That's Just Nasty

I hate ethnocentrism. It ruins discussions of one of my greatest loves- food. (which often ties with, if not slightly surpassing, that of the Trinity, family, and friends)

The CSRC staff, because they/we are adorable, and because it is the best place in the world to intern, treated its three student employees to dinner last night. We went for Thai, to the great delight of Boss #2 of 4 ("Sesame"). We ordered Thai, to the great chagrin of Sesame. Apparently, she only liked Thais for their ice teas and not any other part of their cuisine.

With two Californians that don't like tofu at the table (oh, and they also don't like animals, the environment, states' rights, smoothies, or anything else Cali), we launched into a long discussion about eating. Inevitably, nasty tales of the things we've been offered and things we have seen came up. For me, it went something like this:

"In Fiji, they roast whole pigs." Check. I've seen and eaten from a (couple?) crisply done whole pig. Most excellent and tender pork ever.

"When they eat fish, they eat the whole fish." Check. To do anything less would be wasteful.

"We had this friend, who offered us marrow, and it was one of those times when you just couldn't say no..." Check plus. I love sucking marrow out of the big bones when my mom braises beef or lamb. Did Thoreau not say I want to eat deeply and suck the marrow out of cow? No, not quite?

Tongue. Giblet. Tripe. Chicken feet. Urchin. And the list goes on. And every time someone tosses out a new food I nod my head and say, "Yeah, I love that stuff!" Then realize that the expected response was, "What? They eat that?"

I'm not an exotic eater. I'm not adventurous. I don't like trying new things either. I'm picky. I'm spoiled. I'm easily creeped, too. But these are the things I grew up with. They are the commonplace in my world. And they're so good. Unlike ethnocentrism. Which is so bad.