While most people find Chinese cuisine delicious, some Chinese food may appear bizarre to many non-Chinese people. My husband frowns every time I talk about chicken feet, one of my favourites. His disgusting expression has misled me. When it comes to local delicacies, Dalmatians are no less "bizarre" than Chinese.
One of our neighbours often invites us over for lunch. Croatian homes are where you taste the authentic local food. It was at the dining table of our neighbour where I recaptured the savour of bovine tripe (known as tripice in Croatian) and pig's ear. My husband's face was distorted on both occasions. Our neighbour was only too happy to see that I relished her food.
I took another glimpse of the traditional food in Dalmatia a few days ago on the TV. The cooks prepared the cuisines right on the spot in a town square. Tripice was again featured in hot soup. (My neighbour served it as salad last time.) Another big hot pot contained either bovine or lamb offal which looked really yummy. The next scene stunned me and led me to yell immediately at my husband, "Dalmatians also eat chicken feet!" Lastly, a cook was grilling several pieces of soft meat of similar size as hamburger. But they were light-brown in colour and oval in shape. Guess what they were? Bovine testis!
Chinese do not find these dishes too strange to swallow as we eat all of them. We are only too happy to find more alliances in the vast culinary world.
About Me
- 熊羚 Valeria
- Valeria Teo is a writer, a travel planner and an owner of private accommodation. Her passion for travel has taken her to nearly 30 countries since 1992. The trip to Croatia in 2007 has brought her a husband and her first Chinese novel. Valeria has published two Chinese novel sets in Croatia and a collection of Chinese essays. Besides being a regular blogger for the Hong Kong travel site UTravel and GOtrip, she writes for various organizations and online publications, in both English and Chinese. Having appeared in two Hong Kong on-line radio travel programmes featuring Croatia, Valeria was also consulted by one Taiwanese and one Hong Kong TV station for shooting travel programmes in and around Croatia. Her particular connection with Croatia has led her to create Croatia Independent Travellers (www.croatia.com.hk) with two partners. The on-line platform specializes in travel planning and custom-made tours for those who want to create unforgettable travel experiences of their own. In the summer of 2014, Valeria realized her long-term dream of running her own private accommodation in Split.
Born in Hong Kong, Valeria now resides in Split, Croatia.
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