If you read the hatpost on the Immersion course, you'll agree with me it's rather bland and a touch too heady. So let's spice it up, really, by adding another truly interesting bit of "research" that I'm willing to do while on this trek through SE Asia: Taste tests! I'd like to try some exotic (problematic terminology!) dishes on the S.E.A. menus, and I don't mean chicken feet or frog legs (those I've already tried and still love).
Things I've eaten (and which I'll consider "interesting" or "different"):
1) Frog legs steamed in lotus leaves
2) silkworm (or a relative thereof) fed w/ coconuts and veggies and coconut milk
3) wild boar (both roasted and smoked)
4) grilled porcupine (not the quills, silly)
5) grilled goat's breast (yah, I know what you're thinking, but it's delicious!)
6) pig's tongue
Things I've not eaten and which I might try, if I were heavily bribed, intoxicated, and force-fed (maybe):
1) Tiec Canh -- a kind of "blood soup" with herbal leaves (a delicacy at many drinking parties, I'm told)
2) Snake's heart -- I've been regaled w/ many stories involving snake hearts, most of which involve what some would consider inhumane treatments of animals. This is not for the faint of heart, my friends. One story heard while I was in Hanoi, involves slicing the heart out of a live snake and dropping it into a shot glass of your choice of stiff alcoholic drink and downing the whole thing in one gulp. This may be a popular drink in many areas of the world, maybe in the States, even, but it isn't common on my daily cuisine, that's for sure.
3) Grilled bat -- I've seen this dish prepared on a DVD about the different delicacies around SE Asia. Again, we'll have to be mindful that our definitions of inhumane treatment of animals does not apply here. It isn't so much that Euro-American cultures are "above" cruelty to animals (there are plenty of examples to show us otherwise). It's complicated, and I'm at a loss as to how to explain it. These are the moments when I have to reconsider becoming a vegetarian.
4) Field mice -- They are supposed to be very succulent and healthful for you, especially since they only eat grains and are not "farm raised" animals
5) Dog meat -- prepared in a variety of ways. In Vietnamese, this is called "thit cay". While doggies are not my favorite kinds of pets, I do think they are cute, and so I am not a strong advocate for this particular dish. But, I think each culture -- regardless of its location -- has its own specialities. This is not mine.
As the lists stand, I bet a couple (if not all?) of these could fall under my list of top 10 weirdnesses, which unwillingadult has urged me to name. There must be more, but I'll have to add to the lists later...
