Defeated

I like to think of myself as someone who appreciates food. I embrace the food of other cultures with open arms, even the items that most other Westerners turn their noses up at. Pigs feet, fish stomach, pig stomach, pig tongue, ox tongue, tripe, Durian, chicken liver, beef tendon, pigeon, fish eyes - I've eaten it all, and truly enjoy most of it. I saw a show on National Geographic about how Cambodians snack on fried spiders and crickets. I can't wait to get to Cambodia! So far I haven't come across any food that I couldn't at least get down.. until today.

During lunch with Janet's parents and their friends, stinky tofu was ordered. I can't speak Chinese, so I had no idea. When the waiter brought the plate over I thought he had a serious body odor problem. The smell is strong and overwhelming. I don't want to offend our Chinese audience, but the candid truth is that I thought it smelled like garbage. But I thought to myself: how bad can it be? After all, everyone else is eating it. After smothering it in hot sauce and some other type of sauce, I took a bite. I finished the bite, but couldn't finish the rest of it. It tasted similar to how it smelled: rotten. Demoralized, I admitted defeat.

The host of the TV show Bizarre Foods won't admit to disliking a certain food until he's tried it three times. I'll adopt the same philosophy. After all, if so many Hong Kongers enjoy it (including Janet), there's got to be something good about it.. right?