|
T H I S+W E E K American byways
Ode to the road D E P A R T M E N T S The Surreal Gourmet
> Mondo Weirdo
Postmark | Bend, Oregon:
Passages
Readers' Tips and Tales
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LA S T+W E E K
Tuesday, June 24 Hong Kong Diary
A full list of all
|
 |
More strange food tales from around the world BY DON GEORGE | the food feast continues in Mondo Weirdo! Keep sending your tales of odd and wondrous edibles -- and share more of your off-the-beaten-path discoveries. Strange festivals? Obscure temples? Bizarre rites? Send them to wanderlust@salonmagazine.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Couldn't we just have camel tortillas? In another life, I was the traveling companion to Miss Universe. Aside from the unlimited frequent flier miles and first-class accommodations around the world, the job put me in the position of always having to play the grown-up. I remember a formal lunch in Mexico City hosted by slavering VIPs eager to entertain Miss Universe, a gorgeous, very young blond girl from Europe. We sat nodding and smiling and talking in pseudo-Spanish while the waiters brought the starters, plates of spicy guacamole and steaming soft corn tortillas. Yum, I thought, Mexican food. The other diners must have agreed; they murmured excitedly to each other, their eyes aglow with anticipation. I started to reach for a tortilla, but was waved off by our host. He wanted us to wait. Then I saw why. Proud waiters were striding across the restaurant, carrying steaming platters of ... hot, crispy, fried worms. They placed these treasures on the table in front of us. In honor of Miss Universe, we were having the specialty of the house -- fat, juicy insects captured alive from inside agave plants, precious delicacies that had never seen the light of day, harvested and prepared just for us. Only the guest of honor wasn't having any. Oh no, not this girl brought up on meat and potatoes. The others waited politely for us to have the first taste, their mouths watering in anticipation. Of course, guess who had to cover for the beauty queen? They showed me how to indulge: You take a tortilla and spread it with guacamole, then you put in a handful of hot, crunchy worms (about the color of roach wings), fold the thing into a taco and take a big bite. Now I live in Rome, where the weirdest thing to eat has been described to me as a kind of calf-shit milk sausage. I have no intention of eating this, not in this life. -- Sharri Whiting Shaw - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Waiter, I'll have the raw gazelle liver please OK, how about raw gazelle liver? It's not exactly "prepared," so I don't know if it qualifies as gourmet cooking. In Somalia in the early '60s, I went out into the bush with friends and ended up face to face with this delicacy. In some sort of way it was "cooked" and then sprinkled with lemon juice. This process actually changed the color and texture of the liver somewhat. I managed to down this delightful object -- mainly because it seemed to be a sort of initiation ceremony or dare. Anyway, it wasn't bad at all. Needless to say I didn't dwell on the possibility of parasites that might have been resident at the time. In any case there were no ill effects from the feast. Another gourmet dish from Somalia -- but only served to honored guests -- was camel hump (from the dromedary, the one-humped camel). It was usually boiled and served in a stew with rice. Tasted similar to chicken. -- Nina Contini Melis - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Getting a leg up in Spain While on our honeymoon in Spain, my wife and I found the foods to be a little different than the lutefisk and lefse of our native Minnesota. Our favorite "tapas" were the whole smoked pig legs. They usually were placed directly on the bar, in what had to be custom-made pig leg holders. The bartender would shave careful slices from the leg and serve it to the locals and the foolish -- i.e., me. My wife was still uneasy after biting into an almost completely uncooked "American hamburger" the night before, so she passed. While I liked the flavor, I don't think I'd sell much of it at, say, the Mall of America. -- Brendan Loughrey - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How about you? Do you have a weird travel tale to share? Send it to wanderlust@salonmagazine.com. And join our Table Talk discussion on travel and food. |
![[Salon
Wanderlust Marketplace]](../../wanderlust/logos/marlogo.gif)
W A N D E R L U S T | |
A R C H I V E S N E W S L E T T E R T A B L E T A L K M A R K E T P L A C E |