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 worththe 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 itswaste by an adequate supply of wholesome and nutritiousdaily food, is a subject of general importance, andnecessarily occupies a large share of attention. Butall nations have not the advantages of skilful cattle-breeders,slaughter-houses, well-supplied meat andpoultry markets, and butchers’ shops graced with allthe tempting joints of beef, mutton, and pork, whichgladden the eyes of an Englishman, and keep up hisstamina for labour. The traveller, the settler, and thesavage, must be content to put up with what they canmost readily obtain, and to avail themselves of manyan unusual article of food, which would be rejectedunder more favourable circumstances, and with a greaterchoice for selection.
The subject of Food, in a physiological point of view,has been often discussed. Popular and learned treatiseson all the art and mysteries of Cookery have been soldby thousands. We have had pleasant details furnishedus too on the Food and the Commissariat of London.—Butwith respect to the animal substances, eaten by otherpeople in foreign countries, we have known little—exceptfrom mere scraps of information.
The basis of the present volume is a lecture on theCuriosities of Food, which I delivered at several of themetropolitan literary institutions. Having been favourablyreceived,—from the novelty of the subject, and thesingularity of the specimens from my private museumby which it was illustrated,—I have been led to believethat it might prove generally interesting in a more amplifiedshape.
In order, however, to bring the details within a convenientcompass, I have limited myself to a descriptionof the Curiosities of Animal Food; but should thework be well received, I may follow it up hereafter bya companion volume, on the Curiosities of VegetableFood.
In the arrangement of the materials for th