous Birds eaten--_Insessores_ or Perching Birds--Becafico--Edible nest of the Eastern Swallow or Swift, 122. Mode of collecting, localities, statistics, and details in the Eastern Archipelago, 123. The Guacharo Bird, 128. The Diablotin or Goat-sucker--Spitted Larks, 129. Crows, Thrushes, and Robin Redbreasts eaten in Italy--The Rice Bunting, 130. The Toucan--Parrot Pie--GALLINACEOUS Fowls--Peacock Enkakyll, 131. Wild Turkey of New Granada--Value of Poultry and Eggs consumed, 132. Fixed Tariff for Poultry and Game, &c., in London in 1272--Price of Eggs, Pigeons, &c., in 1313, 133. Prices of Poultry and Game in 1575, 134. Prices of Food and Poultry in 1531, 135. Ancient Receipt for making a Game Pie in 1394, from the Books of the Salter’s Company--Prices of Cattle and Dairy produce in 1548, 137. Consumption and Statistics of Eggs--Comparative use in Paris and London--Imports from Ireland--Modes of testing the quality of Eggs, 138. Preservation of Eggs--Salted Eggs--Pickled Eggs--Painted Eggs--Condensed Egg, 140. Roman Preserves for fattening Poultry--Wild Game in Jamaica, 142. Canadian mode of cooking Partridge, 143. Red-legged Partridge run down on foot--Quail--Turtle Dove--Passenger Pigeon, 144. Hogs fed upon the Squabs--Canvas-back Duck, 146. Cock of the wood--Wild Birds of New Zealand, 147.

GRALLATORES.

Ostrich and Emu Eggs, 148. Bustards, 149. Clucking Hen and Mangrove Hen of Jamaica, 150. Bittern--Snipe Woodcock--Flamingoes’ tongues, 152.

NATATORES.

Sea-gulls eaten by the Chinese--Livers and Hearts of Penguins--Puffins pickled with Spices, 153. The Mutton-Bird of Australia--Habits of the Bird--Mode of taking them by the New Zealanders, 154. Birds eaten in the Arctic Regions--Grouse Pie--Dovekey and Auk Pie--Guillemot Soup, 156. Eggs of Sea Fowl--Large sale of them in San Francisco, and at the Cape of Good Hope, 158. Penguins’ Eggs in Tristan d’Acunha, 160. The Rookeries--Exciting Sport, 161. Annual Egg gathering visits to the Pedro Keys from Jamaica--Description of the Islets--Birds which frequent them--Recognised customs among the Boatmen--The Egg Bird, 163. Turtle Eggs, 167. Wild and Domestic Geese--Half-hatched Eggs eaten by the Esquimaux, 168. Cygnets--Pintail Duck--Widgeon and Teal, 169.

REPTILIA.

Enumeration of the Reptiles in the Four Orders, eaten as Food, 169. Land Tortoises and their Eggs, 170. Terrapin or Box Tortoise--Cruel mode of killing them, 171. Tenacity of Life--Fluviatile Tortoises--The Hiccatee of Honduras, 172. Shooting a Turtle--Abundance of large Land Tortoises in the Gallipagos Islands--Very generally eaten in the Pacific, Australia, South America, and Europe--Tortoise oil, 174. Salted Turtle--Chasing the Turtle--Horrible process of removing the Shell, 175. Dampier’s Description of Land Tortoises in the West Indies in 1684--First Introduction of Turtle to England--Statistics of Consumption--Noted City Houses for Turtle Soup, 176. Turtling in the Grand Caymans, West Indies, 177. Mock Turtle and Real Turtle--Ascension the Head Quarters for keeping Turtle, 178. Adventures of Old ‘Nelson’--Turtle should be sent home in a Sealed Cask--Jaguars of South America fond of Turtle and their Eggs--A Brazil Native will eat 20 or 30 Turtle Eggs at a meal, 180. Description of the Eggs--Hawk’s-bill Turtle eaten, but sometimes unwholesome--Collecting Turtle Eggs on the Orinoco, by the Indians--Preparation of an Oil called ‘Mantega’ from them--Gives Employment to several thousand Persons, 181. Quantity made and Value--Not very pure--Uses of Turtle Oil for Culinary and Illuminating Purposes, 182. The Iguana--Description of it--Repulsive Appearance--Very Delicate Eating, 183. Mode of cooking it--First Repugnance of the Early Spaniards to it, as related by Peter Martyn, 184. Mode of Catching the Reptile by Natives, 185. Hunted by Dogs in the Bahamas Islands--Met with and esteemed in Australia, 186. Aboriginal Appreciation of it--Eaten by Natives of Ceylon, 187. Eggs of this Lizard an esteemed Delicacy--Should be introduced to our Tables--All kinds of Lizards eaten by the Blacks of Australia, 188. Lizard Family obnoxious to Poisons--Lizards brought to the Rio Janeiro market--Hatching a Crocodile by a Fancy Poultry Breeder, 190. Eggs of the Alligator eaten--Effect of Imagination on the Stomach, at a Dinner given by Dr. Buckland, 191. Australian Crocodile eats like Veal, 192. Origin of the Australian ‘Bunyip’ Fiction--Flesh of the Crocodile musky, 193. Various Opinions of Alligator Meat, 194. An Alligator Hunt in South America, 195. Eggs and Skin of the Alligator eaten--Oil prepared from the Fat, 196. Lizards, Serpents, and Snakes, 197. Swallowing Live Lizards supposed to cure the Cancer--Boa-constrictor eaten, 198. Fried Rattlesnake or ‘Musical Jack,’ 199. Roasted Snakes in Australia, 202. Extending use of Frogs for Food in Europe, America, and the East--Toads frequently sold for frogs, 204. Mode of skinning and preparing them--Eaten boiled in Brazil, without any Preparation, 206.

FISH.

Abundance of Fish--Modes of preserving them--Analyses of their Flesh, 208. Presence of Iodine, 210--Fish Chowder--Fish Glue and Isinglass--Fish-maws, immense Trade in, 211. Caviar and the dried Roes of Fish, 212. Ancient Customs, Prices, and Kinds of Fish used, 215. Fish Ordinaries, 216. The Russian _Piroga_, an oily Fish-cake--Dried loaves of putrid pounded Fish eaten in Africa and South America, 218. Bony Fishes--Unwholesome and Poisonous Fishes--Assumed Causes for the Fish Poison, 219. Fish Liver and Gall, 221. Classification of Fishes--Neglect of our Fisheries, 222. Ocean Fishes dry eating--Mode of drying the Bonito--The hard horny pieces, under the name of _Cummelmums_, used to rasp over Rice, 223. Shark’s Flesh sold in the Havana Market--Shark Hunting--Excitement of the Sport, 224. The Picked Shark--Spotted Dog-Fish--Pigs fed on them--Shark oil, 228. Fisheries for the Sharks in India for the Fins--Extensive Trade in these to China--Dogs trained to bring Sharks ashore, 229. Anecdotes of Sharks, 231. The Sturgeon, a Royal Fish--Flesh not much esteemed--Sturgeon’s Skull-cap and Shark’s Fin Stew, Chinese Delicacies, 236. Lampreys--Eel Pies and stewed Eels--Spearing Eels--Jews prohibited from eating them, 238. Comparison between British Fish and Mediterranean Fish, 240. Finnon Haddock--Fresh Herrings--Pickled Herrings--Red Herrings and Bloaters--Origin of Smoked Herrings--Herring Pies sent from Yarmouth periodically to the Queen, 242. Conger Eel dried and grated to powder for making Fish Soup--Congers formerly reared in Vivaria by the Romans, 244. The Sand-Eel and Sand-launce--Smelts--Whitebait, 245. Substitutes for Whitebait in distant Seas, 246. The Anchovy--An Irishman’s Blunder, 249. The Sardine Fishery, 252. West Indian Fishes--Hog Fish--Snapper--Queen Mullet--Paracuta--Callipeva--Red Mullet--King Fish, &c., 253. The Sun Fish--Pacou--Gourami--Caffum, 256. The Pirarucu--The Sheep’s Head--The Green Cavalla--The John and Goggle-Eye--The Flying Fish, 259. Sprats--Coveeching Fish--Mud Fish, 261. Lut-fisk of Sweden--Fish exported from New Brunswick--The Sea-perch--The striped Bass--Brook Trout and Sea Trout, 263. Gaspereaux or Alewives--Salmon-trout--Skate--Capelan--Halibut Fins--Smoked Eels in New Brunswick and Port Phillip, 266. White Fish of the North American Lakes--Gizzard Fish--Mashkilonge--Trout and other Lake Fish, 268. Modes of Fishing--Scoop Nets and Gill Nets--Angling through the Ice, 271. Extreme Fatness of Lake Fish, 274. Fish Soup, 275. Fish of the Pacific Coasts--Robalo, Corvino, Lisa, Bagre, 227. A Hawaiian Restaurant--Raw Fish eaten--Salmon the King of Fresh-water Fish, 278. Salmon Fisheries of Oregon and California, 279. Chinese Fisheries--Fish of the Australian and Indian Seas--Tamarind-fish--Mango-fish--Black and white Pomfrets--Bombay Duck, 284. Fish of the Cape Colony--Géelbeck or Cape Salmon, Snook, Silver fish, Harders, Jacob Evertsen, Kabeljauw, Hottentot Fish, Windtoy, Bamboo Fish, Galleon, Lake, &c., 286.

INSECTS.

Insects furnish many good Delicacies--Fairy Cates, 292. _Coleoptera_--Larvæ or Grubs of Beetles eaten in various localities--Roman Epicures used to Fatten them, 293. Goliath Beetles eaten in Africa--Turkish Women cook Beetles in Butter to fatten themselves, 295. _Orthoptera_--Locusts extensively eaten in Africa and Arabia--Modes of Collecting and Cooking them, 296. Animals and Birds feed greedily on them--Descriptions given by various Travellers, 300. Locusts eaten in Eastern Asia--Grasshoppers tried and found to be good eating--A Grasshopper Roast in California, 304. _Neuroptera_--Termites, or White Ants, eaten by the Africans and South American Indians--Yellow and Red Ants in Brazil--Ants Distilled for Brandy in Sweden--Cocoons of the Wood Ant collected and sold for Feeding Birds, 305. Caviar of Insect Eggs in Mexico--_Axayacat_--Mode of Collecting--Cakes and Bread, called Hautle, made from them--Curry of Ants’ Eggs, 306. _Hymenoptera_--Bees eaten in Ceylon--Caterpillars of the Butterfly--Silk-worm Chrysalids Bugong Moth, a great Delicacy to Natives of Australia--Sage-Apples or Galls, in the Levant, 311. _Hemiptera_--The Cicada or Chirping Flies eaten in America and Australia--Caterpillars eaten like Sugar Plums, 314.

ARACHNIDA.

Spiders eaten in Various Quarters as Centipedes are in others, 316.

CRUSTACEA.

Flesh of Crustaceans Difficult of Digestion--Varieties of Consumed--Land Crabs--Their Habits--Varieties--Mode of Cooking them--An Ingredient in the Famous ‘Pepper-pot,’ 316. Abundance of Land Crabs at the Bahamas--mentioned by Virgil--Mason Crab of Chile eaten, 321. The Lobster--Where principally Caught--Preserved Fresh Lobsters, 322. Salted Lobsters--Pond or Saltern, for keeping them, at Southampton--A Tale with a Moral, 327. Turning Lobsters on their Backs, 328. Live Crablets eaten by the Chinese, 329. Shrimps and Prawns--Enormous Consumption of them--Instructions for Cooking them, 350. Dried Prawns and Shell-fish--Large Trade in them in the East, 332. _Balachong_ or _Gnapee_, 333.

MOLLUSCA, &c.

Oysters--‘Natives and Scuttlemouths’--Racoon or Parasitic Oysters, 334. Large Trade in Oysters in America, at New York, Baltimore, Boston, and New Orleans, 335. Bottled Oysters at the Cape--Mussels--‘Old Maids’--Scallops--Clams and Clam Digging--Largely used for Bait, 342. Periwinkles--Large Consumption of, in London--Whelks, Boiled and Pickled, 345. Snails a Fashionable Article of Diet--Roman Taste for them--A Snail Pie--The Vineyard Snail--Modes of Dressing them, 346. Attempt of Two Philosophers to relish them, 347. Snail Soup--The Parrot’s-bill Barnacle eaten, 349. _Annelida_--Palolo, a Pacific Delicacy, 350. Diet of Worms--Cuttle-fish eaten, 352. _Arcas_ and _Monodonta_ eaten--Sea Eggs or Urchins, 353. _Holothuria_--the Sea Slug Soup of the Chinese--_Bêche-de-mer_ or _Tripang_, 354. The _Times’_ Correspondent’s Opinion of this Dish, 355. Extensive Fisheries for the Animal, 356. Details of the Preparation and Statistics of the Trade, 358. Varieties and Prices, 364.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

Ignorance as to some of our Common Food--Ox Tongues--Polonies--Confidence inspired by the Pie-man eating one of his own Pies, 367. We eat many things which would be refused by others, 368. Bounty and Wisdom of the Creator in providing for Man--Difficulty of determining what are Food Delicacies, 369. New Varieties of Food may be Provided Artificially--Fresh Hides of Cattle a Delicacy in Java--Buffalo Hides and other Skins made into Jellies at Home--Buckskin Breeches, boiled and stuffed with Sea-weed for Food--Resumé of the Dainties of Different People--Verification of the Proverb--‘One half the world does not know how the other half lives.’

THE

CURIOSITIES OF FOOD.

What is the prevailing food of the people? Is it chiefly animal or vegetable, and whence is it derived in the two kingdoms? Do they trust to what the bounty of Nature provides, or have they the means of modifying or controlling production, whether in the cultivation of vegetables, or the rearing of animals? Describe their modes of cooking, and state the kinds of condiments they employ. Have they in use any kind of fermented liquor? What number of meals do they make, and what is their capacity for temporary or sustained exertion?

These are some of the enquiries to which a traveller is directed to pay attention, if he wishes to furnish and diffuse useful information.

I do not intend to go over this wide field of investigation in the systematic and scientific manner shadowed forth by these enquiries, but merely desire to assist the reader to pass a leisure hour, although he may probably glean some useful information at the same time.

I propose bringing under notice some of the Animal food in which people in various countries indulge, not that I wish persons to test these meats, or to live upon them, unless they please. I do not deal in them, and have no interest in their collection or sale, but I merely desire to introduce them to notice that the reader may ascertain the opinions entertained of them, think over them, and know how much better an Englishman is fed than any one else in the world. So that, despite our habit of grumbling, there is at least this undeniable fact before us, that the middle classes are in very easy circumstances; and that English workmen earn good wages, or they could not consume the quantity of animal food they do at the present prices.

According to Vauban, Bossuet, and La Grange, the richest and most comfortable nation is that which eats the most meat. At the present prices of this article here, it certainly must be so, for a poor nation could not indulge in the luxury.

Beef and mutton, and mutton and beef, no matter what their price, John Bull will not dispense with; and although they are 40 or 50 per cent. dearer now than they were ten years ago, and although we import animals largely from abroad, and our cattle-breeders do their best to meet the demand, cattle and sheep will not increase and multiply fast enough to bring down the price for the consumer.