Local Food

There's nothing like trying the food in your country of residence ... nothing quite like it In Turkey, I attended a teachers conference in Edirne. I went with two of my Turkish friends and we met up with my future boss and colleagues while there. They decided I should try the local delicacy ... the one that another colleague had asked that we take back to her because she loved it so much. Sounds good I thought to myself. I admit it, I balked a little when they told me it was deep-fried lung, thinking 'Dear god, must I?' Off we wandered to the restaurant, with me psychologically dragging my heels. I asked my friend if it wasn't a very big clue that you couldn't get this food anywhere else ... a big clue as in 'you shouldn't be eating this thing!' She laughed. The food arrived at the table, it looked tempting and smelt good. I poked at it with my fork and asked, 'Isn't this liver?' They talked among themselves and sure enough, 'lung and liver' are close enough and rarely used ... it was an offal mix up. The dish was good, better than the liver I had eaten as a child back home in New Zealand. Last night we attended a big dinner here in Belgium. The food was quite stunning, although I'm not sure I agree that duck steak should look so much like raw steak. The entree was this delicate little round of whitish meat on a bed of exotic mushrooms, with a cream sauce surround. The first mouthful was stunning, although unrecognisable as any meat I had previously eaten. Then I noticed the Belgians were watching me eat. It's never a good sign, not even back home. They asked if I liked it. I said, 'It's stunning, what is it?' 'Veal' was the laughing reply. Halfway through, the smiles were making me suspicious again and I asked Gert to tell me more about the 'veal' I was eating. Sigh, it was some kind of animal gland ... He couldn't find the translation for me, probably for the best as it was tasty. He has a meeting this morning, he left before anyone else was awake and I wasn't alert enough to remember my question. I'm still waiting on the translation. Some kind of gland ... I'll let you know.