The tastes, textures and smells of certain food can transport you right back to the place and setting of when and where you had that memorable food/meal. Does for me at least. Like the first time I had durian. I took a trip from Sumatra to the Riau Islands on a Pelni Line vessel, deck class. A few of us bought a durian and a deckhand opened it for us. If you’ve had durian, you either love it or hate it - there is no in between. I loved it. Whenever I eat durian, I’m right back there, sleeping on the deck on that ill planned trip. Sometimes the memories are wonderful, other times not so much. 'Cause food can be emotional like that.
I’ve got LOTS of good food feels from when we lived on Saipan. We lived in a village where we were part of the community. Whenever there was some work to be done, we’d do our part which would almost always end with a communal meal. Red rice, which is colored with achiote, but the flavor comes from the bacon drippings mixed in with the rice. Barbecue cooked over tangantangan wood. Kelaguen, which is partially cooked meat, usually chicken and then the added lemon finishes cooking the meat with the acidity. Add some fresh grated coconut and spices and you get...happiness. Lechon (roasted pig) for the bigger occasions. Coco, which is pickled mango/papaya/cucumber. Whatever fruit was in season was mostly in abundance, except after a typhoon. I can eat any one of those items and be instantly transported back to Saipan in my very fertile mind. Perhaps you have noticed there aren’t any Chamorro restaurants in your neighborhood. Mine either, so I don’t get those happy food feels often.
I had to go to Hawaii to get an MRI on my knee in a very tight window of time and contacted a few old friends, one of whom told me about an event he was going to an event called Off the Eaten Path: Chamorro Cuisine with some hoity toity chef from Guam. Messaged my daughter who lives on Maui. Wanna go gorge on Chamorro food? Anyone who has met my daughter knows the answer. Boom! We're in! Serendipity. Family. Good friends. A couple of wicked smart professors who were riotously witty and irreverent - my kind of people. Good food which brought ALL the good food feels and many good memories back.
I did have two unusual food memories on Saipan though. Once, I was served a bowl of soup with a cows hoof in it. The soup was just broth, I don’t recall any vegetables or anything else than the big old cow’s hoof in the bowl. And there are sometimes when you just can’t say no. I sipped the broth, I nibbled on the hoof and pretended to like it. But I didn’t.
My most amusing Saipan food experience? My landlord called me over to eat which happened pretty every time he saw me, but that’s Chamorro culture. He had a bowl of much more palatable soup, vegetables, some kind of meat and it was really good. He watched me for a while with a wry grin on his face. Then he asked how I liked it. I said it was really good and then he laughed and said, “That’s Marianas Fruit Dove and... it’s endangered!” But his response sounded soooooooo much better in a Chamorro accent.
I’ve got LOTS of good food feels from when we lived on Saipan. We lived in a village where we were part of the community. Whenever there was some work to be done, we’d do our part which would almost always end with a communal meal. Red rice, which is colored with achiote, but the flavor comes from the bacon drippings mixed in with the rice. Barbecue cooked over tangantangan wood. Kelaguen, which is partially cooked meat, usually chicken and then the added lemon finishes cooking the meat with the acidity. Add some fresh grated coconut and spices and you get...happiness. Lechon (roasted pig) for the bigger occasions. Coco, which is pickled mango/papaya/cucumber. Whatever fruit was in season was mostly in abundance, except after a typhoon. I can eat any one of those items and be instantly transported back to Saipan in my very fertile mind. Perhaps you have noticed there aren’t any Chamorro restaurants in your neighborhood. Mine either, so I don’t get those happy food feels often.
I had to go to Hawaii to get an MRI on my knee in a very tight window of time and contacted a few old friends, one of whom told me about an event he was going to an event called Off the Eaten Path: Chamorro Cuisine with some hoity toity chef from Guam. Messaged my daughter who lives on Maui. Wanna go gorge on Chamorro food? Anyone who has met my daughter knows the answer. Boom! We're in! Serendipity. Family. Good friends. A couple of wicked smart professors who were riotously witty and irreverent - my kind of people. Good food which brought ALL the good food feels and many good memories back.
I did have two unusual food memories on Saipan though. Once, I was served a bowl of soup with a cows hoof in it. The soup was just broth, I don’t recall any vegetables or anything else than the big old cow’s hoof in the bowl. And there are sometimes when you just can’t say no. I sipped the broth, I nibbled on the hoof and pretended to like it. But I didn’t.
My most amusing Saipan food experience? My landlord called me over to eat which happened pretty every time he saw me, but that’s Chamorro culture. He had a bowl of much more palatable soup, vegetables, some kind of meat and it was really good. He watched me for a while with a wry grin on his face. Then he asked how I liked it. I said it was really good and then he laughed and said, “That’s Marianas Fruit Dove and... it’s endangered!” But his response sounded soooooooo much better in a Chamorro accent.
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