Strange FoodsA Final Solution to Hungera book review-interview by Richard S. EhrlichBANGKOK, Thailand When Jerry Hopkins ate the placenta of his newborn child, he not only grossed out a lot of people, but also discovered it tastes best with butter, garlic and onions. OK, maybe you're not that hungry, but how about Hopkins' interest in a glass of fresh frothy urine, to wash down some fried genitalia? Anyone fancy joining him to chew on the healthy gums of a cow? Or his offer of a "Cricket Lick-It" lollipop as a sweet snack? "When I tell people that I took the placenta home following the birth of my son, and the next day served it as a pate, they generally don't believe me or recoil in horror, calling me a cannibal," Hopkins wrote in his new masterpiece book titled, Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats, and Butterflies An Epicurean Adventure Around the World. "I guess that makes me, technically, a cannibal, but I feel a long distance from all the images of cannibalism in history, where a missionary or white hunter is being cooked in a large iron pot by natives with bones in their noses," he adds in a chapter headlined: "Human Flesh." Hopkins, a correspondent and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine for nearly 20 years, is best known for his two books featuring Jim Morrison, the late lead singer of the California rock group The Doors, titled, No One Here Gets Out Alive, and The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison, plus the book Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hopkins's latest work, Strange Foods, is a coffee-table tome peppered with delicious photographs shot by Michael Freeman, who helped create a perfect book defining bizarre international food. In addition to fine photos, the book provides a breezy, yet detailed narration, plus recipes, historical notes, lots of cultural and anthropological background, and explanations why some food may sound repulsive but be good for you or at least good for whoever is willing to taste it. All the wisdom and beauty in this 232-page encyclopedia of edibles, however, has not guaranteed its success. Strange Foods is actually having a strange time getting book reviews, bookshop space, or the respect it deserves. In an interview, Bangkok-based Hopkins, an American, lamented his newest hardcover work suffers its toughest resistance back in the United States. "Sales are good in Asia, but lagging in the United States because, I'm told, some store managers think many of the 250 or so photographs illustrating the text are yucky, and some of the text is politically incorrect. "That is, I have chapters on eating dogs and cats and horses and whales, and a page on the African elephant. "Although I make it clear in my introduction that I do not endorse the consumption of endangered species there are too many other tasty choices and that I side with the environmentalists almost always, there seems to be a number of booksellers who are cautious to the point of absurdity. "I think this rejection also is reflective of the lack of gastronomic adventure in most Americans," Hopkins added. "When I toured the country promoting the book visiting New York, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and Honolulu I asked everyone I met, 'What's the strangest thing you ever ate?' Rarely did I hear anything odder than, 'snails'." For the Hungry at HeartSnails do creep across the pages of this book, but by the time you discover the oozing little creatures, you may have developed an appetite for more exotic fare. Hopkins and Freeman won't leave you hungry. The book's table of contents, indicating expanded entries, reads like a survivalists' menu: "dogs and cats, horse, rat and mouse, bats, primates and other bush meat, bison, water buffalo and yak, whale" and other main courses. Then come an onslaught of the world's favorite way to eat "guts, ears, eyes, noses, lungs, tongues, lips, gums, glands and feet, genitalia, urine and human flesh." If that doesn't make you salivate, follow the entries which elaborate on: "snake, lizards, alligator and crocodile, frog and toad, shark, fugu, jellyfish, snails and slugs, worms and fish eggs." Using your fingers or a tiny skewer, you might want to sample: "grasshoppers, ants and termites, spiders and scorpions, beetles, crickets and cicadas, butterflies and moths, flies" and other winged and wingless creatures. Plants also appear, as does a section on "blood," and some "live and almost live" treats. If you've read that far, then you've either worked up a real appetite or at least are not too queasy to enjoy the book's stunning close-up photos which portray all the veins, eyeballs and other squishy bits for you to tongue. Gray-bearded Hopkins, however, said, "Reviews in the US also have been mixed. That is, the consensus is that the subject is 'disgusting,' but it's awfully well written and photographed." Indeed the text and pictures are so detailed you often have the experience that you are reading a scientific or academic work. Hopkins said, "I hope some readers will realize is that there is more than one way to, uh, skin a cat that what's considered weird in one place, in another is merely lunch. "I believe that aside from marrying a native, learning the language, or converting to the local religion, the quickest way to get a handle on a foreign culture is to try the cuisine, no matter how peculiar it may seem. "Remember, not so long ago, most Asians thought pizza and ice cream were weird. And let's not talk about Spam and Velveeta Cheese," he added, referring to heavily processed meat and cheese. Think BugburgerHopkins, who also loves most of the food here in Thailand, said, "Growing up in the United States on a diet of meat loaf and mashed potatoes, I could never have imagined eating insects, which I now buy, deep-fried, from a street vendor in my Bangkok neighborhood and happily munch as a snack with my beer, instead of popcorn or peanuts. "Fried until crisp, spritzed with vinegar and sprinkled with salt, how far are we from French Fries? And they are better for you!" But even the author's taste-buds clammed up when it came to certain treats. Hopkins said he has "trouble considering ever eating again 'balut,' the embryo of a duck which is sucked straight from the shell, and is the national snack of the Philippines. "Filipino men say chewing up the little beak, and nascent feathers and legs, makes you virile." Asked if he ever vomited during his world travels, after devouring any of the book's meals, Hopkins replied, "No." Instead, while exploring what goes into peoples' stomachs, Hopkins realized a practical answer to starvation, ecological devastation, heart disease and other apocalyptic woes. "Besides land, it takes a lot of water and fodder and time and energy to produce one cow, while insects take up hardly any room at all, eat little, and breed like crazy. They're also lower in cholesterol," he said. "Soon enough, economics will overpower our present choices in what we eat. When it reaches our plate, it won't look like an insect or a worm, two of the leading candidates as alternative protein." The bespectacled Hopkins added optimistically: "Think bugburger." In the chapter on eating his wife's placenta, meanwhile, Hopkins wrote: "I sauteed the placenta in butter and garlic, then chopped it into small pieces, and turned it into a dark brown paste in the blender. "Oops. I had forgotten to de-vein the organ, so there were small bits of gristle throughout. "This was a major fax pas in cooking, I guess, but I served it anyway, chilled, with whole wheat crackers and slices of raw onion for garnish. "Much to my amazement, a couple of our guests actually tried it." Strange Foods, ISBN: 9625931546, is published by Periplus Editions, and available via Internet on Amazon.com and bookshops around the world. Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.
from The Laissez Faire City Times
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