Noodles

Last night one of the Quang Ngai orphanage volunteers threw a party for her English students at the volunteer household. It was a Western style party with beer & nibbles and an almost unbelievable spread of Vietnamese food. It was also a theme party and the theme was ‘Everyone Speaks English’. I felt sure I’d be able to handle that, even after the inevitable copious imbibation (! Did I say English?) of the ubiquitous ‘333’ beer.

At the party I met the delightful Mr Viet, Director of The Fund for Children of Quang Ngai Province, and his wife Khanh, who generously invited a few of us to tour his two rehabilitation centres just west of Quang Ngai city and see the work they were doing there for underprivileged and disabled children. I won’t dwell on the harrowing aspect of this trip – it is sufficient to say that Mr Viet and his volunteers are doing amazing things for their community and the people of Vietnam are very lucky to have such committed, hardworking and canny people.

After our tour, Mr & Mrs Viet took us to lunch at My Khe beach, a stretch of white sand and warm blue water that rivals the best Pacific Resorts for beauty, and which sports a bunch of funky shaded restaurants that surpass pretty much anywhere for food.

After the enormous meal (how the hell do these people stay so thin?) of clams, monstrous prawns (Americans: there is NO way these things can qualify as shrimp), banh xeo and fish soup, the talk naturally turned to the eating of dog. Mr Viet asked if I had ever tried dog meat, and I confessed I had not. Mr Viet is a very big fan of dog meat. He assured me it is the best food one could find in Vietnam, and invited me to dine with him the next time I was here, on the most superior dog cuisine I would ever eat. I said I would be honoured to join him. We talked further of eating dog, then snake (very popular dishes in Vietnam), horse (which would possibly be popular if there were more horses) and cat (which is also eaten, but not so much).

On the way back in the car I said to Nurse Myra, “Y’know, I have no in principle problem with eating dog. I mean, I feel I can’t object really, without being hypocritical – I eat pretty much anything else”.

We drove on for a few minutes.

“What about cat?” she asked, with her typically evil insight.

We drove on for a further few minutes.

I wondered idly if Glitch would taste better with rice or noodles.