Strange Foods - Jerry Hopkins

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foods, accepted in one region, are rejected by diners in others. What is considered repulsive to someone in one part of the world, in another part of the world is simply considered lunch.

      In the November 22, 1890 issue of the French publication Le Don Quichotte, the French deride acts of cannibalism allegedly taking place in the British colonies of Africa.

      I’ve followed Ms. Fisher’s lead and tried to make this book a guide to how the other half dines and why. I’m no Frank Buckland, but over a period of twenty-five years I have rejected my meat-and-potatoes upbringing in the United States frequently to try a wide variety of regional specialties, from steamed water beetles, fried grasshoppers and ants, to sparrow, bison and crocodile, the latter three served en casserole, grilled, and in a curry, respectively. I have eaten deep-fried bull’s testicles in Mexico, live shrimp sushi in Hawaii, mice cooked over an open wood fire in Thailand, pig stomach soup in Singapore, minced water buffalo and yak butter tea in Nepal, stir-fried dog and ”five penis wine” in China, and the boiled blood of a variety of animals in Vietnam. This list, too, goes on, and I share some of these experiences in the chapters following, along with some recipes. After all, no matter what humans eat, by choice or circumstance, the one thing all the dishes have in common is that they must be prepared properly. Of course, there are some people who oppose such exploration. Conservationists are concerned, correctly, about the disappearance of endangered species. Others worry about animal rights, objecting to the manner in which even non-threatened species are penned or caged and slaughtered. A third group-called ”bunny-huggers” in wildlife circles-cries out when people eat animals that they, the protestors, call pets, reminding me of Alice at the banquet in Through the Looking Glass, who turned away the mutton because it was impolite to eat food you’d been introduced to.

      The ingredients for a special Balinese version of pepes, a dish cooked in banana leaf packets over an open grill. Garlic, ginger, lime, chillies, fish paste, tamarind paste, monosodium glutamate, coconut paste, and freshly caught dragonflies (less wings).

      I will not engage animal rights people in debate. Their point of view is valid and, in fact, carries incalculable weight in a world where resources and environment are being threatened in a manner that is as alarming as it is unrelenting. Many argue that this alone will expand our gastronomical frontiers, whether we like it or not. As Mr. Kyle wrote, cattle are notoriously unkind to the earth and in time there won’t be enough pasture to accommodate the world demand, forcing us to dine on alternate protein sources. The one mentioned most often? Insects.

      I don’t insist that you to add ostrich or dog or grasshopper to your menu, although I do suggest that you consider expanding your diet to include something outside the ordinary. However, as a frequent traveler, I do urge anyone who shares my passion for new places and peoples to heed that old but good advice about “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Try some of the local food; I believe that it’s a path to understanding the culture better than any other outside learning the language, marrying a native, or converting to the local religion.

      Of course, species on the endangered list are not recommended, except under special circumstances. (There are sections on elephants and whales.) There is no need. There are too many other tasty choices.

      There also is the matter of curiosity and the pleasant surprise that frequently follows it. “I have always believed, perhaps too optimistically,” Ms. Fisher wrote in a book called An Alphabet for Gourmets (1949), “that I would like to taste everything once, never from such hunger as made friends of mine in France in 1942 eat guinea-pig ragout, but from pure gourmandism.”

      Remember the person who first tasted the oyster. It’s not just dinner, it’s an adventure.

      The appeal of raw seafood-here abalone, sea squirt and octopus-lies as much in the interesting, often rubbery, textures as in the delicate flavour.

      What could be stranger than Space Shuttle food? A dinner of marinated shrimp, noodles, peas, sliced fruit, and candies would make anyone long for comfort food.

      Previous: Irula rat catchers in southern India fill their sack with the day’s haul of animals caught from their nests and tunnels under the rice fields.

      mammals

      No one is sure what the first humans ate. In Neanderthal times, the mammoth played a large role in human life: courageously brought down by hunters with spears, a mammoth could feed, say, a dozen or more caves full of people for a week or more. Many drawings found in such caves in Europe, North America, and elsewhere show men hunting great hairy beasts. Archeological digs have uncovered the well-chewed bones of dozens of animals.

      Since then, of course, the number of mammal species consumed throughout the world has multiplied quickly as hunting, transport, and marketing advances have enabled all types of meat to reach a larger audience, and in smaller, more manageable portions. It is not necessary nowadays to deal with a dead mammoth outside the cave when there are steaks in the freezer and quarter-pounders at the fast-food outlet.

      The embryo of a calf on sale at a meat stall in the morning market of Phayao in northern Thailand.

      That said, despite these advances and a current upward trend in the consumption of certain exotic foods, it can be argued that the number of protein sources for a growing world population is shrinking rather than expanding, at least proportionately. Through history, humans have eaten virtually everything that walked, including each other. However, the consumption of the four herbivorous mammals that provide eighty percent of the world’s protein-cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats—has become more prevalent. Thus, as the number of species being added to the menu goes up, the proportions, worldwide, are running the other way.

      Some chapters here include animals found on endangered-species lists. I am not advocating irresponsible or illegal hunting activities. These species have a long history as food that continues to the present time, so they cannot be denied from any survey that has any pretensions to historical accuracy. More importantly, some of these animals are not always threatened in every location and circumstance. That many mammals have disappeared from the menu can be explained in part by the unfortunate number of species added to the endangered lists, and their removal from the approved diet may be applauded. At the same time, the Gang of Four-beef, pork, lamb, and goat—has gained ground because of fashion and the outside influence that accompanies the press of history. In Japan, for example, meat was virtually untouched before the country opened up to the West in the mid-nineteenth century, and in China, where tofu was first produced some two thousand years ago McDonald’s outlets now rival the number of vegetarian restaurants in Beijing.

      Notions of class and caste exerted other forces. Some animal foods, such as possum in the United States, became associated with the poor, the “lower class,” and thus were not accepted at “better” tables, just as what is called “bush meat” in Africa and “bush tucker” in Australia traditionally was consumed by indigenous peoples, and thus shunned by those who fancied themselves fancier. At the same time, a number of specific mammal parts-blood, brains, certain innards, and sexual organs, for example—were disdained because they were not considered a “proper” food for the proper lady and gentleman.

      Certain religions also played and continue to play a role. Hindus do not eat beef, Muslims and Orthodox Jews do not eat pork, and even today many Catholics eat only fish on Fridays. Some of these guidelines and taboos have their origins in practicality. Pork has been banned for thousands of years in the Middle East and remains on the taboo list for many hundreds of millions today because it is an unclean animal and spoils quickly; modem

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