Our thanks to our host my latest supper for coming up with such an interesting challenge.
I have been reasonably adventurous in my eating habits and can tick off snails, frogs legs, horse meat, crocodile, emu, eel, slimy mushrooms, chocolate coated ants, fish eyes and I've even sucked the bones of fish heads. I refuse to eat duck tongues, snake hearts, and the one I fear the most ............ chicken feet.
The first time I was offered them was at a Yum Char lunch some years ago. I just can't get the picture out of my mind of all those chickens on the family farm walking around in all that chicken s**t.
And even though IMBB wants us to try something to challenge our palates I can't bring myself to eat chicken feets (as the waitress called them). I did find a recipe for them but nothing will convince me to try them. It would seem it is the texture of the food in your mouth that is the appealing factor in chicken feets.
But this IMBB subject has given me the opportunity to write about something I read recently. Something that has troubled me since I read it. Such that I can't get it out of my mind and perhaps writing about it will help me let it go.
Gay Bilson, very much an icon in the history of food and restaurants in Australia, has released a book called Plenty Gay Bilson Digressions on Food . It is a fabulous book, beautifully presented and well written. Just to hold it is bliss - much time and effort has gone into producing a work of art. While reading it I couldn't help but think "this is a woman I would like as a friend". She is intelligent, artistic, knowledgeable and I suspect, a very nice person who would value people and their friendship.
All was well until I came to the chapter entitled Amiable juyce (blood sausage). Back in 1993 Gay was involved in designing and preparing the Body Dinner for the 1993 Symposium of Australian Gastronomy. The Symposium of Australian Gastronomy, founded in 1984 by Australian food historian Michael Symons , meet once every 18 months to discuss food and attend workshops. The event is followed by a dinner with a given theme.
Gay Bilson floated the idea of serving blood sausage made from her own blood. Her plan was to have her blood tested to make sure it was safe, collect and store around 3 litres and make the sausages using a blood sausage recipe that was normally made with pig's blood.
Her legal advise was it would be necessary to inform the diners what was being served before they ate it to risk the possibility of being sued if anyone suffered from the shock of it all. She ran the idea past her colleagues and after an overwhelming negative response shelved the plan.
Frankly, I was horrified at the thought of eating someones else's blood. Even though I have no problem with eating blood sausage (made from pigs blood). And yet I'm told pig's blood has similar properties to human blood. Gay Bilson saw the idea as the most generous gesture a host could make - she would be giving herself to others.
It got me thinking . How would I feel if it was offered to me at a dinner? One would hope it was only a degustation sized serving. Was Gay Bilson being self indulgent or was she genuine in the giving of herself to others? Personally, I feel she was genuine and not self indulgent. People with a real interest in food are usually adventurous, eager to try new and different tastes. They also love to cook and get great pleasure from sharing their efforts with friends. I firmly believe this was Gay Bilson's objective.
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Then there was the religious side of it to consider. Maybe we won't go down that path today.
I am nearing the end of 7 months of chemotherapy treatment and I've seen enough blood to last a lifetime this past year. Maybe I might have been persuaded to try human blood sausage prior to this but I know I couldn't possibly now.
................and I know I will never ever eat chicken feet because like the fridge magnet says "Life's to short to drink bad wine" : life is also too short to eat food you don't like.
The chemo course is almost complete and I'll soon be back out there eating, drinking, visiting. I might even manage some kayaking on Lake Pupuke before it gets too cold.
