"Yes, yes it is."
"Well, then we have to try it, don't we?"
"Do we?"
"We do."
And so I motioned to the Meat Cowboy, who, with a large knife, liberated one of the 20-odd chicken hearts that embroidered his two-pronged skewer. It dropped onto my plate with satisfying bounciness.
The place was a "Brazilian" restaurant on the eighth floor of a downtown mall in Kunming. Our teacher knows the manager of the place, and offered to pay for a thanksgiving celebration. Like many places I've seen in China, the restaurant was an amalgamation of several cultures. You had Chinese food at the buffet, statues that looked more aztec than Brazilian, and of course, the ever-present influence of American culture: this time manifested in the form of the Tom & Jerry cartoons being non-stop projected upon the wall. Of course, the centerpeice were the "Brazilian Cowboy" waiters (hence, the aforementioned "meat cowboys", adorned with cowboy hats and red neckercheifs, armed with large knifes and two-pronged skewers, from which they would harvest only the choicest of barbequed meats.
But one should note that according to the Chinese, "choicest" means "any part of the animal". For example, let's take a look at how Western culture has for centuries defined the parts of a cow:
Each peice is partioned by the butcher, and a prime rib is usually found in a very expensive meal, whereas, i dunno, a hoof might not. BUT in China, aside from fancy-schmancy restaurants, a meal that claims cow meat usually abides by this sort of diagram:
...which includes things that were seen on skewers last night such as tongue and stomach and so on and so on. I know, many cultures like to use all parts of the animal. Maybe this is a Brazilian thing too. All I know is that I've seen many a happy person chew on a chicken head in this country... and that's great! I mean, I'm not a chicken head sort of guy, but if they give it equal worth with the breast and thigh, then more power to them. I mean, it is a communist country, right?
-s
p.s. how rude of me, i forgot to link katelyn's blog! Here she is: http://www.katelynloveschile.blogspot.com/. And she's a much finer blogger than I, aside from when we're blog-offing. Then, well... I mean, you know. But she's in CHILE. How cool is that? Super cool.
p.p.s. sorry for the second delay, but I thought I'd still have wifi in my dorm, which I don't anymore. Nevertheless, from now on thing's'll be ship'n'shape!
p.p.p.s. And yes, I realize that any place that serves ground beef in America follows the second cow diagram as well.
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