Food stories that will make some readers' mouths water, and that of others twist in disgust.
In this week's article, I explore the connection between food and culture, or to be more precise, the connection between what we have learnt to see as edible and what not. This learning is, of course, culturally coloured.
To illustrate this point, I told the story of my recent road trip through parts of Western Canada Once I got to the prairies (Fort MacLeod in South-Western Alberta, Canada, to be precise), I was introduced to a local delicacy, "Prairie Oysters." Prairie Oysters are also known under a variety of other names (among my favorite names are cowboy caviar and even better, swinging beef). But however referred to, swinging beef, Rocky Mountains oysters, Montana tender-groins, cowboy caviar, swinging beef or calf fires, they are what they are: Bulls' Balls.
These are removed when the bull is still young with the idea to make the bull more obedient and easier to handle. Once cut off, they're given a rinse and peeled as if they were apples, then they are rolled around in flour and pepper, and off they go in the frying pan to be fried, deep-fried whole, cut into broad or thin slices, or marinated. Then: Bon appetite! Given that I myself have been a vegetarian my whole life, I declined the delicacy.
This story illustrates French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's point: "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are". And indeed, what and how we eat is an expression of how we see the world.
The story illustrates the intricate relation between the universal and the cultural. The people at the table there in Fort Macleod were devouring the "swinging beef." My reaction was something akin to disgust. Both the delight and disgust are feelings that have been shaped by the ways in which we come to understand food. The foods we react to with delight or disgust are certainly different. Yet both - disgust and delight - are universal reactions to food, shared by us all.
Do you have a disgusting or funny food story? Pass 'm on! or post in our discussion forum.
