Spirit we visited 56 countries and ate in 50 of them. The only
time we were ever sick was after eating at a McDonalds in Egypt
– that exotic food will get you every time.
In fact that bit about exotic food is totally untrue. After
having lived and worked in more than 100 countries over more
than 30 years, I have had food poisoning just three times, the
above incident being the second. The third was in France where I
dined one night on fish soup followed by fish in puff pastry.
I attribute my survival to one simple rule – eat the food of
the country you are in. In Sudan I ate lamb tartare (minced raw
lamb) regularly, with occasional side dishes of sheep eyes and
testicles, and suffered no ill effects. When in Brazil, I ate
lamb tartare at an Arab restaurant, and spent the next two days
unable to leave a bathroom. That was the first food poisoning,
and the one from which I developed the "eat local" rule.
In the south of Columbia we stopped for lunch at a roadside
"restaurant." An open drain ran through the middle of the dirt
floor under the open-sided thatch roof. Chickens, dogs and
children chased around the few tables, which had the beneficial
effect of keeping the clouds of flies in constant motion. We ate
steak, well done, with boiled yams, washed down by beer directly
from the can, with no problems.
Which brings me to the first codicil to the rule – grilled
meat, well done, and boiled, skin-on vegetables, can be eaten
anywhere. Unless you have seen the steak cut off the just killed
beast and placed on the grill, then rare is an invitation to
disaster, outside of the better restaurants in the cities. If
refrigeration is rare, then the meat should not be.
During a visit to Asmara, the Eritrean capital, by good fortune
we stumbled into a room reserved for locals. It had weapons and
game heads on the walls, low tables, stools and couches each
covered with an individual baby goat skin - a wonderful
ambience. Dinner was a four foot diameter platter, lined with
pancake like sour bread, and covered with heaps of various local
dishes, all meat, mostly goat. Correct procedure was to tear off
a piece of bread and scoop up some food with it, all with the
right hand of course, as the left is reserved for more intimate
cleaning functions. Left-handed me had some etiquette problems.
That introduces the second codicil – learn the local customs in
advance. In Taiwan, when you are asked to pick the snake you
want to eat from out of a slithering heap, just go ahead and
pick one. After cooking and smothering in delicious sauces, it
will taste just like the delicious sauces, and you know it is
fresh. It is perfectly okay to decline to drink the warm snake
blood you will be offered, but very bad form to not select the
snake.
I have eaten almost every type of meat there is from rat to
elephant and turned down only a few. Raw monkey brains is not
something I even like to be in the same room as, particularly
when they are still attached to the monkey. For some reason, I
cannot stand rabbit – yes, I comfortably eat rat, snake and
flying fox, but won't eat rabbit.
Travel is about broadening knowledge and gaining new
experiences and this includes experimenting with new foods. In
other countries there are hundreds of fruits and vegetables with
tastes that range from bland to delicious and which are never
seen in the US. So, even if the thought of eating meat that may
not have come out of a US supermarket is revolting, try a new
fruit a day. Do remember to eat only fruit you have peeled
yourself, never pre-cut, pre-peeled or un-peeled.
Oh, yes, I was poisoned a fourth time, through eating an
already cut watermelon I bought at an Indonesian market to
quench my thirst. Break the rules and you will be punished, even
if they are your own rules.
About The Author: Lawrence Pane circumnavigated with his wife
and young son, and his expertise in the areas of sailing,
cruising and travel, expressed through two books, numerous
magazine articles and very popular seminars, has informed,
assisted and entertained a wide audience of sailors and
non-sailors. Visit http://www.chasingsunsetsthebook.com to enjoy
the photos, buy the books, and check up on coming seminars.
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