Thursday, April 30, 2009

No Questions ?

I was rather surprised that not many of you asked me questions about the food choices on my post yesterday. I expected to be asked what different foods tasted like.

Tapir

Tapir tastes much like beef. The tapir is actually related to the horse and I would suppose it tastes like horse. Having never eaten horse, I can not verify this!



(Photo by Michael Dawson)
Also, did anyone spot the sloth in this photo?


Roasted Monkey

I prefer to use it disguised in soups and cut into small fine pieces. The roasted whole monkeys turned my stomach as they resemble babies. I have often served monkey to visitors unaware. If it was the only meat I had. If ground and cooked in chili or spaghetti , they never knew!

Macaw

Macaw is a dark meat and TOUGH! No, I mean, TOUGH. You can cook it forever and a day and it will still be tough. You can cook it in a pressure cooker, and it will still be tough. It's just TOUGH!

Palm Grubs

Grubs are very oily. If you fry them, they crisp up like bacon but with the flavor of the palm oil which they eat. Not my favorite.

Earth Worms

Taste like rubber bands with sand in them. Unless they are smoked over a fire, then they taste like Slim Jim's!

Termites

I have only eaten these with the indians on a dare. I do not like to be dared! All I recall is that they were crunchy.

Gator

The tail of the gator is very good. I would cut it into small bite size pieces, batter and deep fry it. Served with honey mustard sauce and the kids thought they were chicken nuggets from McDonald's!

Tarantulas

I have never eaten one. I have heard they steam over the fire and POP their exoskeletons. Some MK's have told me the legs taste like shrimp. I will take their word for it!

17 comments:

Sarah Joy said...

What, it doesn't all taste like chicken???

Deanna said...

Wow! I know why the Lord has called us to work in the city! = ) My stomach turned just from seeing some of those pictures from the last post. Yep...I"ll admit it...I am a city girl!!!

Joy said...

Still don't want to run out and try any of them.


Joy

Anonymous said...

My son is military and has traveled the world over and had to eat many things, he said he could not eat monkey roasted whole as they look so much like a small child. He was told that a sloth passes its body waste through the skin. That kept him from even thinking about trying it. Hope your day is good and hug the babies, they are just too cute.

Betty said...

And I will take your word for it! Whatever all these animals taste like...I don´t want to try! :)

Brenda said...

I think no one asked what they tasted like because we imagined the worst, like monkey! YUCK! Of all the foods you mention that I have not tried, i think I would be most willing to try the tarantula. If it tastes like shrimp. . . .

CrimeSceneFairy said...

ugh, i could never eat monkey! :( It would remind me too much of Jack the monkey from POTC, lol...but i guess in teh jungle, you do what you gotta do...

Hatless in Hattiesburg said...

Having had goatmeat tamales and wild boar enchiladas, I might have guessed what tapir tasted like.

The others I wouldn't touch with a ten-meter cattle prod...

The Local Malcontent said...

Thanks for the precaution, JMom.
I'll bring a sack lunch with me from home. :-)
The most exotic food I've tried is rattlesnake- reminded me of juicy chicken.

Kathy said...

Another question: As a vegetarian, would I offend any of the jungle Indians if I was visiting them and didn't eat when they offered me? Would they understand? Well, I must say that it must have been nice when you went on furlough and could eat some peanut M & Ms! :)

Rita Loca said...

Kathy, If you were just visiting there would be no problem. For long term tho, it would be very difficult for you to find protein. No milk products, no nuts. If you eat fish, that would work, but there are very few green vegetables either. It is complicated trying to have a balanced diet. Without meat it would be even more difficult.

Anonymous said...

Kawania che Keekeru!

Most Rev. Gregori said...

Well, you learn something new everyday, I always thought that tapirs were some type of wild pig.

I have eaten snakes, live octopus,geckos and scorpions while in Vietnam. I guess when you are hungry, you will eat anything.

Since I have been back in the States, (many years now) I have been far less daring in my food choices.

MightyMom said...

I've had gator. yummy!! and frogs legs and turtle soup and crawfish (made any way you can think of uuuummmmmm!) -- all this is standard cajun fare.

funny, these things are delicacies now...but back in the day folks were just cooking up whatever crawled across the backyard!

firepig said...

Wow, Fascinating !

The monkey for me would be beyond disgusting.Have you tried marinating the macaw?

Quite honestly I think I would have stocked up on Japanese dried fish instead of relying on this stuff for protein.

Was fishing difficult?I remember that in Canaima there were waters without fish.

Gayle said...

I've eaten Gator but never tasted the rest of that stuff. Thanks anyway! :)

Unknown said...

Well out of this list of fine dining, I can only testify to having eaten gator meat! I thought it was delicious! Agustin ordered it at a fine dining restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel. I think the restaurant was Oyster Catchers. I had a couple of bites off his plate.
I've watched Andrew Zimmerman eat tarantulas. I think I would prefer to die first!