Odd Culinary Indulgences

In spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would mention some of the bizarre foods I've tried since being here and a few of the foods I avoided. The rating system accompanying my descriptions are arbitrary.More...
1) Grasshopper: Fried with red chili powder and served whole, the first step is to twist off the head and pull out the spinal cord. This part, I'm told, "tastes like shit." Fortunately, shit is still something I haven't tried.

What It Tastes Like: An overcooked french fry flavored with chicken broth. Before trying, I refused profusely. My friend and coworker insisted I try, claiming it tasted like chicken.

"P'Boom, if I wanted to eat something that tastes like chicken, I can eat chicken!"

Why I Ate It: I became immersed in a 7 cup pool of vodka tonics and remembered that my mom told me to try everything once.

Rating: 3

2) Dragon Fruit: Have you ever seen this? Google it. It looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. It is oval and the outer part is pink with green leaf like things growing off of it. The meat of the fruit has the feeling of kiwi and is white with black seeds throughout.

How It Tastes: It is very starchy and mildly sweet. I was expecting something puckering, but received a pleasantly mellow experience. It is high in fiber, which is good for my butt. You can never be too kind to your butt.

Why I Ate It: Because it was new fruit and not meat. All the weird things tend to be meat or bugs.

Rating: MMM

3) Pig's Liver, Blood, and Heart: Thai cuisine throws hardly anything away. Eating internal organs is very common. The liver excluded, these items are typically served with noodles in a delicious beef or chicken based broth. In my opinion, that is where the deliciousness stops.

What They Taste Like:

Liver: I've never tried it because eating the organ responsible for removing toxins from the body just seems odd. Would you eat animal rectum? No, I didn't think so.

It has the consistency of creamy sand and tastes like meatloaf that soaked in rancid orange juice.

Rating: 2

Blood: It is prepared and looks very much like tofu. It is a gleaming burgundy cube, gelatinously dancing to the sway of the server's saunter. The taste is mild and almost bland, but my mind ran a muck when I tried it, pulling up images of slaughter and the hit Showtime series Dexter.

Rating: AB-

Heart: Actually, this was surprisingly tasty. Then I bit into an artery and gagged. Tasty yes, but texture plays a huge part in food for me. I can't handle chewy things that don't change in composition after chewing them.

Rating: <3

Why I tried them: The liver was peer pressure. I was at dinner with a large group of coworkers and they found out that I have never had liver. Now I know why many are not fans. The blood was absolute curiosity. I might try it again if I've had a few. The heart was in a meal bought for me and I wanted to show that I will be appreciative and try it.

Fish Stomach: Yes, fish stomach. It was served in a thick, non-cream based soup with mushrooms and unidentifiable greens. If you didn't know, you might assume that it was just a vegetable. It is translucent and doesn't look like what it is.

What It Tastes Like: The soup itself was delicious, but the stomach tasted like netting. That was the first word that came to mind when I tried it. The flavor of the savory soup overpowered the stomach and the tongue, and all I got was texture.

Why I Ate It: I was at a wedding for a coworker and again succumbed to peer pressure. People were really jazzed to try it, and so I followed suit.

Rating: meh

Fried Duck's Bill:
There's a point when repulsion is dominated by curiosity. For me, this was that point. How the hell do you eat a duck's bill? Why? It's all bone! Well, I gave it a whirl and found it to be alright, but not worth the effort of massive masticating.

What It Tastes Like: Because it is composed of several small bones, it's like eating sticks covered with deep fried chicken skin. Crunchy doesn't begin to describe the sensation of the jaw crunching and breaking an animals tiny mouth bones. Not worth the effort, really. Again, if I have been drinking, I can see myself indulging in what is put in front of me.

Why I Ate It: P'Boom, my Thai sister, loves getting me to eat new weird things. She was the one responsible for the grasshopper feast.

Rating: daffy

Little Faces Playing to the Heart

Our luxuries are bountiful. So innumerable are our fortunes that they are inevitably taken for granted. Before we leave our beds in the morning, we have most likely already overlooked several riches. Above our heads are roofs that don’t leak and under them are soft pillows. But we are not to blame. Without a stark comparison, it is easy to forget our blessings when they are veiled by daily strife and routines.

Recently, I was afforded an opportunity to see my affluence reflected by the faces of children who lacked it. And yet, they smiled and laughed all the same.

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The first time I visited Tanarak Village, an impoverished suburban community of Bangkok, the day was sweltering. The night before, torrential rains fell on the woodstove of the sauna that was the outdoors. My eyes drank eagerly from the windows of the van as we passed abandoned shacks and food carts succumbing to the elements. Roofs were caving in. Parts were missing. Stray dogs slept and crept listlessly in the shade, into shadows hiding all but the floating swarthy faces of the locals.

The van stopped. Coworkers and I loaded with bags of donations made our way through the walkways leading to the meeting area. Along the way, an array of rusted aluminum panels, nails, and scents of frying meats jutted out. Children played along the train tracks. Garbage—like wild foliage—seemed to be growing and thriving off the land. It swam in the water and underneath houses like and with the fish. An orchestra of televisions and laughter from the kids reverberated through the walkway, only to be interrupted by motorcycles whizzing by the line of outsiders.

Prior to my arrival, the office had been working closely with the community (what might be harshly called the ‘slums’ is referred to here as the community) for several months. Meetings occurred where ABAC Poll members and community leaders discussed how to start to improve the quality of life: removing the fish that aren’t fish; renovations that would permit only the frying meat scents to jut out; and providing the children with additional educational outlets and areas to encourage more violins of laughter and less TV conductors.

Initially, the altruism of our purpose unsettled me more than the environment; no background knowledge of the area, the people, or our goals had been made available to me. Even more unnerving was the overwhelming sense of responsibility. But soon after, my doubts and jitters were assuaged when I saw how thirsty these children were for learning. They were my eyes and their windows were my words. In them, I would like to think they saw a way to help their people. In them, I would like to think I saw that possibility.

I have taught there twice now. Each time, we all learn a little more, not only about language, but about life. I cannot speak on behalf of the ABAC Poll staff. Perhaps I would do myself a service to ask them if they are learning anything from this experience or if only I and the children are learning new ways of life. I can say the children are realizing they can teach the teacher Thai, and I am redefining the importance of being a child. Knowledge can open the heart to the youth it has forgotten with time and tragedy.