EmailThe strangest location you have ever had a meal at/in and what was it?
Like the top of Everest or in a cave or in a tree.
I'll start: While living on a sail boat in S. France as a kid, every couple of months some of the ships from the US Sixth fleet would anchor just off the fishing village where we were moored. Golfe Juan). They'd send hundreds and hundreds of young men on 'shore leave' into the poor village. These men were ferried ashore by Liberty boats. A day or so before the fleet arrived about a dozen whore houses masquerading as 'bars' would open up and dozens and dozens of hookers would arrive by train coming from the last location the fleet was visiting. After a few days the fleet would move on along the coast and the temporary bars would close their doors and the hookers would board the train and meet the fleet a hundred miles up or down the coast. Anyway. That's a different subject. Because I was a Canadian and could speak 'English' I used to hang around with some of the sailors. I was even allowed to hang around in the 'bars' and the sailors and I were happy to speak 'English'. They would buy me Cokes. I got to know a few of these guys because they'd show up every couple of months. My parents would have some of them come to our sail boat for lunch/dinners. I was sort of a 'little brother' to them I guess. One time a couple of these men asked their officer/s if I could visit their ship and see what it was like. Permission was granted. I went out by liberty boat to the USS Trout. A submarine. The plan was I'd have lunch, get a tour of the ship given not by my sailor friends but some one who was trained to give tours then take a liberty boat back ashore. Just after I went aboard one of the famous 'mistral' wind storms hit. The waves got so high that the order was given to submerge below the surface. There I was in a US submarine under the water. We stayed submerged for three days. I ended up having the run of the ship. No supervision. I scrambled all over the ship from the conning tower to the engine room. Some one found a sailers cap for me. I can't remember what the meals where but I always had seconds. (My parents knew where I was and that I was safe of course) After a few days we surfaced. Some one gave me a deck of cards and an ash tray with USS TROUT on them and a carton of Pall Malls and a box of Mars bars as I left.
By Puffin3
on Oct 2, 2012 07:57 AM
A few years ago I was in Los Roques Archipelago, Venezuela going skin diving by boat. Out in the middle of the ocean was a place where it was very shallow. There were a small group of buildings on stilts. No land to be seen. You stopped by in the morning placed your order for fish or lobster, and came back in the afternoon. They would go out and fish fresh for you, then cook it. Very simple but tasty.
But the most memorable meal I ever had was this: http://www.slashfood.com/2007/01/06/w...
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wow, amazing
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Down at Seven Mile Hole (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River) in Yellowstone National Park. Fished for Cutthroat Trout - successfully - pan fried - with sliced potatoes/onions on the side. Wonderful meal in one of the most gorgeous places in North America. Strange because of the sulfur (rotten egg) smell from all of the thermal features all around. From steam vents, to fumaroles, to hot pots, and hot springs. Strange but beautiful.
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I wonder if anyone has ever cooked in those thermal features. Geyser trout?
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I was stationed at Tan Son Nhut AFB Saigon in 1967-1968 and ate many wonderful meals at a Vietnamese run "cafe" that was located on the base. Probably, more than half the time I ordered what would these days be touted as "Heritage" pork chops. Thick and fatty, these chops looked more like beef than pork. I doubt these lunches cost more than 2 or 3 dollars. These days, I occasionally get Berkshire chops at $15 per pound and they aren't as good. Anyway, the strange thing about this cafe was that it was located on the edge of the mortuary property and the usual view was caskets and/or body bags. A lot of my friends refused to eat there for this reason. They said the smell of death was in the air. I believe what was in the air at times was the smell of formaldahyde. For this reason, I always checked the windage before ordering. So there it is; not very romantic, but pretty darned strange.
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Ever watched 'Fried Green Tomatoes'?
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Once, when it came out, but I can't make a connection.
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LOL
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Oops, got confused with Steel Magnolias. Never saw Fried Green Tomatoes. What is the connection?
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The restaurant in the movie was serving a human being to a customer and the customer thought the 'ribs' were delicious. LOL Maybe the restaurant you eat at was serving dead humans dug up from the graveyard. LOL That's the connection.
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Probably the Treehouse Restaurant at Alnwick Garden.
http://www.alnwickgarden.com/explore/...
Food was pretty good as well.
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Interesting thread!
Ok, let's see:
Spending a week in the Grand Canyon and having a wonderful cook-out every night on one of the beaches.
Lunch on a houseboat on the River Kwai in Thailand
Lunch in the Anavilhanas/Brazil on a boat
BBQ on a Russian spy ship ( The Vavilov) in Antarctica out in the open in full Winter gear.
Thanksgiving Dinner at Erg Chebbi in the Sahara desert. The Turkey was served with head still attached!!
Dinner/Camel Stew shared in a mess tent at a total Solar Eclipse in the Libyan Sahara.
One of the most supreme BBQs ever, at Sossusvlei in Namibia. The choice of meats ranked from different types of Antelopes to Zebra, also Crocodile. It was incredibly delicious!!
Spending several days in the base camp of Mt Everest in Tibet, dinner at the mess tent.
Fresh seafood truly straight out of the waters in Iceland on a Puffin cruise, most delicious Urchins and Scallops, YUM!!
We bought some Harzer Roller ( specialty German Cheese) at the Market in Torgau/ Elbe. (Torgau was the first contact point during WW2 of Russian and American Army) We also picked up some fresh rolls somewhere, we had Coffee along in a Thermos. Now one of us had a Scissor!!, but no knife. So we sat somewhere in a forest, ate Harzer Roller on a Brötchen cut up with a scissor. Unforgettable!! One has to know that both of us loved this cheese growing up and hadn't eaten in in many, many years.
Ok I could go on here for a while....
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So "go on". You certainly have been around. How did you find yourself on a Russian spy ship? Did you know at the time it was a spy ship?
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regarding the Russian ship -
no, we had simply booked the Antarctica trip and we knew we were not boarding a typical large cruise ship, but rather a much smaller Russian research vessel with a Russian crew. It turns out the Academik Sergey Vavilov was indeed ( along with her sister ship the Academik Ioffe) a scientific research ship owned by the Soviet Academy of Science, but we learned later that it was classified by NATO as a Spy ship. The ship was equipped with all sorts of fancy Sonar equipment, which was of course now used to detect Whales. And the ship was certainly comfortable enough - as it was refurbished now to take tourists to Antarctica.
We found out later that after our great trip this Ship was chased 8000 miles across the Atlantic by some German creditors as there were some outstanding bills to be paid to the Academy for the refurbishment.
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During the snowpocalypse of 2010, I was trapped in my car.. on the road.. but stuck in traffic (..well traffic due to bad-conditions). I ended up eating an emergency kit that a sibling had in the car (from when it was his).... it contained chocolate and sardines. mMMMmmm.. right.
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You were on LSD in Chicago, right? :)
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100%
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one of my best meals ever was cheese fondue while snowshoeing in the swiss alps. near the end of the trek, our guide sat us all down, built a fire, and pulled out wine, garlic, cheese, and a few other ingredients from his pack. he made the most delicious cheese sauce i have ever had, and then provided us all with fresh bread to dip. unexpected, different, and amazing!
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most recently in high arctic, minke whale on the bbq in front of a glacier. two days in a row on the same boat to different places.
instant noodle soup by the fire (which was also 'central heating') surrounded by staring monks. it was sooooo cold and dizzying at almost 5000m altitude. the only light was the open fire. (at Rongbuk monastery in 2006). i've never been so cold, not even in Antarctica.
not a strange place to eat but the surrounding was simply spectacular: christmas dinner and a bbq on the ship in Antarctica. so much meat both times! (2009)
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Sounds like we have been at the same locations!! We were also at the Rongbuk monastery!! And that place IS freezing! Are the monks still asking for a picture of the Dalai Lama? We were there in 1996 and they were always asking then!
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For ten bucks how did the Minke whale get it's name? I believe I know. No fair 'googling.
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Do tell, I don't know it! :-)
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Thought of another interesting place which seems to fit into this thread. You really need to read the signs in my pics!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8370...
In retrospect - they were not kidding!! If you walked around in that part of town after 5 pm, you got some really bad looks, prompting you to put some speed into your step.
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I have eaten meals at an altitude of 4500 m. I wouldn't recommend it from a culinary perspective.
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