The Food

from Jeff

After a mission trip, people ask some basic questions like...how was the food, how was the weather, what did you do.

We'll describe more of what we did later. And, the weather was mostly pleasant due to the coming rainy season.

As for the food...well, the Indian palate is very different from the American. It consists of very spicy (Mexican food has nothing on this stuff) curries, rice, lentils and meat (Hindus are usually vegetarian). Michael took the challenge of whatever hot was put before him. I never got used to eating lentils - which is kind of a mix between corn and lima beans to me. Stephen tried to protect us from overly spicy food.

Here Michael is enjoying himself some lentils. We ate with our hands for the first few meals. The locals eat with their hands all the time and tried to teach us their technique. People were more than willing to give us a fork and knife though.

Our hosts were gracious enough to take us Pizza Hut one afternoon and KFC another night. Then there was the Nanking Chinese restaurant we ate in 3 times, ordered the same thing every time. I must admit it was strange listening to Toby Keith in a Pizza Hut in Hyderabad, India. Not sure the songs relate well to the surrounding culture.

Philip, Stephen's dad, had cooked for American missionaries so was familiar with our diet. Michael and I actually put on weight because of his scrambled eggs, french toast, and fried chicken. All the food is freshly prepared - even if that means going out back to kill it. I was reminded just how processed (and sugary) our diet is compared to other parts of the world.

Thankfully we never got "Ghandi's Revenge" as Stephen called it or "Delhi Belly" as some students we met on the plane back had experienced. Someone please pass the poori...