King of Beasts Sometimes King of Feasts

1896

The Things People Eat

The so-called king of beasts is usually associated with eating rather than being eaten, yet the lion is an article of food among the natives of the countries he inhabits, according to the Boston Traveller.

Several species of monkeys afford food for the natives of their habits. Travelers who have tried them declare them good.

Dogs are eaten by the California Indians in times of distress; they do not use them for this purpose in ordinary times, because they are too valuable to them for other purposes. Marco Polo says the Tartars used dogs for food, as did also the Mexicans the native dog or Alco.

The chase of the horse for the purposes of food was one of the chief occupations of man in Europe in the Neolithic Age. The Tartars eat horses as regular diet, and there are many butcher shops in Paris and Vienna where only horseflesh is sold.

The wild ass is eaten in Abyssinia; and the flesh of the suckling foal is esteemed by the Lasilio a great dainty. The milk of asses is also used in Abyssinia, as is the milk of mares by the Tartars.

The tallest and awkwardest of all creatures, the giraffe, when grown to maturity, is defended from all human teeth by its impenetrable toughness, but when young it is esteemed highly as food.