Sam’s View

I have a confession to make: I drafted this post a week ago and haven’t published it until this evening because I really don’t know what sort of response I am going to get from you all! It is a little off-the-wall, but I am sure you will all be kind with your comments…

I thought that I would write a little about our avian friends this time. Not because I am particularly interested in birds…I mean, I love all animals, but short of parrots that talk (like my Aunt’s one) they don’t really do it for me. I am more a dog and cat kinda girl…but for some reason bird “things” have just punctuated my relatively bird-free existence during the past couple of weeks…

Bird topic No. 1 – Duck Feet: I ate them. On Friday. Not fun. Here is how it happened…

While on our way to get some Yum Cha after going to a wedding expo 2 months ago, my friend from Taiwan explained to me that some people ate chicken feet. I was quite surprised, a bit appalled, but strangely curious! I really didn’t know that chicken feet were…well…“tasty”. I was assured that there would be many other things on the menu that would not involve ingesting animal extremities. I was relieved, but my curiosity remained!

I guess my initial revulsion and subsequent intrigue was as a result of not having encountered very much Chinese food until I moved to Australia. In South Africa, the Asian population is less than 1% and, as a result, you aren’t really exposed to true Asian food to the degree you are in Australia – there is simply no demand for Asian Grocers and authentic Asian restaurants there. Sure you get sushi spots and Westernised Thai and Chinese takeaway joints but, unlike in Melbourne, even they are few and far between.

Ever since my chicken-foot conversation with my friend, I have been pondering why people eat what they do a fair bit (this topic will be addressed in a future post!). I think, as a South African, I am very open-minded about food. I am always up for trying new things and there are several South African dishes that my Australian friends find totally off-putting. For instance:

Peri-Peri chicken liver stew is amazing!

There is nothing like some chicken livers floating in some spicy sauce to hit the spot. After you pick out the livers, you soak up the remaining sauce with a bread roll or toast! It is also a ridiculously cheap meal to have. You can order this dish at many restaurants and even Nandos in South Africa sells stacks of it. Nandos also sells peri-peri chicken neck, heart and stomach for the more adventurous!

Marrow bones rock!

Another treat (that Michael can’t cope with, but I made him taste it and he has eaten it in Mum’s soup without even knowing it!) would be the famed “Marrow bones on Toast”. This involves getting big cow bones (still containing marrow) on a plate – by which time they will already have been expertly prepared with spices and garlic. You then remove the marrow from the bones with a fork and spread it on your toast. Very rich, but probably one of my most favourite dishes when I visit South Africa!

Tripe and Trotters – a little less tasty…

Then we have the infamous “Trip and Trotters”. Now this I don’t find very nice, but I have eaten it. I guess watching mum physically cleaning out the sheep’s tummy and shave his hooves (all lined up on the kitchen table) before popping them all in a curry stew may have caused this aversion. Otherwise it was the smell of it cooking…not very pleasant! I feel that I must say that I have NEVER eaten a sheep’s head (for all of my Australian friends that think because I am South African I must have!!) or any animal’s brains…well knowingly anyway. Again…I am rather curious about the latter.

Skilpadjies

I tasted one of these babies once. Not too bad…and I would definitely be up for it again. Now the word “Skilpadjie” means “Baby Tortoise” in English…but they are not tortoises, people! Not that the local African people don’t eat tortoises…they love them. They stew them…just chuck ‘em in a “potjie” pot and that is dinner! Mum and I always found it terrible and as a result we have rescued many a tortoise on its way to being a dinner. We would spot these black dudes carrying the tortoises while walking down the road (I lived in a slightly rural part of Cape Town when I grew up) and pull over, give them R10 to buy another dinner and rescue the poor little sods from their doom. I think at one stage we had about 6 tortoises and all their babies in our back garden! All saved from a rather hot ending!

I digress! The “Skilpadjies” I speak of is an Afrikaans “invention” that you “braai” (barbecue) along with your chops and sausage. They involve taking lamb liver and wrapping it in the fatty membrane that surrounds the lamb kidneys. Post stuffing, they look remarkably like baby tortoises (sorry no pics available on the Internet). This little tidbit of info should ensure that no Ozzies ever come for a braai at my house!

Now I hear you asking: “Well if you grew up eating sheep and chicken hearts, livers and stomachs, then why the hell not throw in some feet?” Well, the answer to that is “I really don’t know!”. I guess I was kinda up for a good ol’ “chicken feet chow down” until I actually saw them. That stopped me dead in my tracks. As the Yum Cha cart rolled around and stopped at our table, I think it was seeing those long, knobbly toes hanging over the edge of the plate that made me realise I would have to mentally prepare myself to take the big step.

So I did….

The big day would be two Fridays ago when Michael and I decided to grab some Yum Cha before going to see the amazingly craptastic “Superbad” movie. As it happened, the restaurant wasn’t doing Yum Cha that evening and we had to order off the menu. As usual, we decided we would go for one conventional dish and one adventurous one. We saw “Duck, Pork and Abalone Hot Pot” on the menu and thought that it would be good for the “adventurous” dish. Our Chinese waiter explained to us that it was an authentic Chinese meal and that we should be warned that it may contain things like…duck feet! It felt like it was meant to be…so we bravely said that we would be cool with that…all the while getting our cameras warmed up for some blog-worthy photographs.

The meal arrived and I was scared. To get the whole thing over with, I quickly fished out a duck foot (there were 4 in total) and popped it on top of my rice to start exploring it. Here is a pic…webs between the toes and all:

Then I took a bite:

I have to confess, I only ate a toe and nibbled on the leg part. It wasn’t very tasty and I didn’t fancy the texture. At. All. So I “ducked” (couldn’t resist) out of the challenge and watch Michael bravely eat a whole one. I am marrying him for his heroism.

So now that the duck was out of the way, I started exploring the other bits of the hot pot. I tried a couple of things and I had no idea what they were. After a while I called the waiter over and asked him to give me a run down of the content of our dish. He promptly explained that I had eaten bone marrow (I am ok with that as I explained before), but also sea cucumber (not cucumbers. They are underwater worm things!), pig skin and…my personal favourite… “black fungus”. It was around then when I decided that I would focus more on eating the bits of of bok choy that I could manage to fish out from between the bovine, pork and poultry livery that was our dinner. During my mild revulsion, Michael merrily waded his way through the remaining contents of the dish. I couldn’t watch…but he is still my hero, and I am still marrying him…

Because it was rather embarrassing having the camera flash going off repeatedly in the restaurant, I wasn’t able to take any more pics. So that you don’t feel cheated, I have scoured the web for some extra pics of chicken feet, sea cucumber and black fungus for you all to enjoy:

Dried Black Fungus:

Sea Cucumber:

Chicken Feet Soup:

So after the above avian experience, I have had to make peace with the fact that neither Michael, nor I, will ever be able to read the following Dr. Seuss book to our kids without feeling like we have lost all of our innocence:

Bird Topic No. 2 – Comic Relief: My second bird topic for today, you will be happy to know, is much more pleasant. I have come across two humorous bird pics that I have been meaning to blog for ages now. I thought today was most fitting. Here is the first one:

Ain’t that the truth yeah?

In closing, here is the second pic (look at his face!):

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10