Not Altogether Revolting
I couldn’t really tell you how terrible our recipes were because I never tasted any of them, but thinking back, they probably weren’t as bad as I might have expected. Remembering it now, I feel like the combinations, pulled mostly from the shelves inside the refrigerator door, might have made a pretty nice marinade or salad dressing.
So, when I was reading Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes, I wasn’t completely revolted. As a matter of fact, many of the recipes sounded downright tasty even if they looked kinda gross. “Snozzcumbers” are cucumbers stuffed with tuna fish. “Fresh Mudburgers” aren’t too far off from my own homemade burgers, even if there are a few more items from the refrigerator door than I’d normally use. “Bird Pie” is a tasty pork-and-turkey pie, decorated with “birds’ feet” sticking out the top of the crust, as if the birds had dove in beak first and got stuck there, feathers and all.
Of course, now I’m being pulled like a magnet to the children’s books that inspired these recipes. I wish I’d known about Roald Dahl’s books as a child. But no worries. I’ll never be too old to taste them.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
You’re right, cucumbers stuffed with tuna fish really don’t sound revolting at all!
It’s interesting how cultural background affects what we think of as edible. I am horrified by the idea of mixing up rice, yoghurt, and cooked spiced lentils all together, but it’s a common combination in Southern India.
April 27th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Welcome, Sanchia. I’m actually intrigued by the combination of rice, yoghurt and lentils, depending on what they’re spiced with. It’s true our sensibilities are different based on where we’ve grown up and what we’re used to eating. But I tend to be open to all sorts of foods.
I’m currently reading _Climbing the Mango Trees_ by Madhur Jaffrey, and even though I’ve never lived anyplace but the southern United States, my mouth is watering throughout the whole book. Have you read it?