Cosima Underwater

Today I encountered a new one.

I was waiting for little man at the school bus stop. A little Dutch girl who was waiting for her brother together with her mum said “I don’t understand why Chinese eat dogs”. Another daddy (Australian, with Fido on the leash) said “At some point in time people had very little to eat, so I guess they started to eat dogs”. Little girl: “I still don’t understand. These poor little dogs. Just imagine. It’s as if they were eaten by GIANTS!”. Mum of little girl: “Lots of people around the world eat unusual foods. For example Germans eat horses” and looks at me with challenging eyes.

Lol… ok this was a new one for me. I usually have to deal with liverwurst and Hitler. How to respond? Yes, there is horse meat available in Germany, though you have to look for it really hard, and most Germans alive today have not eaten it, me included. But then I thought, what’s the difference between a cow, pig, chicken, dog, frog, monkey, or horse? It’s only in our minds and cultural upbringings. Many Chinese don’t eat beef, because they view cattle as loyal helpers that plow rice fields. It is very unlikely that I will ever eat horse sausages, dog drumsticks, or monkey brains, but I will not look down on people choose to do so, because I eat bacon, steak, and chicken breast, and like them. And liverwurst.

Me: “ Yeah, Germans are not the only ones. The French eat it too.” (Lame, I know.)

Little girl: Yeah (turns to her mummy). Do you remember? When we were in France, the people also ate snails… escargots.

Dutch mummy: Yes, with parsley butter.

Me: Have you tried snake?

Dutch mummy: No I haven’t. Is it any good?

Daddy from Alaska (“We don’t like Sarah Palin!”) stares at all of us opened mouthed.

Me: Tastes similar to chicken, almost the same like frog legs. I had it in a soup.

Little girl: The good thing about having a dad who is a pilot is that he brings you many different things from around the world. Clothes, toys, food.

Dutch mummy: Yeah (looks pained because she and daddy are in a nasty divorce)

Little girl: Do you remember when he brought emu and kangaroo meat from Australia?

(Australian dad smirks)

Me: Have you had Impala?

Dutch mummy: No

Little girl: What’s Impala?

Me: A gazelle, really tasty.

Gazelle eater. Dutch cheese lover. Sarah Palin… only well done.