On the boat we
have had a variety of food and drink,
Some that are
horrible, some that are quite good I think.
We have had
octopus, sushi, mud crab and fish,
While passsion
fruit, mango, and papaya are pretty in a dish.
At home the
question was, “With this, what would be tasty?”
Now it is, “What’s
going rotten that I can put in this pastry?”
A whole bunch
of bananas grow ripe at one time,
But the banana
bread and fritters mom makes are divine!
There is curry,
roasted geera (cumin), and shado benni,
While all
different seafood’s there are so many.
We have eaten
Mahi Mahi, frog’s legs, urchins and more,
And fresh
markets that aren’t like your average grocery store!
I even ate a
fish that might have eaten me,
Can you even guess
what that might be?
Most of you people reading this probably
go to a grocery store every week with your car to stock up on food. Not us. Every
three to six months we stock up at whatever store and market we can find.
The most interesting thing about
provisioning is our method of transportation. First we get into our dingy and go
to shore where we choose one of many options. We could take a taxi, a tok-tok,
a bus, or a long hot walk. All three of us go, because if we want to eat, we
got to carry. Each of us is normally loaded with two canvas bags and a
backpack.
One of the most remarkable markets that I
remember was in Madagascar. When you walked into the huge building the first
thing that hits you is the ode de overripe vegies and unrefrigerated meat. PU!
It’s over 90 degrees, humid, with narrow aisles, chuck full of people and
flies. Every family has their own stall with their multicolored goods stacked
in pyramids. The meat section had every animal part known for sale. There was
hoof, brain, stomach, and rows and rows of dried fish. The meat mongers swept
the hoard of flies away with a palm fan as we approached, and as soon as we
passed, stopped and let the flies feast again.
Now for the exciting part; what is it and
how do we cook it? We love to get new foods we haven’t eaten before, so a lot
of the time we have to figure out how to cook it. A few foods we discovered at
the beginning of our trip that have since become our all-time favorites are
papaya, passion fruit, avocado, pamplemousse, banana, and pineapple. I mention
avocado because at many places there are so many locals give them to us for
free.
One of our favorite fruits in the pacific was the pamplemousse, also
called pomelo. They are as big as soccer balls and sweeter than grapefruit,
although they’re a sucker to peel.
We like to eat
them plain, but coconut can be used many ways. One way is coconut biscuits, and
I can eat as many as I want because I get a workout, shaving the fresh coconut
meat out of the shell! One natural cotton candy is the inside of a young
sprouted coconut. Yum!
Speaking of workout, one of the most difficult
to cook is the cashew apple. Initially the cashew apple must be simmered in
water for about 10 minutes. Then the top is cutoff and the skin is discarded. The
skin has a substance in it that irritates your skin like the poison ivy leaf,
so you have to be careful handling it. After all this it is diced up, cooked
with sugar and made into a jam. Mom keeps saying, “You’ve got to be kidding!”,
but it was tasty when she fixed it.
Foods that we
have had in only some places include piranha, taro, mud crabs, shado benni (a
plant similar to cilantro), and octopus. I could really get on a roll with the
seafood, but I’ll limit it to conch, urchin (which was still moving on my plate
as I ate it), and raw tuna. Now when I say raw, I mean the fish is still
twitching. Now that’s sushi!
I say to the world, bring it on! Every day
I am eager to try new things, even if they are a little… well, interesting.
