A Chinook “Wawa Wawa”
The Sunday dinner menu from union-friendly Mose Freeland’s Capital restaurant in Hoquiam, Washington, 1908-1909.
Hoquiam (in what’s now Grays Harbor County, at the time Chehalis County) was never the capital of anything, so the name means an “awesome” or shall we say “skookum” restaurant.
You might agree, when your eyes are done popping over this enormous locally-sourced, wildcrafted, organic regional menu, humorously giving snooty French menus a bit of turnabout:
Capital Restaurant
MOSE D. FREELAND
Proprietor
Hoquiam, Washington
Sunday Dinners, A.D. 1908-9
Talk about your French dinners, but here is a Chinook hi-hu muck-a-muck
SOUP
Lukutchee Chitlo Spoon Muck-a-MuckRELISHES
Shawhkuk Geoduck KauchFISH
Chinook Salmon Quinault Salmon
Oolachans Tenas PishBOILED
Moos Moos Yaa Tum Tum Yaka Etinwill
Moos Moos Yaka Wawa Wawa[page 2:]
ENTREES
Siwash Lapool Copopire
Siwash Lapool lapo lup lup Pire SapolelROAST
Mowich Mowich Delate
Manmoolock Delate
Ecna Tenas Moolock Chet Wood
Kweh-kweh Kalah-kalah
Kwetshootee SiamVEGETABLES
Wappatoo Ulalach LacaletDESSERT
Pil olally Pie Klale olally Pie Soleme Pie
Sallalolilly Pie Totoosh Pie Shotolily Pie
Kloshe Kahkwa Iktahs
(IKTAHS. — Means everything, including 50,000,000,000 feet of standing timber in Chehalis county for Toothpicks for the occasion.)
I’ve also found an earlier version in a magazine, differing slightly:
An Indian Bill of Fare.
It is due to Hoquiam, Wash., to produce the first and only known [sic] bill of fare on record. The originator, Mose Freeland, is one of the old-timers of Grays Harbor, and runs a restaurant at Hoquiam. The bill of fare is gotten up with a beautiful embossed cover in color showing an Indian in a canoe with his tepee and camp fire in the background. The menu reads as follows:
CAPITAL RESTAURANT.
——
Mose D. Freland [sic], Proprietor.
——
Hoquiam, Washington.
Sunday Dinners, A.D. 1907-8.Talk about your French dinners, but here is a Chinook Wawa Wawa.
SOUP.
Lukutchee Chitlo Spoon Muck-a-Muck.RELISHES.
Shawhkuk Geoduck Skookum Muck-a-Muck.FISH.
Chinook Salmon. Qulniault Salmon. Oolachans. Tenas Pish.BOILED.
Moos Moos Taka Tum Tum. Yaka Etinwill Moos Moos Yaka Wawa Wawa.
ENTREES.
Siwash Lapool Copoplre. Siwash Lapool lapo Lup Lup Plre Sapolel.
ROAST.
Mowlch. Mowich Delate. Manmoolock Delate. Ecna. Tenas. Moolcok. Chet Wood. Kweh-kweh. Kalah-kalah. Kwetschootee. Siam.VEGETABLES.
Wappatoo. Ulalach. Lacalet.DESSERT.
Pil Olally Pie. Klale Olally Pie. Soleme Pie. Salalolilly Pie. Tatoosh Pie. Shotolllly PieKloshe Kahkwa Iktahs.
—–
(Iktahs means everything, including 50,000,000,000 feet of standing timber in Chehalis county for toothpicks for the occasion.)
That nice cover that’s mentioned above is this:
(Image credit: LoveMenuArt.com)
And now, in lieu of translating either of the the above, I present to you a slightly earlier and partially different version. The cook was mighty proud of himself, and submitted the menu with an English translation to his labor union’s magazine.
(Notice the differing menu items! But you should still be able to figure out the first two menus I showed.)
A CHINOOK “WAWA WAWA.”
The following menu is something out of the ordinary and no doubt will cause any number of the old time Cherokees, Siwash and other Indians to smile and smack. The bill was prepared under the direction of Brother Otto A. Nickel, chef of the Capital Restaurant, and Secretary of Local 791.
SOUP.
Lukutchee (Clams); Chitlo (Oysters); Spoon Muck-a-Muck (All kinds of Soup.)RELISHES.
Shawhkuk (Frogs); Akmick (Salmon Head Chowder) [1]; Skookum Muck-a-Muck (Good Food.)FISH.
Oolachans (Candle Fish); Quiniault (Salmon); Chinook (Columbia River Salmon); Tenas Pish (Small Fish of Season.)BOILED.
Moos Moos Yaka Tum Tum (Beef Heart); Etinwill (Beef Ribs.) Moos Moos Yaka Wawa Wawa (Boiled Tongue.)ENTREES.
Siwash Lapool Copopire (Pheasant or Grouse). Siwash Lapool lapo co [2] lup lup Pire Sapolel (Pheasant with Dumplings.)ROAST.
Mowich (Deer); Mowich Delate (Buck Deer.) Manmoolock Delate (Bull Elk.) Ecna (Beaver); Tenas Moolock (Calf Elk); Chet Woot (Bear.) Kweh-kweh (Rabbit.) [3] Kalah-kalash (Wild Duck.) Kwetshootee (Wild Goose) [3]; Siam (Grizzly Bear)VEGETABLES.
Wappatoo (Potatoes); Ulalach (Onions); Lacalet (Carrots.)DESSERT.
Pil olally Pie (Red Huckleberry); Klale olally Pie (Black Berry); Soleme Pie (Salmon Berry Pie) [4]; Sallalolilly Pie (Salell Berry); Totoosh Pie (Custard Pie); Shotolily Pie (Cranberry Pie.) [4]Kloshe Kahkwa Iktahs (Everything Good.)
(Iktahs. — Means everything, including 50,000,000,000 feet of standing timber in Chehalis county for toothpicks for the occasion.)
OTTO A. NICKEL, Chef.
— from The Mixer and Server, volume XV, number 9 (September 15, 1906), page 5
[1] “salmon head chowder” should say “snake head”, a local wild-harvested vegetable product. This newly discovered Jargon word comes from the local Lower Chehalis Salish language word ʔáqməq, which native speakers translated in various confusing ways. My guess is that “snake head” is a local English synonym for “fiddleheads” (ferns). People do make fiddlehead chowder…
(Image credit: Pinterest)
[2] < lapo co > is a typographical error for the preposition < copo > as in the preceding menu item.
[3] The Chinuk Wawa words for ‘rabbit’ and ‘wild goose’ are switched!
[4] The Chinuk Wawa expressions for ‘salmonberry pie’ and ‘cranberry pie’ are switched! In other news, < pie > is a Jargon word. We know this from other evidence too.
To read more about Mose Fre(e)land, who was clearly a character (he spotted a sea monster! he caught someone’s runaway boat and sold it back to them for a salvage fee! he shot seagulls that were getting too friendly with his chickens!), see in Google Books and in newspapers of the time.
You’ll find some rather colorful notes on Otto Nickel’s doings, too, in contemporary news articles.
