Thursday, November 03, 2005

So what's for supper?

Well, not quite Yucky Salad with Bones, but it should do in a pinch...

From here:
On Tuesday, Vietnam banned the sale of one of its specialty appetizers — duck blood pudding (search), which is what it sounds like. Aficionados say the dish is too much of a tradition to give up, although it's been blamed for passing bird flu to people.

"I still eat it. Not every day, but three or four times a week," said restaurant owner Pham Van Vinh. He sold up to 300 bowls of the cold, congealed treat every day before recent warnings scared some customers away. "I'm not afraid."

Made from the raw blood of freshly slaughtered ducks or geese and mixed with boiled organs, the dish was linked to at least one bird flu death last year.

But there is a silver lining to this unfortunate cloud:

But Vietnam, which has been hardest hit by the H5N1 virus with more than 40 deaths, has also offered citizens and tourists a bit of comfort: Anyone sickened by the virus in the communist country will be treated at hospitals — free of charge.
Now that's heartening! Think I'll have a bowl. Make that two.