In one of the lunches during the Harbin media tour, they brought this to the table:

There was no need to ask what it was. Hello Kermit.

I eat frogs. At one of my favorite restaurants in Bangkok, they fry it with garlic. Arooy maak (delicious). Tastes like chicken.

This one though I did not dare to eat. The frogs were cooked in soy sauce that’s why they looked black and dirty. Colleagues who dared eat it said the dish was OK, no taste. But still…

Then they brought this innocent looking dish to the table next.

It looked like shredded tuna to me but I knew it couldn’t be. I took a small piece. It tasted strange. Tasted a bit like lamb but it wasn’t. Tasted a bit like beef but it wasn’t.

So finally, we asked one of the hosts. And he said: “donkey”.

It certainly was my first time to hear that you eat donkey. Donkey for me was the transport of Joseph and Mary in The Nativity Story. In today’s world, Donkey is a character in Shrek. It’s just not right to eat it. But they do in Harbin.

Strange food anyone?