ARTICLES OF FOOD. 31 



towards others. Every one regards certain dishes with particu- 

 lar favor. His peculiar tastes will coutrol his habits. He may 

 find it impossible to overcome an aversion for some particular 

 kind of food, in general use, and set before him daily at table. 

 One prefers the hot, another the cold ; one requires every dish 

 to be high seasoned, and makes use abundantly of pickles, 

 mustard, pepper and spices, while another can hardly endure a 

 pinch of salt in his porridge. One chooses the very rare, 

 another the well done. " Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife 

 could eat no lean." It sometimes happens that a new variety 

 of food is introduced, at first disliked, — like the tomato, for 

 instance, — but which, in time*, grows into universal favor. Oui* 

 educated tastes approve that which was at first repulsive. 



Shell fish were strictly forbidden to the Jews. We are some- 

 what particular in our choice. The lobster is a decided favorite 

 — so extensively eaten that its fishery has become an important 

 branch of industry in the State. But the lobster is the scaven- 

 ger of the seas, and in itself is as unsightly and repulsive as 

 muscles, cockles, periwinkles, limpets, wilks and snails, con- 

 sumed by other nations. Nor are we agreed as to all the parts 

 of the lobster. To many, the soft, green fat is the choicest por- 

 tion, while others will lose their appetite in disgust at the sight 

 of it. The oyster was esteemed as a delicacy by the Romans, as 

 it has been, in general, since, by all people who could obtain it, 

 possessing more than any thing else the character of a holiday 

 food. But surely it requires considerable courage to swallow 

 for the first time the slimy lump of inert matter ; as much, if 

 we could lay aside all habit and associations, as to eat grass- 

 hoppers, lizards and locusts, esteemed by other nations. The 

 crawling, leggy, spider-like red crab that inhabits the oyster, is 

 a choice morsel with many of us, but the decided aversion of 

 others. 



Formerly, there was no mode of expressing utter contempt 

 for the French, like that of calling them frog eaters. But they 

 have continued to eat their favorite delicacy, regardless of the 

 disgust of others, till frogs have grown into decided favor ; they 

 are now served up in the fashionable eating houses of some of 

 our cities, and our gourmands are beginning to prize the 

 luxury. 



The turtle is declared by aldermanic epicures to be the 



