Wildlife On The Table

February 27, 2005 – 7:23 pm

The other night I had roasted rack of venison for dinner in Portland. It was really, really good. It was much better than the venison I had in Moscow, though the Moscow venison may not have been venison.

Side-track story. The last two times I asked what I was eating at a restaurant in Russia, I was sorely dismayed by the responses.

The first went like this:
Me:       Excuse me, but what kind of meat is this?
Cook:   < gruff voice > Just meat. Cooked.
Man:    Don’t bother asking.
Me:       Hmmm…

The second experience was something on the order of:
Me:         This steak is interesting, sort of wild. What is it?
Waiter:  < smile > Loshad. Horse.
Me:         < mid-chew > Oh…

Anyway, the recent venison got me to thinking of other exotic dishes I’ve had. They are: giraffe, wild boar, elk, the aforementioned horse and venison, rattle snake, aligator, musk ox, regular ox, stingray, quail eggs, lion jerky, sea urchin, goat (Vietnamese goat intestine stew - gross), and a few other oddities.