But this one, bobbing around in my soup, was probably the weirdest.
Actually, I didn’t eat it. I stared at it for a while and lamely prodded it, curious what the small black hairs were on the dark bit but not really wanting to ask.
I was in northern Peru for a few days: the port town of Bayovar, visiting a phosphate rock exploration project. We ate breakfast and dinner in the workers’ canteen at the port. The food wasn’t bad but let’s just say Chef’s Table won’t be profiling the place anytime soon.
This particular day, the first course was soup. A luke-warm yellow, greasy soup with chunks of.. of.. stuff.
I can say with 100% certainty that it was part of an animal. But exactly what part and what species the unfortunate animal was remains a mystery to me. My best guess is it might have been a snout, or maybe a well-boiled hoof, possibly piggy in origin.
In the end I wasn’t brave enough to eat it. Call it a missed opportunity.