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