Cultural exchange: Food

It was black. I picked it up. It had a bit of a 'bounce' as I squeezed it between my fingers. I had a sneaking suspicion what it was. But I couldn’t tell for sure.

So I took a bite. I chewed. I swallowed. I took another bite. And then I decided, “No thank you. I think I have enough of this & don’t want anymore.”

She laughed, “That’s OK.” She laughed again. “Maybe you should try the sweet one? You might like it better than the salty one.”

OK, so I gave it another chance & took the ‘sweet’ one. Filled with honey, apparently. I bit, swirled it around my mouth to try to taste the ‘sweetness’, chewed, swallowed. It tasted just like the one before! Where’s the honey, honey?

“Sorry, I have to give up on this one too.” She laughed again.

“That’s so funny!” said my Dutch missionary neighbour. “It’s funny how when we’re not used to the things we grew up with, food can taste so weird!”

The German friend replied, “Well done Jessica! You’re so brave to try it even though you don’t know what it is.”

“Well,” I said, “I never quite thought that ANY Western food would be yucky. I thought only the Asians had a reputation for disgusting food! I won’t have the guts to eat the Khmer delicacies here – e.g. fried spiders, locusts, duck foetus in egg etc.”

Do you want to know what it was that I tasted?

LICORICE! 



OK, so it’s not quite that disgusting – depending on who you are! But it obviously did not go well with my palate. Our Dutch neighbours had received boxes upon boxes of these “sweet” treats from home recently, and they love every morsel of it. Apparently, they come in all kinds of flavours too! But I bet they all taste the same to my untrained (& unappreciative) palate.

“Well, next time, I’d like you all to try my favourite fruit….

 DURIAN!”

To which the German lady (who has been in Cambodia for 6 years) gasped… “NO WAY!”

One man's meat is another man's poison.... I guess!
(or in Cambodia... one dog's flesh is another man's dinner... !! like, literally...)