Editor’s Example:
I tried a lot of exotic fruits during my 2 years living around the island of Cebu, in the Philippines. Tropical fruits are yummy! Rambutan, anyone? How about mangoes? You won’t find better! But this story is not about those. I shudder to think if I tried dog meat, knowing that would not be uncommon, but I did not always ask what type of meat I was eating. I could tell you about trying chicken feet, Buwad (dried fish hanging out on clothes lines and later boiled in grease), and Ostrich eggs. Those are interesting! But this story is not about those, either. None of those had a lasting impact on me.
I could tell you about Balut (an unburied egg with a duck embryo developing inside that is then boiled and sucked out like a soup, only it is crunchy at this point with feathers and beak intact), but in truth I could not stomach trying that one, since I did not have to, and I did not bother to.
I will just tell you about Ginamos (a sort of raw fish jam), at least as it is called that in the Visayan region. It is a fish sauce with lots of salt and is left sitting around in its juices for days on end. Some call it a fish paste because it gets all slimy, and sometimes more viscous, when broken down, and then actually takes on a gray color like a cement mixture. It’s not so bad on day one, but in my many visits to a friend’s home, and my desire not too offend, I felt awful sick by the third day in a row.
Chalk it up to my weak American stomach, or whatever, but I think I was throwing-up for a week.
