"Just ate chicken feet for lunch. " These were the words I wrote on my blog yesterday. By the next day there were hundreds of comments from my friends. They ranged from "OH MY GOD! That is so disgusting! " to "What were they like?" to "Why can't you eat sandwiches like everyone else?" To Chinese people, chicken feet are a normal snack. To my friends in Britain, the thought of eating a chicken's foot is----well, weird  . As weird, in fact, as eating a bullfrog, scorpion , snake, or turtle. But if there are two things I love more than anything else in life, they are: trying new things and food. I arrived in Beijing five months ago. Since then, I've searched for the "weirdest" foods so I can try them, then treat my friends to some "virtual eating" on my blog. One weekend, I went to Wangfujing, Beijing's "snack street". The trip gave me tons of blog material. "I chose a stick with three live, wriggling  scorpions on it," I wrote. "And it was pretty good. The scorpion was warm and crispy. The legs did have a tendency to get stuck between one's teeth, however. What's more, I am sure scorpion number two stung me with its tail in revenge ." Next came snake: "A bit like a cross between fish and chicken, with a slightly rubbery texture and meaty taste." Some people were actually angry when I ate turtle soup----especially when I posted pictures showing the poor little guy's head staring sadly up at us from the bowl. "I am never speaking to you again," wrote one (former) friend. Still, I will continue my culinary quest. Next on my list is starfish, though I feel I should have some vegetables too----algae, maybe. So what am I eating, tonight, you may ask. Pizza. Well, a girl's gotta have a break sometimes. What is the writer's friends' attitude toward her trying "weird" foods?
They are satisfied. They are happy. They are surprised and even angry. They are sorry.