99% of the time, my smarties will be with me when I go marketing. We learn about fruits, vegetables, meat, etc whenever we are at the market. But this time round, our trip is a little more exotic. On top of the normal food that they always see at a normal market, we saw something different and the kids were overwhelming with excitement when they saw them in real life!
As usual, I will “shopped” for my vegetables and meat. Once we were done, I brought the kids to a section where they sell live products. First thing they saw was the basket of frogs. You may think why is that in a market and do people really eat that? Feel squeamish at the thought of having the slimy amphibian in your mouth? Eeky?? Well, the truth is Chinese love eating frogs especially frog porridge and the dried chilli kungpo frog legs. Not only it is a culinary delicacy, Chinese also believes that it is beneficial for the health especially children. Did I buy that? No, I didn’t.
Next we saw lots of eels or should I say many stalls selling live eels. The kids were horrified and gor gor keep claiming that those are electric eels. He pulled his little sister away, warning her of getting electrocuted. What a drama!
There was turtle too! But poor turtle trapped in a very small box. Some people loves turtle soup and, same as frog, is a culinary delicacy and highly nutrition. In the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) world, they believe that turtle soup is the best possible medicine to revive failing kidneys. It is also believed that drinking turtle soup will increase one’s longevity. How true is that? That’s for you to find out.
Before we leave, we grabbed some fruits from a fruits stall. No, we didn’t grab any of the exotic species because is overly exotic for us to handle. Mei mei is pointing what she wants for day’s fruits menu.
This is what she’s having when we reached home. Yes, and she peeled the skin of the orange herself.
That’s all folks! An exotic trip to the market indeed huh!
Psst…in case you do not know, that’s Chinatown wet market 😉