To China’s Fangji Cat Meatball Restaurant and Beyond
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 07.18.11 | 11:18 AM ET
More travel-related hilarity from David Sedaris in China, though it’s not for those without an adventurous palate. And if you do have an adventurous palate, Sedaris salutes you:
Another of the dishes that day consisted of rooster blood. I’d thought it would be liquid, like V8 juice, but when cooked it coagulated into little pads that had the consistency of tofu. “Not bad,” said the girl seated beside me, and I watched as she slid one into her mouth. Jill was American, a Peace Corps volunteer who’d come to Chengdu to teach English. “In Thailand last year? I ate dog face,” she told me.
“Just the face?”
“Well, head and face.” She was in a small village, part of a team returning abducted girls to their parents. To show their gratitude, the locals prepared a feast. Dog was considered good eating. The head was supposedly the best part, and rather than offend her hosts, Jill ate it.
This, for many, is flat-out evil but the rest of the world isn’t like America, where it’s become virtually impossible to throw a dinner party. One person doesn’t eat meat, while another is lactose intolerant, or can’t digest wheat. You have vegetarians who eat fish and others who won’t touch it. Then there are vegans, macrobiotics and a new group, flexitarians, who eat meat if not too many people are watching. Take that into consideration and it’s actually rather refreshing that a 22-year-old from the suburbs of Detroit will pick up her chopsticks and at least try the shar pei.
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
James Younghusband 07.19.11 | 2:59 AM ET
try visiting the philippines and eat balut :)
Mary Arulanantham 07.27.11 | 7:16 PM ET
Oddly, I got more tongue clicking from admitting that I accepted bright orange locally made soda pop in Sri Lanka, than from any other oddity I might have tried. “Oh! How could you put that in your body?” Seriously. Plus every time I make plans to try street food on the next trip, I’m warned that I could die of food poisoning. Sorry, but the worst food poisoning I ever had was from mall food in Singapore (truly wanted to die); I’ll take my chances on the freshly made mystery meat that I can see sliding into the bubbling oil. Life is short.