I wanted to hit on food here for a minute. For the past year to year and a half or so I've kind of been weaning myself off meat. I never intended to be a vegetarian, and even in the past when I was around friends who were vegetarians, it's not like I had some huge desire to not eat meat. Here's the thing. I was sitting around one day pondering over who knows what (the world may never know because my mind wanders from one thing to the next at about a mile a minute at all times!)... and I started to get curious about how my food ended up on my plate. I mean, it has to get there somehow! Where does it come from? Who grew it, or killed it, or cut it up, or picked it, or whatever? What are all those ingredients on the packages that I can't pronounce and why do they need to be there in the first place?
So I started to do a little research about slaughter houses, and, as I'm sure you can imagine, it was REALLY disturbing! After that, meat just DID NOT have the same appeal. It was crazy. I always thought that you had to have meat. What would you EAT if there wasn't meat in the meal somewhere? You'd probably starve! (or so I thought). So this whole slaughterhouse business really flipped me over, pretty quickly too, to a whole different way of looking at food. After that I read various articles and books, like 'The Omnivores Dilemma,' and like I mentioned, meat just didn't appeal to me the same way it used to.
So I got used to making myself a big delicious pot of soybeans and such. And then, there was Peru!
To be fair, I have to let you know that potatoes and rice are a main part of most Peruvian dishes. But also, since Peru is right on the coast, so is SEAFOOD. If you know me well, you KNOW that I don't eat ANY seafood. I've never liked any type of seafood in my whole life, even though I try to be a good sport and try a bite of random things here and there (I've tried lobster, shrimp, octopus, tuna, fish...). And I did try a smidgeon of Ceviche here in Peru, which is basically like raw fish with LOADS of lime. It actually wasn't as horrible as I expected it to be, but that doesn't mean I'm ever going to eat it again. Chicken and beef are also very popular here as well.
So far, when I usually go out to eat with Peruvian friends here, they insist on ordering so that Paris and I can try 'the good stuff,' 'the REAL Peruvian food.' And when people just order for you, and are really excited about you trying something, it's kind of hard to say no. I think I reached the limit a few days ago though.
On the 23rd of February it was Paulo's birthday (the dad we are staying with). That night, Paulo, Erik, Mundo, Paris, and I went to this local restaurant that makes all traditional Peruvian dishes. And, as in the past, Erik and Mundo just went ahead and ordered for us, and they were all jazzed about us trying this food. So, Paris and I got served a big ol' plate of cow heart and cow intestines, with corn that could have been grown in a nuclear plant because it was so big, and, of course, potatoes.
It's kind of hard to go from all veggies to cow heart and intestines! Luckily Paris and I were sharing, so on my little extra plate she immediately gave me all the corn and most of the potatoes. Then she gave me this look like, 'you can do it!' and scooped over some heart steak, which actually just looked like venicen. But then when she plopped down the intestines I shooted her back a look like, 'I'm going to KILL YOU if you put any more of that anywhere near me!' I think I may have even said that under my breath too. So, I will admit that I was a good enough sport to take 2 bites of cow heart (I have no idea how or even why), but the intestines were a whole different story. They LOOKED LIKE intestines! No, thank you. Not today, not ever!
Today when we went to the grocery store, we bought a whole lot of vegetables. I think we'll be eating in for a while now ;)
