The Most Magical Meal Ever
On my walk around the world in the 1980's I did not stay in hotels or eat in anything fancier than the local eateries. Most of my meals came from the local people, who more often than not were very poor. As a result, I would discover that nearly anything that crawls, walks, slithers, swims, or flies is edible. Some of my more unusual meals involved things like: camel's blood mixed with sour, warm goat's milk (North Africa's Sahara region); cockroach soup (Thailand); blood sausage (Spain); a five-foot-long goanna lizard roasted on a desert campfire (Australia's outback); and even live maggots (you don't want to know where).
Surprisingly, many of the unusual things I ate were actually quite tasty. I never turned down any foods offered to me, because for one thing I was always hungry during my world walk. Also, I did not want to hurt my hosts' feelings, and, too, I reasoned that the other cultures were very ancient and had had a lot of practice preparing and eating such the dishes they were offering me. More than once I was assured what I was about to eat would even be beneficial to my health. (Once I was even told that what I was about to eat would put hair on my boyish chest. It didn't.)
But of course even though I assure my American audiences that most of those "gross" foreign meals were quite delicious, I still get more doubtful looks than convinced ones. And for a long time that even included my wife, Darci. Afterall, she considered something as simple as pickles to be yucky.
But then, in June 2001, Darci was to be exposed to some of Japan's most exotic foods, and, believe me, from then on she was never the same.
It was all a result of another of Mr. Nakazawa's acts of generosity. (See the February 17 entry "Everyone Should Have a Mr. Nakazawa.") At the time I was walking the entire length of South Korea, and so Mr. Nakazawa decided to bring Darci over and spoil her for most of a week on the innumerable delights of both Japan and South Korea.
Darci of course was about to be exposed to those very unusual Asian meals that she had often heard me talk about. And what, we may ask, did she discover? Well, let's take a peek (with her permission) into her journals from that particular trip--in particular to a meal she shared with Mr. Nakazawa and his wife soon after her arrival in Japan. Let's read, in her own words, exactly what she thought about those foods of the Japanese that so many Americans seem reluctant to put into their mouths.
Sunday, June 24
I met Mr. Nakazawa and his wife in the lobby of the Miyako Hotel at 7 p.m. We went to a restaurant in the hotel that he had reserved entirely for just the three of us.
The dinner was the most magical, most different, most delightful one I have ever experienced in my entire life. It was in the same small restaurant that Steven has often talked so highly about to me. There was just the three of us and the chef.
The meal started out with a tofu soup and would include tempura fried vegetables and greens, as well as suishimi (raw tuna!, raw horsemeat!, raw horse neck fat!, raw whale meat!-- all very oishii!!!). Then at that point the chef showed me what I was to eat next while it was still alive. Mr. Nakazawa all this time was laughing, talking, joking--having a great time watching me enjoy myself. His wife was equally kind, and she helped me with how to properly eat the various foods.
All of the food was incredibly delicious--even the live thing I ate! It didn't hurt that I was buzzing from all the saki and wine being served along with the food. Every new thing was a delight, and the shrimp was the best ever! And then Mr. Nakazawa surprised me with beef, but not just any beef. It was the famed "Kobe beef" from Kobe, Japan! He jokingly told me not to tell Steven until after Steven and I got back to Cincinnati, because Steven hadn't had any on his latest trip over to here. Kobe beef, Steven had told me, is the world's most expensive beef and can cost hundreds of dollars in some restaurants.
Oh my word!....The Kobe beef was so succulent it melted in my mouth.
I was so stuffed. Even the chef was having fun watching my joy at eating. All the while, Mr. Nakazawa tells me about how no other place in the world compares to Japan,when it comes to the emphasis put on the taste and quality of food. And then he started talking about the country's fruits, and the chef brought out a honeydew melon that cost $150 in the supermarket. Mr. Nakazawa insisted I have a piece. I said no, but he said that I may never get another chance to eat a $150 melon. How could I argue with that? Oh was the melon so fabulous! Very juicy and rich with sweetness. Not at all like the American melons, which I normally don't care for.
By the time we got done with the meal, it was 9:30. I couldn't even begin to speculate at what the meal must have cost Mr. Nakazawa. Part of me is like a child feeling sheer joy, and another part of me feels a little guilty at being so spoiled. I have never had anyone do so much for me, and I don't kow how to even express how much it has meant to me. On this trip to Japan, I have been taken to so many magical places. I could never have afforded a trip like this on my own. I feel like a queen.
Incidentally, in case you're wondering, the meal above likely cost Mr. Nakazawa many hundreds of dollars. And that is actually not a bad price. I have been to dinners with Mr. Nakazawa and his business friends that cost thousands of dollars. But of course those meals involved at least 10 persons and were in restaurants that serve only the very well-to-do. (In other words, in addition to the food and drinks, you are charged a lot extra for the "privilege" of even being allowed into the establishment. And the items offered for eating can make even Kobe beef seem a bargain.)
Ironically, some of the best meals I've ever tasted in Japan were in the mom-and-pop restaurants that seem to be on every block. A good example would be one small place that specialized in cow tongue. It was in the city of Sendai, and the dimly-lit place was practically in an alleyway. But oh my goodness! Let's just say that if Mr. Nakazawa hadn't made me stop, I might still be there slurping down yet another bowl of their cow tongue soup.
Steven Newman
Top photo: Darci all too obviously enjoying the meal(and prior wines) she wrote about above in her journal.
Bottom photo: A plate of dessert fruits I had while walking the length of Taiwan. And, no, those are not flames shooting out of the one large fruit.
Comments
I remember riding around with a friend of mine in Thailand when I decided to do a little cuisine roulette and pick something at random.
What I was brought was soup and it was delicious! I asked the waitress what it was and here's is our exchange..
Me: This is delicious, what is it?
Waitress: Blung..
Me: Lung?
Waitress: Umm Bladder
Me: Bladder?
My friend dining with me: It's Blood! It's Pig's Blood Soup!
It was, needless to say delicious.
In Kenya I had giraffe, wildebeest, zebra and impala. It's amazing how good they tasted.
It's amazing how many things we eat right in our own backyards (so to speak) that are exotic. Growing up in Kentucky I have eaten deer, squirrel, rabbit, opossum and groundhog. All of which I remember being excellent.
If it shows animation of any kind someone, somewhere is eating it.
Chief of interest is Spam (the Hormel meat product, not junk email). Spam is considered a delicacy all over the South Pacific. Why?
In Paul Theroux's book "The Happy Isles of Oceania", he writes
"It was a theory of mine that former cannibals of Oceania now feasted on Spam because Spam came the nearest to approximating the porky taste of human flesh. `Long pig' as they called a cooked human being in much of Melanesia. It was a fact that the people-eaters of the Pacific had all evolved, or perhaps degenerated, into Spam-eaters. And in the absence of Spam they settled for corned beef, which also had a corpsy flavor."
Interesting.
For the whole story about Spam, Cecil Adams has a great story at the Straight Dope website
Posted by: Julian Cook | February 22, 2005 7:16 PM
Great story, Julian. That pig's blood soup would rank right up there with anything I've eaten. And I'd bet $100 it indeed is delicious.
And how about this to add to your fascinating Spam info: When I was in Australia I stayed with a missionary doctor who, many decades ago, had actually lived amongst some of the world's last cannibals (in the Papau New Guinea area, I believe). And he happened to share with me that the cannibals there compared the taste of human flesh to that of pork. (Rather sweet, in other words.) The doctor told me how he was continually treating the men for spear and arrow wounds, as it was a part of their boy-to-manhood ritual to go hunt someone from another tribe.
The world seems so ordinary anymore without the ol' cannibals, don't you think? Sort of like Spam....
The Worldwalker
Posted by: the worldwalker | February 22, 2005 11:08 PM
Steve,
You forgot to mention the "Japanese Pizza" I also experienced on my trip. Japanese pizza?!! Yes, but don't fool yourself and think it is anything like the traditional Italian dish. The dough was a big flat potato cake, layered with a thick brown sauce, like molasses, but with a strong soy sauce flavor. The selection of toppings, made by my host, were raw squid and octopus, covered by a creamy white sauce (the cheese,I suppose)then layered with another big flat potato cake. Was it as good as a cheesy, deep dish piece of Chicago-style pizza? Yeah,right!! It was as good as it sounds! It was my first taste of raw squid. I've eaten and enjoyed the cooked kind (calamari), but eating it raw is like chewing a used pencil eraser. And, the octopus, with all its little suction cups that you can feel in your mouth....YUK! I can't even think of a comparison. And all this was on my very first night ever in Japan. I had my worries... but fortuantely the food got better--much, much better.
Darci Newman
Posted by: Darci | March 9, 2005 6:25 PM
Raw squid? YIKES! Octopus suction cups?
Posted by: Julian Cook | March 15, 2005 7:43 PM
Would you believe I've had barbecued octopus suction cups? Not my favorite. Chewy as can be. Ranks right there with the barbecued stomach muscles commonly served in Korean barbecue restaurants.
Posted by: Steven Newman | March 15, 2005 10:50 PM