Pig Brains

We were eating at one of those large shacks -- the big roadside restaurants with no walls and a tin roof -- in Siem Reap . We'd eaten quite a bit already, and drunk a ton of beer. (The beer in Cambodia is quite good. It's a mystery why a country with this climate produces at least 3 dark stout beers, which seem totally unfit for the hot weather. There's a reason Guinness comes from Ireland.) So fueled by the beer, I suppose, and the urge to drink more, we decide to order more munchies. Someone decides we should get the pig brains. Good with beer! is the concensus.

I expected something like the minced meat "larb" popular in Thailand, but the pig brains are more like a soupy stir-fry, with tomatoes, shallots, parsley, and fish sauce. I wouldn't have known it was pig brains unless someone had told me. Nothing remarkable but, yes, fine with beer.

I have to admit that animal brains is something I balk at before digging in. I suppose that's because things like Mad Cow disease have hit modern, western countries so recently. While I'm at it, I've never understood the logic behind feeding a naturally vegetarian cow some cow meat. Here's your cousin's brains to eat, moooo.

And, speaking of both Cambodia and Mad Cows ... did you hear the one about the Cambodian diplomat who suggested England send her mad cows over to run around the Cambodian countryside and knock out a few landmines? Two birds with one stone, eh? Sounds like a Jonathan Swift proposal -- absurd and offensive, but quite reasonable.

In America, they have this TV show called "Fear Factor". On this show they dare contestants to do things like eat weird meat. Read about the cow brain episode here.