FoodNet

Foods of the foreign-born in relation to health

1922

Page 27 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1922. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Olives are pickled, both ripe and green, and some are salted. Wines and raisins are made from grapes, and the leaves of the grapevines are salted, to be used later in wrapping dolmas. Figs and dates are preserved in sugar with other fruits. Potatoes, squashes, onions, garlic, and other vegetables are put in pits in the ground, and at least three lambs are salted. In the Orient lamb is the principal meat used. Rice has a large share in the daily menu. The use of nuts with rice and meat adds an attractiveness to the diet. Pine-cone seeds, or fustuck; hazel-nuts, or f anducks ; chestnuts, or kestanch ; pistachio nuts and coriander seeds are many of the seeds referred to in Oriental recipes. Cardamon seeds are frequently added to coffee. The bread is usually made in round loaves or cakes, which are hollow. They are from four to eight inches in diameter and about one inch thick. THE NEAR EAST 6/ They are the same as were used in the time of Christ, and referred to in the lunch basket of the lad in Mark 8 : 19. This bread is dipped in the liquid in which meat and vegetables have been cooked instead of being buttered. It is a sign of friendship to dip in another's plate. This is referred to in Mark 14 : 20. Their use of honey cor- responds to our use of sugar. Wild honey was very plentiful in their countries and was used^ therefore, in cooking as well as on prepared foods. Chick peas, or nohond, a product of Greece and Turkey, and f ava, pakla, or horse beans, are two of the leguminous plants of high food value. In Eastern cookery not a single dish is dependent on the extravagant use of expensive and various ingredi- ents which, when counted up, make food very expensive ; but is dependent, and very much so, on the flavor of each different article used in the making. Oriental food is not highly spiced or flavored, but is a very fat diet. Butter is not eaten on bread, the fat in the food preparations being suflicient. The breakfast of these Easterners consists of black coffee and bread for the adults and goat's milk and bread for the children. In some families cracked wheat is used as a cereal, boiled with milk, and is called Bouglour. The noon meal may be matzoun or curdled milk, with a "dressing" of pilaf. Matzoun, or yoghourt, is the famous beverage or soup of the Orient. It is as valuable in their diet as buttermilk in ours. It is made in the fol- lowing way, and is usually to be found in every family : Take two quarts of milk and one tablespoon old matzounMatzoun (Yoghourt). Heat milk over a slow fire until it starts to boil ; set aside to cool until bloodwarm. Add old matzoun to 68 FOODS OF THE FOREIGN-BORN Start fermentation. Cover vessel with blanket to keep the milk warm during the process of fermentation. In from two to three hours it will be done. It may be served hot or cold, and some people add sugar. For the dinner or evening meal shish kibab (lamb cut in walnut-sized pieces and roasted on skewers) is a favor- ite form of serving meat. All vegetables are first fried in a small amount of olive oil or other fat, then boiled in meat stock. Sometimes tomato is added to give more flavor. Okra is never slimy, and vegetables lose their green taste when first cooked in oil or other fat. When these* people settle in America, their dietary cus- toms are continued to a large extent, but milk becomes a luxury and fruit less plentiful. Many of our finest fruit stores are owned by Greeks, Armenians, or Syrians. The men are seldom laborers; almost all choose commercial occupations, usually start- ing with a push cart of fruit, frequently bananas, and gradually working up a trade, buying a horse and wagon, then establishing a small store. Others are waiters in restaurants or have shoe-blacking stands. Some sell antique rugs; they also clean and repair them.