My Husband’s Taste of African Exotic Delis

 

Last Sunday, September 12, 2010, at 22:32 Singapore time (past 5 PM in Kinshasha), I received a text message from my husband Frederick bragging that he had caterpillars and preserved smoked fish for dinner.  Squeamish as I am, I almost puked.  Good thing we’ve already had supper, otherwise I won’t be able to gulp the food down coz I’d be imagining the rice to be caterpillars wriggling all their way down my throat (gross!)

My husband Frederick has a wild and sometimes weird sense of adventure, not only when it comes to outdoor activities but most especially when it comes to food.  He has a thick stomach and an unusual palate matched with high degree of curiosity and an annoying determination to explore the unknown (my vehement objection is really not effective – huh!).  He loves adventures. He loves to eat anything and everything (oh I pity his tummy, poor thing).  Everywhere we go and anywhere he goes, he always wants a taste of local food, and not just the ordinary local food but the exotic ones!  When we were in Thailand, he asks every local people we meet as to where he (not me!) can eat cockroaches, snakes, grasshoppers and whatever strange stuff  Thai restos can offer. I really can’t stomach it (I’ m not coming with you!)

Well, strange /weird/gross exotic food may be disgusting and disturbing for some people (like me) and for some cultures but it is common, acceptable,  and palatable for others (like my husband Frederick).  It’s not about “kaartehan”, Filipino culture has its own range of exotic food – we have the balut;  isaw, dinuguan;  bagoong, dogmeat and pinikpikan for the Ilocanos and other northern Luzon people;  bungsus, etag, tapey for the natives of Cordillera, and a lot more, and I eat most of them, especially balut, isaw, dinuguan, bagoong, pinikpikan etc. I also had tasted crocodile meat, well I had too coz my husband bribed me to. It tasted ok, nothing special really, not that I am expecting that it will taste nasty or something, it was, like, sour? Or maybe it was just how my husband cooked it (Dear naman next time sarapan mo ha)

See? I’m not “maarte”.   But if you are talking about wriggling, crawling, hopping, flying, whatever nasty and gross  “what-have-yous” you call food, please spare me.

I hope my husband had learned his lessons with his caterpillar-eating-adventure coz he had developed an allergic reaction to it – half of his face had been swollen !!! after a long scolding and begging from me, trying to talk him out to NOT eating exotic food again (DO NOT EAT MONKEYS Dear.  Please!), he boastfully told me that their supplies (plural) of crocodile meat are on their way and he is already salivating at the idea of gorging over crocodile meat on the weekends.  What can I do but to sigh (haaaaaaaayyyyssssss deep deep deep sigh)  He promised though that he’s not going to eat caterpillars again (kain lang dear para yung kabilang pisngi mo naman lumobo, para pantay na :D)

my husband Frederick enjoying his caterpillar meal

 

... he really is eating it???

fried caterpillar

 

fried caterpillar

 

PS:  Edible worms, caterpillars, and other insects are considered traditional foods in most part of Africa, and these thingy are high in protein.  UN’s FAO is reconsidering it as an alternative source of protein in order to increase food security in African countries. Sapelli caterpillars  and  mopane caterpillar are those commonly served in Kinshasha, DRC (That’s for your information Dear)

 

– Sharosem (15September2010)