the infamous dog meat

Yep, we ate it.

Last night, we joined one of my students as she celebrated her upcoming wedding (it was held today). As the Westerners, we were considered a good luck charm, but no one was too interested in our appearance. A nice change of pace. Immediately after arriving, we were ushered to a small table, with the ubiquitous plastic chairs, where we were served green tea.

Soon enough Hong directed us to another table were our food was set up: sticky rice, rice noodles, beef and greens, grilled dog meat and duck embryos. We partook of everything except the duck embryos; I simply cannot do that one. Surprisingly, the dog meat was pretty good. Stuart first tried the liver (unbeknownst to him that it was organ meat) and he wasn't impressed. "It doesn't taste." Audrey braved it next, even after being told it was liver, though she was a bit leery. She agreed--tasteless.

Tuat suggested we try the actual meat, not organ, and it was a hit. Audrey took a bite and surprised us all with "It's really good!" and took another bite. Stuart liked it, too, and after swallowing the bile that was rising in my throat, I took a small bite. Not bad, really. A little tough, but a good taste.

Wait, did I just write that?

After downing the infamous meat, we moved on to dessert--some watermelon slices. The kids and I are big watermelon fans, so they went down pretty quickly and Hong was nice enough to head to the yard and get us a fresh bunch of bananas. Right then and there, bananas off the tree. Pretty cool.

Then, it was time to move again, to the after-dinner stimulants. In the center of the table sat two plates-one with a pack of cigarettes, the other with betel nuts and their accompanying betel leaves rolled with powdered limestone. Betel nuts are peeled, combined with the leaf packets and stuffed into the side of the mouth where it is chewed, producing a lot of red saliva and a drunken feeling. I had no interest in trying it, though several people joined in. We just watched in awe, listening to the explanations of its addictive power, importance in the Vietnamese wedding traditions and its purported ability to prevent cavities (though no mention of the high incidence of oral cancer).

After another ten minutes or so, we were given a bag of cake desserts and the rest of the banana bunch and the group of seven of us headed back to the motorbikes for the drive home.