Thursday, November 15
We had a meeting with a tier customer on Thursday at about 2pm. We had about a 2.5 hour drive from our hotel to the customer, so we left some time around 9:30am, which allowed us plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and to strategize for the meeting. There was, in fact, no strategery at all. The meal was fairly typical, we had Korean BBQ with spicy duck (instead of super-fatty pork), and most of the standard side dishes - kimchi, cucumbers, mushrooms, sprouts, and other assorted vegetables. However, this meal promised a little added bonus, if just to remind us we were in a completely unfamiliar land.
The waitress brought out a small bowl of what I thought looked like peanuts drizzled with chocolate sauce, which of course was wildly appetizing. Unfortunately, upon further inspection, the peanuts had weird stripes and markings on them. Because, duh, they weren't peanuts - these were silkworm pupa, or the silkworm before it becomes a worm.
I was there with Tim Pearson, another ITW guy, and despite KB and YG's proclamations that these things were, in fact, very delicious (kids love 'em!), we protested. But, alas, will power is only a name in the phone book, and eventually Tim and I looked at each other and said, "When are we going to have the chance to do this again? Can we go back to the States and say we chickened out?" The answer is no, we did not chicken out. However, hindsight is 20/20, and as far as I am concerned we should have held our ground. It's not that these things tasted bad, it's just that I have no idea how to describe what they tasted like, other than "this is not what food is supposed to taste like." My question is, who was the first ever person to put on of these things in his mouth, and think it was tasty, and then gave one to someone else?
Unfortunately, because security is so tight wherever we go, I did not have my camera. Tim was able to find some travel blogs that do these little critters justice. Check out some pics:
http://www.blogjam.com/2007/06/28/silkworm-pupa-pizza/
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000398.php
Very delicious, indeed.
