Since then terrapins
have become so rare that no stylish dinner ever takes place without this dish.
Oysters are another Western sine qua non, and are always served raw.
I wonder how many ladies and gentlemen who swallow these mollusca
with such evident relish know that they are veritable scavengers,
which pick up and swallow every dirty thing in the water.
A friend of mine after taking a few of them on one occasion,
had to leave the table and go home; he was ill afterward for several days.
One cannot be too careful as to what one eats. The United States
has a Pure Food Department, but I think it might learn a great deal
that it does not know if it were to send a commission to China
to study life in the Buddhist monasteries, where only sanitary, healthful food
is consumed. It is always a surprise to me that people are so indifferent
to the kind of food they take. Public health officers are useful officials,
but when we have become more civilized each individual
will be his own health officer.
Some of the well-known Chinese dishes are very relishable
and should not be overlooked by chefs and dinner hostesses.
I refer to the sharks' fins, and birds' nest -- the Eastern counterpart
of the Western piece de resistance -- the terrapin.
From a hygienic point of view sharks' fins may not be considered
as very desirable, seeing they are part of the shark,
but they are certainly not worse, and are perhaps better,
than what is called the "high and tender" pheasant,
and other flesh foods which are constantly found on Western dining tables,
and which are so readily eaten by connoisseurs.
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