Give it to Gretchen; She'll Eat Anything... Once.

Gretchen has a few select taste buds that are only stimulated by exotic flavors. They do not seem to be satisfied with anything that's been tried more than once or that less than 95% of the world's population would at least cringe at. In Japan, there was no end of opportunity for Gretchen to pander to them. A non-inclusive list of adventurous foodstuffs that Gretchen ate while in Japan: Horse, eel, sea urchin, shrimp brain (unintentionally), cuddle fish (we think), octopus, cow tongue, countless unidentified sashimi (raw fish), and natto (fermented soybeans that smell like bare feet in sandals at the end of a summer day in Houston).

Now, in Osaka we had to "settle" for a centrally located business hotel. A buffet breakfast was provided with our room, so long as we got up before 9 am, and we didn't mind a Japanese style breakfast. So we ate lots of rice, seaweed, eggs, salad, and noodles every morning. There were certainly other things too, and each day they even rotated the dishes on offer. On the second to last day, Gretchen's particular taste buds were whining, so Gretchen picked up some all too identifiable extras for them. One of these extras was a whole, dried fish, just larger than a large man's middle finger. Once we sat down with our respective choices from the buffet assortment, I raised my left eyebrow at the long dead fishy friend on her plate, who I know wanted to raise an eyebrow back at me... if it had one. Although, by this time in our trip, I can't say I was surprised to see her (the fish). Yes, it was a "her" as Gretchen discovered once she bit off the head half. You see, the fish's belly was fully of hundreds of tiny fish eggs.

Gretchen diligently chewed the fish and its, bones, scales, eyes, and eggs. Not too bad, she remarks. Oh, maybe I'll give it a try once I'm done with my salad, I thought. We both continued to eat until the Japanese couple at the table across from us left. Hardly a heartbeat out of sight and Gretchen made a face that drew her tongue far, far away from her teeth. The bridge of her nose was exhibiting every wrinkle possible, as if drawing her nose up would somehow stop the idea of the dried fish from invading her thoughts. But it was too late. Gretchen was not pleased at all with having eaten the fish, so she expressed to me. So I inquired, "why then, did you eat it, rather than spitting it out?" She explains that the Japanese couple had their eyes on her. They were watching to see what she would do with it once half of the fish was in her mouth.

Well, Gretchen is proud of her eccentric taste buds (as am I, quite honestly), and she is especially proud of the fact that she as a gaijin (foreigner) might have acquired a taste for eccentric Japanese food. So she was not about to let down an authentic audience, no matter the consequences. The consequence in this case was a bad taste in her stomach for a few hours. The continued thought of it hurt my stomach as well. Not from empathy, mind you, but from laughter.

The half eaten cross section of that fish it still with me. It just reminds me that the one thing worse than a worm in your apple is half a worm in your apple. Well, Gretchen ate half a crunchy, salty, fishy, egg filled, fish worm the size of a large man's middle finger. Yes, the middle one.

The next day at the morning buffet, Gretchen was right back at it sampling the natto that I had intended to sample myself. Not even a day after the dried fish incident, Gretchen was still braver than me. I might suppose that this is why she's a chef, and I'm a... a... hmm... right, still need to figure that one out. Bravery is so attractive!