Sunday, October 3, 2010

Fun With Food and Drink

So I've been here in Guyana for almost 2 months now, so naturally I've eaten and drank a few new and interesting things. On the balance, the food here is pretty normal. There's a lot of curry, beans and rice cooked with coconut milk (they call it cookup) and fried rice, but nothing I eat on a regular is all that out of the ordinary to me. I have had a few notable exceptions:

Food
Labba - This thing (sorry I couldn't find a better, bigger picture. I think its also called an agouti, if you want to do some independent research. It's a large rodent. I'd say it was sort of pork-like. Not bad, would eat again.

Iguana - Definitely tasted like chicken. Also had an egg, which tasted like, you know, an egg. Would eat again.

Goat parts - The people I was with wouldn't tell me what I was eating until after I tried it. Even after I tried it they were still vague. Anyway, I think it was various goat organ meats cooked in goat intestine. It was chewy and pretty heavily seasoned, so I don't have much opinion of it. Not bad, not great. Would probably try again.

Curried duck - I have had what is claimed to be the best curried duck in the southern Caribbean (an area that may or not actually exist, but I am using to refer to at least Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago). I'm not sure how popular duck is here or there, but it was pretty tasty. The curry was a little spicy, but in a good way for my wussy spice preferences. The duck was great. Would eat again.

Drink
Piwari - Amerindian drink, made from fermented cassava. Opaque brown color. Tasted like a combination of bark and campfire. Would prefer not to try again, but did finish my drink.

Fly - Another Amerindian drink. Made from fermented red potatoes. I guess the actual potato is red not just the skin, because the drink is magenta colored. Tasted like really vinegar-ey wine. Not the best think I've ever had, but I found it a nice contrast to all the sweet drinks I've had since I was here. Would drink again.

Capadulla - Some non-alcoholic drink made from tree bark (what tree? who knows? not me) that I got a juice stand the other day. It was most reminiscent of chocolate milk, mixed with a little bit of that tree/campfire taste, much like the piwari. The campfire taste was subdued, and since there's not really any milk around, the chocolate milk taste was appreciated. The woman at the juice stand told me it would make me big and strong as well, so I'll be looking forward to becoming popeye.

Anyway, I think that's about it for now, off the top of my head. I'll revisit as the year goes on. I think I can outdo large rodent or iguana for weirdest thing eaten this year.

1 comment:

  1. Kudos!! I am a big foodie myself. Wherever I go, I make sure to check out the food and drinks. That’s my specialty! I went to Los Angeles recently and I made sure to check out all the best Los Angeles event venues.

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