Over the weekend I had to trot, trot to Boston to do a little work.  While I was there, I was very bold and adventurous trying food that I normally wouldn’t try.  One night we were out at the Fisherman’s Festival and my boss stopped at a booth serving clams.  He was pretty excited because, being French, they ate a lot of fresh seafood growing up.  So he ordered a plate and convinced me to try one.  I had never had one before and figured I probably never will, since it is not something that would normally appeal to me.  So he squeezed some lemon on there and I ate it.  I was pleasantly surprised!  I mean, I like seafood quite a bit, so I don’t know what I expected, but it was good.  Saltier than I imagined.  I would like to try one with the hot sauce maybe.  Anyway, we continued walking along and I inquired what the difference between clams and mussels were.  He started explaining that (among many other differences) when the lemon juice hits the mussels they shriveled up.

I stopped cold.  “You mean they are alive??”  He laughed and said, “Yeah, what do you think you just ate?”  I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me, and it doesn’t change anything about the fact that I actually thought it tasted pretty good, but I’m sure glad he told me that after I ate it.  I was fairly horrified.  I just imagined me chewing and chewing and ending his little life.

I also had the opportunity to eat an entire lobster.  Again my boss was there to demonstrate all the tricky bits and how to properly dismantle him.  Again, it was super, super tasty but I just had to keep suppressing the knowledge that I was tearing this animal apart with my bare hands.  Especially when there was something disgusting, like the contents of its stomach.  The thing is, I have no problem with killing animals and I have no problem with the awful conditions of slaughter houses, etc.  I think if you eat meat or fast food, or wear leather, etc. you better come to grips with the fact that that’s what is happening.  I have no remorse over that, I’m no PETA lover.  But I don’t like to be reminded that my food came from an actual animal; I’d rather someone else took care of that part.  I mean, I want my garbage collected but that doesn’t mean I want to actually do that part myself!

I also tried clam chowder, which was ALSO delicious.  So, that was 3 adventerous forrays into the New England food world and 3 big hits.  Although I’m still not sure I could bite into another clam knowing that it would be that bite that ended his tiny life.