gastronome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"a delight"

they said,

and by "they" no one really knows,

but it sounds good,

and we tire of normal food,

so "a delight" sounded wonderful.

 

you see,

we'd tasted criadillas when we visited Spain

and sampled casu marzu in Venice.

in Indonesia we had durians, just to say we'd tried it

and we snacked on Dragon in the Flame of Desire,

balut, and pidan on our way through China.

we'd eaten escargot and boulette d'avesnes topped with caviar on a baguette,

as well as chouquettes and soupe de poisson and cuisses de grenouille

all in Paris, France

 

some may say we've an odd pallet,

and some may say we're disgusting

but only the finest for us, we say,

(or the things that cost the most)

 

 

 

 

now at this delightful restuant,

we simper and we smile,

we ask to meet the cook

and he giggled and spilled salt all over us,

barely concealing his delight.

 

he then asked if we'd like to try long pig,

said it was the rarest of the rare,

said we'd love it, become addicted,

and it would make our night.

 

of course, we salivated then gobbled it right up,

nothing was too fine for us,

and nothing went uneaten,

 

 

 

and when we asked for the recipe,

the chef smiled and said simply, "people."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

gastronome: a connoisseur of good food; gourmet; epicure.

(it became kind of long and obscure through the end, my apologies)




foods, for the record.
criadillas are also known as Rocky Mountain oysters or bull testicles.
casu marzu is a cheese that goes beyond typical fermentation to a state of decomposition, served with larvae deliberately added
durians is known as the "king of fruits" and is extremely smelly and the flesh is yellowish and sticky, almost gluey.
Dragon in the Flame of Desire is quite simply yak penis
balut is a fertilized chicken or duck embryo boiled in the shell and then sucked out
pidan is a preserved egg with a raised PH level. the yolk turns greenish-gray and the white turns reddish-brown.
escargot is snails
boulette d'avesnes is a soft, often spicy cheese with a red rind
caviar is fish eggs
chouquettes are hollow buns topped with sugar
soupe de poisson is fish soup
cuisses de grenouille is frog legs

Reviews

[Mockingbird]

that's what they get...it was important to try exotic and expensive delicacies just to say they'd had it no matter how 'unconventional' they may be and that they're well traveled.. these people are superficial. perfect rendition of those kinds of people and what kind of food is actually consumed in the different places in the world.

[Rene Velez]

Yes long pig first time I heard that said was in an old bugs bunny cartoon, weird...most of the dishes you describe I have never tried...but I will do a bit of research...a well done piece of writing...no pun intended, well maybe it was...lol

[Kenneth The Poet]

I chuckled at this...nice work.

[roarke]

yeah, but have you ever tried squirrel?

long pig..... fitting name.

I dare you to say this piece in under thirty seconds....

it's about language, communication is multi-dimensional, food becomes more in other languages, consuming food is depicted in so many different way, perspectives, attitudes... I think the piece is very fitting... and filling.