Freaky Food

Whenever I travel internationally, I never know what kind of food to expect. Especially when I am at JCI events, during the extremely busy days, you never know when and what you are going to get to eat. I always have granola bars stuffed in my bag, as those of you who know me, know that a hungry Michelle is a crazy Michelle!

On my first JCI trip to Turkey I was out to dinner with the Senators and we all ordered fish, the house specialty. The fish arrived alright - complete with head, tail, and skins. As I sat there staring at the fish, lots of thoughts were running through my head. Maybe I should have paid more attention to my father when we was cleaning fish when I was growing up. Maybe I should have ordered steak, but what would I have got on my plate? How was I going to do something with this fish without drawing a lot of attention to my discomfort? As I sat there contemplating, one of the women grabbed my plate and skillfully boned and beheaded the fish in under 30 seconds. After thanking her profusely, I was able to enjoy the rest of my dinner with no issue.

Then it was off to Malta. After an awesome day with the Board of Directors on the island of Gozo, we headed off to eat dinner. We started down this bumpy dirt road that was literally on the side of a cliff. Had these people seen deliverance? Was I that unpopular? Would I ever get home and marry Tom in 2 weeks? After 20 minutes, we came to a clearing where an outdoor restaurant against the cliffs with the water crashing proved to be absolutely gorgeous! This was one of the best meals of my life after I realized I was going to love to eat my dinner!

Finally, I was in Switzerland this summer and we were sick of walking around looking for a restaurant so we stopped at this famous restaurant and asked for a menu. The menu only had dessert and wine on it, so I asked for the dinner menu. The waitress perfunctory told me that there was no menu, there was 1 entree - steak and fries for $40. Exhausted and famished, we said fine. What arrived was a small piece of steak (less than a palm size piece) and a heaping plate of fries. Given that we had paid $40, we all ate everything on our plates. While we were waiting for the check, another plate of steak and fries showed up at everyone place. You get 2 servings so they fries don't get cold while you are eating. Who knew?

As I travel around the world, food is always interesting. I have had Green Tea McFlurries in Korea, McMarsala Burgers in India, tofu dishes and other dishes where there is no American translation. I have tried shark (it tastes like chicken), snake (it takes like chicken), fish crackers (they do not take like chicken) and everything in between. I have tried sushi in Panama, pizza in India as well as Korean BBQ in Korea.

Whether I like it or not, I will always try new things. Who knows, I might find my new favorite food, or my most memorable meal ever?