Beetles. Scorpions. Locusts. Centipedes. Frogs. Sheep testicles.
This may sound like a line-up of Fear-Factor challenges, but it was actually the MENU of dinner last weekend! The university hosted a faculty trip to Kaifeng, which is known locally for a great night market and good food. Apparently "good food" actually means mind-blowing I-can't-believe-people-eat-this type food. I wandered around gajillion food stalls and watched hundreds of snacks get boiled, fried, pounded, seasoned and served.
I limited myself to new encounters only, looking for new stories to
tell....and wow, did I find a few! Insects definitely have a crunchy factor, but the taste was actually pretty good - fried, crunchy, spicy - really not so bad as long as you could get over the fact that you were eating wings. My favorite were the beetles. The centipede proved challenging when one of my friend's got a leg stuck in his teeth. It took him almost a full minute to disentangle it. You know that terrible mental image you just got of the dangling bug? I got to witness that firsthand.
The biggest challenge for most was the sheep testicles. Frankly, we
aren't sure if it was sheep or goat, but we ARE sure which organ it was. Carefully sliced, scored, chopped, boiled, then stir-fried in delicious ways, but even the food vendor was surprised to see a blue-eyed white chick order it. We passed it around the table, challenging each other to try a bite. As it turns out, the real challenge was chewing it...and chewing, and chewing, and chewing....
I've been terrible about updating my blog lately - my sincerest apologies - but I just HAD to tell the world about this little adventure!
