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MONDO WEIRDO
BY DON GEORGE | in my column two weeks ago I introduced a new Wanderlust feature, Mondo Weirdo, with strange food tales taken from the recollections of globe-trotting staffers at an adventure travel company. The idea behind Mondo Weirdo is to celebrate the worldly diversity -- from food and festivals to beliefs and rites -- we wanderlusters inevitably encounter in our off-the-beaten-path ventures. In my column I invited readers to send in their own strange travel tales -- and in response I received a veritable smorgasbord of appetite-challenging food stories. Here are four. Look for more to come in future weeks -- and send us your own Mondo Weirdo tales! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How much is that doggy in the window? A second lieutenant, just out of college and stationed in South Korea, was wandering the local market, doing some window-shopping, when she came across a store with puppies in the window. One was jumping up, barking and -- well, you know how puppies make you love them. She decided to take him home. Not knowing any Korean, she managed with signs to make her wishes known to the proprietor, who took the puppy to the back to "prepare him." Imagine her surprise when he presented the puppy -- skinned, butchered and packaged. -- Karina Fabian - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Red hot chili 'pillars In a wonderful little restaurant behind funky Rockey Street in Johannesburg, South Africa, there is served a dish called Mopani Worms, apparently an Angolan dish in origin. It consists of large, fuzzy, sun-dried black caterpillars served with a hot red chili sauce. Yes, they look like large, black, fuzzy and very dead caterpillars in a hot red chili sauce. Taste? Is the word "interesting" an overused cop-out? Went down well with Nami, though. Cheers! -- T. S. Low - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - You do what with avocado? This is food squeamishness in reverse, sort of. When my husband was in college in Texas, he was invited to a bate papo with a bunch of Brazilians and decided to bring (welcome to the Lone Star state!) guacamole. When he whipped open the bowl, reactions ranged from frozen politeness to out and out gagging. Avocados with tomato, onion, salt?! In Brazil the avocado is a breakfast fruit, the pit removed and then milk and sugar added. -- Lisa Jones - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh to be in American Samoa when the palolo spawn Back in 1978-80 I was contracted to a U.S. government agency and had the happy experience of living and working in the tiny, tropical territory of American Samoa. The Samoans are among the last of the pure Polynesian stock, and tend to be hugely enormous individuals, with appetites to match. While there I participated in the annual palolo orgy. The locals consider palolo to be on a par with caviar. My recollection runs more along the lines of "the other green meat." The palolo is a sea worm, which 51 weeks of the year lives in the nooks and crannies of the coral reefs that surround the islands. But for one glorious week when high tide and full moon are coincident, the palolo spawn, and the shallow waters of the lagoon are alive with millions and millions of six-inch- long, hairy, green sea worms, floating about and churning the waters into a froth of annelid reproductive juices. The Samoans just go nuts. Everyone not incapacitated or jailed wades out into the frothing waters with nets and buckets and scoops up gallons of these horny, hairy, green worms -- the hard-core aficionados gobbling down as many raw palolo as they dump into their buckets and baskets for later consumption. This was the first time I ever saw anything being actually eaten alive. The versatility of these critters was astonishing: They were eaten raw, baked, boiled, sautéed, stewed, pan fried, deep fried and frozen. By the time I had consumed enough of the local brew, Vailima beer, to actually try some of this delicacy (cooked), the secondary characteristic of the Vailima (its powerful laxative effect) was just about to demonstrate its efficacy. Oh, what a mighty time we had! I reckon Monty Python described it best, the sensation of "really opens the sluices at both ends." You know, I never could recall what the palolo tasted like. I'm certain it wasn't chicken. -- Wes Owens - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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. |
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