Tastes Like Chicken

3 June 2013

            After sleeping in and catching up on some much needed rest, Jaclyn and I met with a post-graduate student named Merlin to take us on a campus tour at 10:00 AM. Merlin was originally from the Western Cape and completed his undergraduate studies in psychology at a university close to Table Mountain. He is currently studying education at UFS. He showed us the administration building and the student union where there is a food court called “The Bridge.”  Merlin also pointed out the Technical Service building, as well as a cell phone store and bank close to the student union. It was a very pleasant morning similar to that of an Autumn morning in Boone.  

            We had a very nice lunch with some of the staff of the Sports Medicine Department and International Office. It was great to meet everyone, as they were all very friendly and welcoming. I was swayed to be adventurous at the buffet by adding a traditional Afrikaans dish, known as skilpatjie (pronounced skull-pike-ee), to my plate. I was told it was sheep’s stomach and that if I was lucky I would also find an eyeball within the mix. Well “when in Rome” right? So I helped myself to the skilpatjie, as well as other delicious foods along the buffet. The skilpatjie was surprisingly good, with a chewy outer layer (stomach) and a mushy inner stuffing. As I was finishing my meal, a piece of skilpatjie remained on my plate that had some fibrous tissue on it. I noticed two professors discussing the morsel of sheep’s stomach in Afrikaans. I asked what had them so intrigued and they gave me a little laugh in response, saying they were unsure what part of the sheep I was eating. Uneasily, I asked if it was the male parts of the sheep, thinking I had been tricked into eating something a little more adventurous than I bargained for. Laughing, they reassured me it was the stomach but that they were unsure what it was stuffed with. The woman who served as the medical librarian informed us that it was sheep’s brain, explaining the mushy texture. How bout that?! The kid who hardly ate anything other than chicken fingers and PB&J’s until age 12 ate sheep’s stomach stuffed with brains.