Page:Wood - Foods of the Foreign-Born.djvu/82

66 shade desired to harmonize with the one artistic design in the mind of the weaver. It is difficult to distinguish between work and recreation among these people. So much of life is beauty to them.

During the farming season they raise sheep for food and clothing; goats and cows for milk; chickens, ducks, and geese for eggs. They also raise grains, vegetables, fruits, and berries in abundance, and make butter and cheese. Their wheat is threshed in the fall, then taken to the one neighborhood caldron, where it is boiled "until all germs are killed," then spread out on great sheets of cloth to dry in the sun. After it has dried it is ground between two great stones to different degrees of fineness, according to its future use, then stored for winter or until the next harvest. This grain is used in many different ways; it is even burned as incense. It is called bouglour.

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 fanducks; 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.