peacefinder's Journal: [SS] An open mind about food

Last week my eight-year-old stepson and I had an evening to ourselves. I took him shopping for a present for his friend's upcoming birthday party, then told him we got to eat out for dinner... and he got to pick where.

"Anywhere?" he asked.

"Almost. No fast food. Pick a sit-down restaurant."

"Ummm. There's this one place... Tan-Tan?"

"Tin-Tin? The chinese buffet?"

"Yeah! Let's go there!"

"Oh man. That place kinda sucks. Great Wall is better."

"But they have rat on a stick!" he argued.

"They have WHAT?" I exclaimed.

"Rat on a stick. It's really good, and you get to use the wooden things after as toothpicks."

"Oh," I said, figuring out that this was some sort of kebab. "Is that what you call it, or what the restaurant calls it?"

"I think they call it that."

"Wow. Are you sure they're kidding?"

"I dunno."

"What if it really is rat?"

"Well," he said, "I'm pretty sure they cook it enough that all the germs are gone."

"Fair enough."

hehe

[nizo]

Rat on a stick, why it is marketing genius!!!!!

Even if it isn't real rat, at least now you won't forget that place. You gotta love kid reasoning when it comes to eating and buying things :-)

Re:

[peacefinder]

Disappointingly, the restaurant actually called it "Teriyaki Chicken".

Re:

[StalinsNotDead]

Teriyaki Chicken is Cantonese for Rat on a Stick.

Tangent: I knew a guy who used to be in the exotic animal import/export business. He would take trips to Africa. There was a particular mountain he and his native companions would climb. Half-way up there was a cantina. A child had a two-by-four with very well-done small animals attached to it that he would sell for food. They were evidently quite tasty.

One time (when the cantina had very little business) they stopped there for a drink. The kid wasn't selling