Blog Post #5: Grilled Octopus

So, I must start off with a funny anecdote from last week's Chat Café. I consider myself to be a pretty adventurous guy when it comes to food. I will try (almost) anything once, simply because I love breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, and even Fourth Meal (shout out to T-Bell). This week, when my group and I held our conversation at Sweeting located on South U, I figured I would bring this adventurous foodie out in me during the session. Sweeting is known for their teas and desserts, but they also offer some savory dishes for those looking for a small snack. One such dish is Grilled Octopus (or, maybe it was squid. I would ask the creature what it was, but unfortunately, that's all she wrote for that one). This particular menu item got a rave review from one of the students in my Chat Café, so I took his word and decided to indulge. Don't get me wrong - I thought I was a huge fan of calamari before November 5. After all, when I go out to restaurants and order octopus, it traditionally, for me at least, has been brought out covered in fried breadcrumbs and usually is cut up into small pieces. So one might see why I expected something similar when I ordered the Grilled Octopus from Sweeting. No. Nope. Nah. It was grilled and not a breadcrumb was in sight (looking back, this should have been obvious given the name of the dish, but perhaps I was too excited to show my adventurous side to my conversation participants that I abandoned common sense). Furthermore, it was a long tentacle, suction cups and all, skewered onto two thin wooden sticks. Needless to say, we were not in Kansas anymore. I tried a little bite at the heckling of my conversation circle. Afterwards, I decided to stick to my chicken wings and offered the rest to them, who like calamari sans breadcrumbs (probably the better way of eating it to people with refined palettes).

This experience reminded me of the very first conversation circle I led with my group back in September. I remember being so surprised that nobody had ever tried, or even heard of, Reese's PB Cups or Nutella. After talking with my group more last week, octopus is their version of Nutella. That is obviously not meant to be generalized to say that all Chinese and Taiwanese people love calamari, just as not all people in the US love Nutella, but it did illustrate a very salient point about the universality of food. People around the table tried some of the calamari and talked about stories in which they remember their dad devouring so much calamari at the dinner table or when their mom found out she was allergic to it after taking a bite of the tentacle. I talked about my preference for the breaded calamari, to which I heard some chuckles. Food brings us together with memories. So, regardless of how much I didn't like the Grilled Octopus option, if I had to do that day over again at Sweeting, I would order the same menu option. Not for the taste, definitely not for the look, but for the conversation.