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My first overseas project after becoming a member of the Indian Overseas Service was China. As a starry-eyed younger man in my twenties, I discovered travelling to the neighbouring nation thrilling and mysterious. Flashes of recollections of the mid-Eighties China come to thoughts once in a while to this present day.
The project itself evoked a mixture of thriller, pleasure and trepidation. Thriller for travelling to a rustic about which extra gave the impression to be unknown than recognized, pleasure for boarding an plane for the primary time, a lot much less to discuss endeavor a overseas journey, and trepidation as a result of I frankly had no clue about what to anticipate.
One of many first households my spouse and I bought to know in China was a middle-aged couple — I’ll name them Rs (to guard identification). They lived simply two blocks away from our residence. Mr. R was an officer in one of many worldwide places of work in Beijing. Ms. R, who handed away a couple of years in the past, was a homemaker and very like a godmother to my spouse. This beautiful couple, who had reached Beijing a few years earlier than us, was our go-to household for searching for steering, sharing our joys and sorrows, and exploring locations.
We as soon as accompanied them on a retreat organised by Mr. R’s workplace. The retreat was in a spot referred to as Qufu in Shandong Province, which is known because the birthplace of Confucius, the legendary thinker and thinker of historic China. The city homes a cemetery the place all descendants of Confucius lie buried. Whereas the city of Qufu bore unmistakeable imprints of a wonderful previous, what’s etched in my thoughts, other than the historical past of the place, is the lavish buffet which the native authorities had thrown for us.
One of many “superstars” in that culinary extravaganza, quickly after the fiery native drink Moutai was a plateful of black scorpions, fried and garnished with bamboo shoots. Every of us seated on the desk was required to select one in all these with a pair of fantastically crafted chopsticks, and information them into our mouths, claws and all! Our Chinese language interpreter conveyed to us that black scorpions, a delicacy of Shandong, have been served solely to vital guests.
Completely edible
We have been knowledgeable that the residents of Shandong owed the sleek texture of their pores and skin to the common consumption of scorpions. Requested concerning the poison in these scorpions, we have been informed that they’re cooked and fried in a fashion which nullified the poison glands, making them completely edible. Whereas a few of the scorpions have been seen disappearing into the adventurous mouths of some seated across the desk, I used to be looking for a discreet mechanism to make it disappear elsewhere!
If this was one of many first objects on the menu, the one which adopted it left me stupefied! Noticing the quizzical expression on my face, a Dutch girl sitting beside me whispered into my ears that it was canine meat! I had a Hobson’s alternative!
ashokwarrier27@gmail.com
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