Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1899 — A Nation of Cooks. [ARTICLE]

A Nation of Cooks.

There is scarcely an individual in China who is not competent to cook himself a respectable meal. The peasant sits down to dinner cooked by the hand of his wife or daughter-in-law. In large establishments the cooks are invariably men. Half a dozen coolies will squat round a bucket of steaming rice and from four to six small savory dishes of stewed cabbage, onions, scraps of fat pork, cheap fish, etc. They fill their bowls at discretion from the bucket. They help themselves discreetly with their chop-sticks from the various relishes provided. On ordinary occasions even a wealthy Chinaman will sit down to some such simple fare, served indeed on a table instead of on the ground, but in almost equally simple style. It is only when a banquet is substituted for the usual meal that eating is treated seriously as a fine art, in a manner worthy its importance to the human race. Then the guests will assemble between 2 and 4 In the afternoon and will remain steadily at the table until any hour from 10 to midnight