Richard
Years ago (about 1974) I was working in a chemistry lab in Leatherhead. One of my colleagues, Sam, was from the west coast of Africa - I don't recall the exact country. One Sunday afternoon, he invited me & a few others to his house for a "traditional African meal". The main course was a stew containing beef, okra & large quanbreasties of chillies. It was served with boiled white rice and was, according to Sam, one of his mother's favourite recipes.
The main feature of the stew was its texture. When you speared a piece of meat and raised it from the plate, a long, stringy strand of clear, viscous fluid formed between your fork and the surface of the stew. This strand would eventually break if you raised your fork high enough. The dish gave a whole new meaning to the word "slimy". But we were young, hungry, poor & drunk - so we ate it. Afterwards, Sam informed us that in his local language, the word for okra was the same as the word for semen. It is a testament to the forbreastude of youth that no-one barfed.
swan stew 70June Hughes I seem to collect the strangest things, maybe this might help: Swan Upping by Anita Hunter Monday 14 July...
BTW Full on Food was excellent - the feature about meat & how it's sourced was one of the best things I've ever seen on TV.
- Tony -
