I’m not all that adventurous when it comes to eating. Sure, I’ll eat a fish or shrimp taco from a cart on a street in Mexico but it is a fish / shrimp taco after all! I have a broad range of culinary interest but don’t go out of my way to try so called regional delicacies.
Talk about a slick marketing campaign . . .
Cook 1 - “We have this grizly, fatty, entrails left any ideas?”
Cook 2 - “Lather it up in butter, serve it with a side sauce, triple the price and call it a regional delicacy.”
Cook 1 - “Brilliant!”
Growing up in Central America we were often special guests for meal time celebrations. El Salvador, in particular, has many dishes which feature fish. No problems yet. One of the more frequent soups served by the kind folks was fish soup. Problem lurking on the horizon. Fish soup was fish soup with fish parts floating in the broth. The honored guests always received the head of the fish in their fish soup.
One of my best memories involved running around the table with my sisters fighting for a place where the piece of fish in the bowl was not looking at you. We played this musical dining room chairs quickly and efficiently so that we could sit in front of a bowl without the fish head.
I do enjoy cuisines from varying ethnic regions. I do occasionally try something different. Why just last week I had lettuce on my Five Guys hamburger. I just don’t go out of my way to try a new ethnic genre.
In the past week I’ve sampled one thing I thought I would never eat (Foie Gras) and dined for the first time at an Indian restaurant. The Foie Gras was palatable, though I still don’t understand the hype. The dinner itself was by the far the best meal I’ve ever had. I felt like a judge on Iron Chef.
The Indian food was good. My dinner companions did a great job of ordering mainline items. It was a different culinary experience but a pleasant culinary experience. I’m not sure that I’m ready to fully adopt the cuisine as a must have but I’m willing to offer a temporary culinary visa.
On a funny note: A certain member of our household, when informed that we were going to eat Indian food, wanted to know if we meant we were going to eat American Indian food. Thank you Washington, D.C. and the politically correct machine.
