Thursday, June 26, 2008

Another food post


Why is it that the food that looks the funkiest always tastes the best?

This thing is called a rambutan. It's just a bit smaller than a golf ball. One of the ladies in my office has been telling me to try it since I got here. In this part of the world, it's a very common fruit. It's closely related to the longan and the leechee, which I know you're all quite familiar with (right?).

The red hairy skin is pretty tough, but you can slice through it with a knife pretty easily. Once you split it open, the white flesh of the fruit pops right out. The texture is like the inside of a grape, but a bit firmer. It's delicious and super sweet. The nut inside isn't edible, so you just chew the meat off and then spit out the seed. Tasty.

I've tried to get Melissa and Jack to try it, but they won't even consider it. I just don't understand not even trying something to see if you like it. I was able to talk Jack into trying a bite of papaya last night though. He likes cantaloupe, so I thought I might have a chance. No dice. He did try a normal sized bite, but he pretty much made a sourpuss face and said he didn't like it. We'll just keep trying I guess.

Additional Note: We went to Pizza Hut for dinner last night. Jack is much happier now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there any chance of getting rambutan as a pizza topping? I think that's your only hope.

"Lemme get a large, hand-tossed, eel jerky pizza." Yummy.

Lynda and Joe said...

I've actually seen and bought rambutan here in Houston. It is really yummy -- I had heard about it in Vancouver, where there's lots of "exotic" asian fruit around. If I saw it again, I'd probably buy it, but I seem to recall it was quite expensive. Definitely delicious. Maybe you could make a fruit salad and put in one "new" fruit every time you make it...

Anonymous said...

It takes up to 15x of trying a new food before a child acquires a taste for something. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I like that 15x rule, but I must say Jack has eaten peas way more then 15x and still makes a fuss when we force him to eat it.
Also Pizza Hut did have a seafood pizza (octopus and squid). The cheese pizza was not on the menu but you could ask for it.