18S4.] 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 
135 
DIHIUa A lA MEXIOANA. 
TABLE MANNERS, POOD, AND OIOARETTE 
SMOKINO. 
I invite you to dino witli me to-day, dear 
friends, , d ta. Alcxicana. As I am myself a 
guest, wo must touch, the subject tenderly, 
and while the truth may bo told at all times*, 
wo would not abuse the generous hospitality 
shown us on every hand by indulging in 
invidious comparisons. In a spirit of mutual 
good-fooling then, remembering that the 
habits of all lauds vary, let us repair to the 
dining-room. The words “ vnmos d comer’’ 
(lot us go to dinner) are welcome ones, for 
in Mexico wo do not breakfast American 
fashion, but take only a small cup of choco¬ 
late and a tiny loaf of Mexican broad, without 
butter or other accompaniment, immediately 
on arising. Therefore, by 1 p. m., our healthy 
appetites are “ sharp set ” enough to do jus¬ 
tice to any dishes, however unguessable their 
ingredients may be. 
The comador, unlike other rooms in the 
house, is seldom paved or cemented (wood 
floors there are noue in Mexico), but has 
simpl.v mother earth for a cheap and con¬ 
venient carpet. Much sweeping and shoving 
about of chairs has worn this dirt floor into 
hollows and gulleys. It being a few inches 
below the level of the coiu-t, when brief rains 
fall in torrents, as is common in this lati¬ 
tude, a small flood pours in and makes little 
lakes in the hollows aforesaid, which the 
servants bail out with plates. 
In rather incongi'uous contrast to the 
earthy floor is the h.andsome mahogany side¬ 
board, with much glass-ware shining upon it, 
some distracting pieces of old blue china, 
and quaint articles and Guadalahara pottery 
in the way of water-jars, which we long to 
possess. Wash-stands, with bowl and towel 
accompaniments, adorn the corners, the con¬ 
venience of which is apparent, there being no 
other finger-bowls. The most distinguished 
guest is given the post of honor at the head 
of the table, in the chair of state, which is a 
few inches higher than the rest; other guests 
are ranged at his right and left, and host and 
hostess seat themselves wherever it happens. 
When we enter there is nothing upon the 
festive board but a heap of knives, forks, 
and spoons, a pile of plates, and a cluster of 
goblets, all at the foot of the table where the 
head waiter stands. Among the better 
classes the dinner of every day is always a 
most ceremonious clffair, each dish being 
served in a separate course, necessitating a 
great number of plates to each person. 
There is little variation in the bill of fare, 
one dinner being an almost exact counter¬ 
part of all others during the year. 
As the servants emerge from^ among t e 
flowers of the snimy court, bearing onr am¬ 
brosia, we think of fairy tales and the A^ra- 
bian Nights —only these ereados do i o 
much resemble orthodox fairies, noi i 
food they bring exactly the ° 
imagination. If the waiter be - 
head and shoulders are always ^ J 
ped in her rebosa; but if a man, he wears 
only shirt and breeches and his 
sombrero. First, broth is 
china tea-cups, each cup ^ ^nd 
tortilla (gnddle-cakes of crush 
water, also 'a large brass 
upon a plate which holds .j^^^ainate fond- 
spoon. Mexicans have an obili, 
ness for fat of all kinds, a passion for chili. 
and consider onions as much a necessity of 
life as we do salt; hence this broth, and 
every other dish for that matter, is always 
very greasy, very garlicky, and red-hot with 
chili pepper. If there happens to be any 
ripe fruit in the house, notably Grapes, it is 
put into the broth and eaten with it. The 
other day, my delighted eyes beheld some 
luscious-looking Peaclios being carried into 
the comador, and I hastened, to dinner in 
blissful anticipation of once more being per¬ 
mitted to gaze upon something like home 
food. But what do you suppose was done 
with those big, yellow Peaches ? They were 
sliced, every one, into the greasy, garlicky 
broth. 
The second course is sopa —either rice, 
vermicelli, or macaroni, slightly boiled and 
then Iried in fat with much garlic, and 
garnished with slices of green peppers. With 
it goat’s-milk cheese is served, most persons 
crumbling the cheese into it, and eating the 
exceedingly greasy mixture with a spoon. 
Then comes the main dish, which never 
varies—the same at three hundi’ed and sixty- 
five dinners in the year, throughout a Mexi¬ 
can’s natural life — viz., boiled beef or mut¬ 
ton, with cabbage, corn, onions, small green 
apples, pears, or quinces, with various tropi¬ 
cal seeds, roots, and bulbs, all boiled together 
in one pot. It is served with much chili in 
some shape—generally in the fonn of salad 
with .almacates, to which “live” coals would 
be a mild comparison. The amount of chili 
which the smallest children devour as calmly 
as ours do candy is something astonishing, 
and inclines one to the belief that the Mexi¬ 
can “inner man” is copper-lined and double- 
plated. The nearest approach to roast meat 
comes in the fourth course,— a piece of pork 
or kid, stuffed with spices, herbs, chili, and 
chopped onions, and “boiled down” in the 
pot till the surface is slightly Drowned. 
What we consider a roast is no more obtain¬ 
able in the Mexican market than a beef¬ 
steak. 
Then follows a variety of entrees, each a 
separate comse,—such as cMIi-con-carne, 
meat cut into bits and boiled with fat, toma¬ 
toes, and chili; large green peppers stuffed 
with chopped pork and onions, and fried in 
batter; pork hashed with onions, cheese, 
and scrambled egg; sour milk, or cheese, 
boiled in lumps with chili; tortillas spread 
with minced meat, onions, and chili, rolled 
up and served with tomato sauce, etc. The 
last dish, both for clumer and supper, is 
invariably the same in every Mexican house¬ 
hold, high and low, rich and poor —that is, 
stewed frejoles (red beans). The laws of 
Modes and Persians may change, and death 
and taxes sometimes be evaded, but this 
national custom of “topping off’’with fre¬ 
joles—never! Some pom- molasses over 
theii- beans, others prefer them mixed -mth 
sour millc, and others take them “straight, 
to which latter number, though it bo in the 
minority, your correspondent belongs. o 
neglect to oat frejoles after each meal is not 
only a breach of etiquette, but is considered 
indubitable evidence of bad breeding and 
oxeei-able taste. _ 
We have always native wine or imported 
claret at dinner, and at intervals during t e 
repast tortillas are served, smoking hot from 
the griddle. The latter are not brought m 
on plates as we serve cakes, but the servant 
puts them in a pile on the table-cloth, beside 
the host or hostess, who distributes them 
around to the guests wjth a dexterous toss, 
precisely like dealing cards at the innocent 
game of “ casino.” If bread is used, it is 
laid in the loaf on the cloth, and when one 
wislies a piece ho cuts to suit himself. After 
frejoles wo sometimes have fruit or “dulce” 
(jolly or marmalade), but generally no des¬ 
sert but the beans; and the repast is con¬ 
cluded with cups of sti-ong, black, bitter 
Mexican coffee, with sugar if desired, but no 
milk. This ceremonious meal requires much 
time, but nobody is ever in a hmTy in Mexico. 
If the servants are tardy between courses, 
and keep you waiting a quarter of an hour 
or more while somebody leisurely rambles 
to market for a forgotten article, mine host 
is not in the least disturbed thereby, 
for conversation never flags, and there is 
nothing to do afte.r dinner but to take a long 
siesta. 
During eight mouths’ residence in Mexico 
I have not seen a bit of butter, a potato, an 
egg, cooked by itself, chop or steak, tea, 
sauce, cake, pie or pudding, or those com¬ 
mon vegetables w-hich we consider indispen¬ 
sable. Napkins are rarely used, each person 
wiping his or her face and hands on that 
portion of the table-cloth which happens to 
be nearest, and afterward patronizing one of 
the before-mentioned corner wash-stands. 
Eating with the fork is not at all according 
to etiquette, but the spoon or knife must be 
used, or, more properly, a tortilla. Mexicans 
manage the latter with as much dexterity as 
a Cliinese does his chop-sticks, eurrtng it 
between the fingers till it forms something 
like a spoon, and scooping up the food with it, 
eating spoon and all. The vei-y old people, 
and the lower classes, use tortillas altogether 
instead of knives, forks, or spoons, the latter 
“ new-fangled notions ” being of eompara^ 
tively recent introduction. It requires con¬ 
siderable practice to successfully manage 
the tortilla scoop, as I have learned from sad 
experience. 
After the banquet is ended, and at inter¬ 
vals during its ijrogress, if one feels so in¬ 
clined, the mouth is filled with water from 
the goblet, rinsed with more or less emphasis 
between the teeth, and then the water is 
squii-ted upon the floor. In this process all 
become expert, from the lady of the house to 
the smallest child. When fresher water is 
required, that in the glasses is carelessly 
tossed upon the dirt floor, where it can do 
no harm. While waiting for coffee, and 
afterward, during pauses in the “feast of 
reason and flow of soul,” the gentlemen of 
the family, and not infrequently the ladies 
also, settle gracefully back in their chairs 
and smoke a cigarette or two. 
In a Mexican household, at five o’clock p. M., 
we have always chocolate or coffee, served 
with bread as at brealifast, or with little 
cakes resembling sweetened crackers, or 
pan-de-jyulyne, biscuits made with the na¬ 
tional intoxicating beverage, distilled from 
the century plant. Later in the evening, at 
any hour from nine o’clock till midnight, 
comes the supper, which is almost as cere¬ 
monious a repast as the dinner, and its 
counterpart as to menu, minus only the broth 
and boiled meat. Everybody goes straight 
to bed fi-om.the supper-table, and what with 
hearty food at unseasonable hours and the 
eternal grease, garlic, and chili, the wonder 
grows that the nation did not die out long 
ago of dyspepsia .—Fannie Brigham Ward, in 
Springfield Repnhliean. 
