Curious Foods

They say, or just I say, that good things come in threes. On that account here is the third installment on curious foods.

Actually, the truth is that I am not a young man so I really am limited on my choices of what to write about. Can not write about women, can not write about exciting adventures. One of the few things remaining is food.

This time I will describe curious foods that I eat, like to eat or ate.

In St. Maarten we went to a casino some years ago and there was a restaurant offering buffet dinner. One item caught my eye and I asked what that was: goat stew was the answer. Since it was in the buffet I didn't have to order a whole portion I figured I try it. You know what? I liked it! Later I had it as a main course in a restaurant on the same island and still liked it.

In Curacao there is a large ostrich farm where they raise ostrich for food. Their meat is pretty popular on that island and is served in several restaurants. I had it on several occasions and it was extremely good. The meat was dark, soft and to me it tasted like pork. If one doesn't know what it is that he is eating there is no problem at all. I had it here in New York a few times and it wasn't nearly as good as on Curacao.

I love escargot or snails. If prepared well it is a fantastic appetizer. Due to the French influence it is very popular on St. Maarten. Most of the places serve it out of the shell in a circular dish with five or six holes, each filled with garlic butter with the escargot in there. This is a two part joy. First we eat the snails then we dunk bread into the garlic butter. I really can't tell which is better. My wife wouldn't touch the escargot but loved the dunking part.

There is a restaurant on St. Maarten by the name Escargot. They specialize in all kinds and varieties of escargot dishes. We had been there before but unfortunately lately they are closed in late Summer.

There is another good French delicacy available in a few places on St. Maarten and that is frogs legs. As disgusting it sounds that is how good it is. It is usually served in garlic sauce and the meat is delicious. Yes there is meat on the legs. They come in twos and they usually serve three or four pairs, or more. I usually have it as an appetizer and not as a main course.

Good, fat edible frogs used to come from Hungary, now as I read the largest exporter is Indonesia. I don't care I still like it.

I ate rabbit once and I didn't really like it. Now I wouldn't eat it for anything. When I was in the Italian neighborhood a few weeks ago I saw some in a butcher's window. Honestly, they looked disgusting.

On the other hand I did have venison a little while ago and that was good. I am not an expert on venison, I don't know what is the best way to prepare it but whatever way they did it was good.

My favorite game meat is the European wild boar. There is a game restaurant in Budapest that we visited at every trip and they have wild boar. Whatever way they prepared it was very good. Not tough, good taste very edible.

I think I gained five pounds just writing about these things. In the future I will try to write about low calorie foods that way I can even out the game.

Now that I wrote about all these delicacies I have to look around the house and find something good to eat.