Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Eat. Burp. Travel.

When I have the time to sit in front of the TV (and have possession of the remote control), my favourite channels are 703, followed by 707. 

Does that mean I love food more than travel? Maybe. It's really too close to call. And I'm too much in denial to admit that. 

Anyway, we all know who these people are:

Ian Wright. Megan Mc Cormick. Justine Shapiro. Estelle Bingham. Anthony Bourdain. Samantha Brown. Andrew Zimmern. Keith Floyd. Bob Blumer. Merilees Parker. Padma Lakshmi.

Notice how many are food AND travel related? My guess is that the two go together, hand-in-hand. Chefs have become globe-trotting travellers, experiencing and learning about the cuisines of the world. I like Bourdain because he's a reckless, what-the-heck kinda guy and is up for anything. And everyone loves Ian, surely :).

One of my favourite LP scenes is when Justine was served a huge, deep fried whole rodent, in Ecuador (I think it was Ecuador. Definitely South America. My memory is failing me). And she stared at it for a while, 'knocked' on it with her fork, and said "I'm going to imagine what this tastes like".

After watching all the programmes with the weirdest food, I've decided that, if I am ever faced with bizarre choices, I draw the line at these:

* balut
* rodents of any kind
* raw meat and raw parts of any kind
* roaches of any kind
* squiggly live worms of any kind

I know, travel is about experiencing new things. Alas, I don't think I can muster enough courage to sample any of the above. This coming from me, who once (unwisely) declared, 'try everything once!'. I take those words back. Here, right now.

I'll take a cue from Justine and think that I'd be happy to just imagine what they taste like.

2 comments:

  1. I too can't stomach all those meat you mentioned. I'll only consume them if it's a matter of life and death.

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  2. Let's hope we won't be faced with such decisions! :)

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