How To Eat Around the World

Whether you're slaughtering a goat in Rajasthan, looking for the perfect mango in Manila, tired of "dal bhat" on the trail to Everest or desperate for a salad in Nairobi, the man known as Conan of the Kitchen will be your guide to culinary wonders and abominations. Learn how to say "Have you eaten?" in Chinese; it's the typical greeting. In India, never offer another diner, even your spouse, food from you plate. Don't pass up the chance to eat fire ant soup in Laos. Don't stick chopsticks into a bowl of food and leave them there. It's a funerary practice in Asia. Master the formal place setting, aka "Service a la Russe." In Poland and the Philippines, soup made from duck's or pig's blood is a staple and almost the perfect food. It's just as easy to go to the butcher's and get camel for dinner in Egypt as it is to hire one to ride into the desert.