The Hunger of a New Place

The stomach is a kind of travel barometer. The way your stomach is handling food can gauge the climate of your trip. Now, that’s not always true. One time, my stomach-meter was indicating that lighting could strike at any moment, but my trip was still going well. And thanks to the patchy english of a Jordanian pharmacist, things were back to normal in a couple of days. Another story I heard from Lance Davis involved a trip to Mongolia. Mongolia was apparently his favorite stop during his adventure, but it’s also the place where he had his worst food experience. It involved a yurt and some mystery meat; he actually spit the food out before it got to his stomach, and he spit it out in front of the cook on accident, but the point is he still remembers Mongolia favorably. So a bad digestion or bad food doesn't have to spoil a trip. Still, much of the time, if your stomach goes to pot, you’ll go to one too, a lot, and that affects your traveling.  

Another aspect of the traveling-stomach-barometer theory is this: not only does your stomach gauge a trip, it becomes more active when traveling, or when in a new place. There are so many new combinations and concoctions to try. Like walking a dog in a new park, the stomach has a lot to sniff out. The stomach is more active with a sense of adventure, but it's also more active with a sense of necessity. When the usual feeding grounds aren’t there, the stomach has to work harder to find food. When I moved to UCA, and then Sittner, and then the West Whitman Estate, I was hungry for the first few weeks at each place. It’s not that there isn’t enough food, it just takes some time to find what tastes good and comes at a good price. Last year in Walla Walla, I found that combination. My diet was Gorilla As®  smoothies, Alban’s granola, Jordan’s left overs, and the Taco Wagon.  (In Walla Walla one night, I shared one of my smoothies with Alban. It had fruit, soy milk, peanut butter, nuts, and it might have even had some chocolate syrup. He told me, "Oh man, this tastes like ... gorilla ... *poop." He then started referring to all my cooking as "Gorilla As," as in, as gorilla tasting as a gorilla would like.  And now I’m trademarking it: Gorilla As®. (Cody and David, make that official for me when you get a chance, class project or something.))

I’m still hunting for the magic combo of good taste and good price here in Hong Kong. The options are there. One of the local grocery stores, “Taste,” has all kinds of imports from Australia, New Zealand, USA, the UK, and other places. There are also “wet markets,” which have wet stuff like produce and meats and extra-terrestrial looking bits. Finding food in Hong Kong isn’t a problem, I even ran across a little store in the train station that sells Kirkland Signature nuts grains and other American pantry stockers. Unfortunately I haven’t found an Alban, Jordan, or a Taco Wagon, but don’t think I’ve given up.  

Until I find them, or a knockoff at the Temple Street night market, or if, worst case scenario, I don’t find either, Gorilla As® will find a way...

This little doozy I call, "The Tofu Sampler Surprise." Tribute to the Sampler himself.