Exotic foods.
“Have one”, my host said. “It tastes like biltong.” I have wanted to taste them for some time and the mention of biltong was the perfect encouragement. I happen to love biltong. I had a few opportunities to sample it before but every time I put it off until ‘next time'.
The year was 1989 and the venue was a game farm in the north of our country. It was getting dark and there was a bosvark (wild hog) sizzling on a spit braai (giant rotisserie). I was into my second brandy and feeling brave. My two friends who came with me from Cape Town looked at me in anticipation. The bowl in the middle of the table was supposed to be a hors d'oeuvre of some sort .
I took the spoon and scratched in the bowl that my host put on the table. It was the dried variety (I saw when they went in the pot) and it looked delicious; done in a sauce laced with onion, tomato, garlic and chilies. I scooped the smallest one and dumped it on my plate. From there it went into my mouth and I chewed on it.
It was tough enough to be biltong, but that was where the resemblance ended. I chewed and I chewed. At first it tasted good; it was a great sauce… and then the real taste came. It was a musty taste, almost like the odor you get when you dig a hole in the ground.
I chewed and I chewed and I chewed. I did not like it. I wanted to swallow it, but it was still too large. I could not spit it out because I was the one boasting that I eat anything. I went on chewing.
At last I could swallow it. I looked at my host across the table. He was busy with his second and his wife was also chewing one. “How was it? You want another?” he asked.
“Delicious!” I lied. “But no thank you.” At least that was the truth. I’d never want to eat another in my life. In my silence I decided to change my boast to ‘eating almost anything’.
I took the bowl again and fished the two largest worms out there and placed them on the platters of my two friends. A deal is a deal. I have completed my side of the bargain. It was their turn.
Comments (56)
I heard that they're eating kangaroo meat out your way. Is it true? not that its an issue, To me it is just an over-sized rabbit, is it not.
Some guy came here from Oz bragging about the good biltong they make out of kangaroo. He called them Joey.
Nothing can spoil my appetite. Talk about that, I must make something for lunch. Maybe I must go see what my sister is making for them. The are on leave already.
I cant beat your list, but I've eaten- rabbit, snake, snails, pidgeons, emu, crocodile, dugong, and pigs trotters...
Yes, snakes are one of the things I did not list and pork trotters I eat regularly. The same for ox trotters.
Some years ago one of our supermarket chains tried to market rabbit meat but it did not catch on.
Those who eat rabbit meat don't need to buy it. We have an abundance of rabbits and they often run into the car when you drive in the country at night. We simply stop to pick them up. They make good stews and pies.
I'm not likely to eat bats, rats and mice.
Pig's feet I have eaten a lot and I like it. I have eaten a lot of clams too, but frogs eggs is not on my list of exotic cuisines to be sampled in the near future.
I must admit to eating termite eggs when I was much younger.
I had no plans of showing my face here until I read your blog. The incident you described brought back fond memories. I remember how upset my brother was with you when you returned because you forced him to eat the whole worm.
I have very poor connectivity at the moment and your pics did not show. that may have prevented me misreading legs for eggs.
Yep, it looks delicious and I'm bound to try it sometimes. I have never seen it on a menu her in SA otherwise I may have given it a go already.
Sorry for taking so long to respond. I have very bad connectivity at the moment. Pages take for ever to load and posting is even worse. It is so bad, my pages time out.
So nice to see you around again. Hmm, he was livid with me and hardly spoke to me all the way back to Cape Town. But a deal is a deal. Nobody short changes me. Not even my friends.