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make memories for life

WorldTaste the

15food-inspiredjourneys

6 festivalsYOU DON’T WANT TO MISS AROUND THE WORLD P58

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VOL 5.3 WINTER 2019 / YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY

TURKISH DELIGHTS

SWEET ISTANBUL

DINING OUT INARMENIA

BREW YORKTHE BIG APPLE

ON TAP

KENYA’SCAMEL WOMEN

HOT ON DURBAN’SCURRY TRAIL

SINGAPOREON A PLATE

TURKISH DELIGHTS

SWEET ISTANBUL

DINING OUT INARMENIA

BREW YORKTHE BIG APPLE

ON TAP

KENYA’SCAMEL WOMEN

HOT ON DURBAN’SCURRY TRAIL

SINGAPOREON A PLATE

TURKISH DELIGHTS

SWEET ISTANBUL

DINING OUT INARMENIA

BREW YORKTHE BIG APPLE

ON TAP

KENYA’SCAMEL WOMEN

HOT ON DURBAN’SCURRY TRAIL

SINGAPOREON A PLATE

Gerrie Pretorius, host of kykNET’s popular travel show Leef jou Reis, strongly believes you haven’t experienced a place’s culture until you’ve tried its local delicacies. He always has a sample wherever he goes – even when a dish contains ingredients that turn his stomach. Here are a few of Gerrie’s most memorable dinners from the road:

14 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE

ICELAND | Fermented shark Hákarl is a legendary national

dish that’s been around for about seven centuries; it’s made from the rotting meat of a Greenland or sleeper shark. “Fishermen would eat this – they dug a hole and put the shark meat in for two to three days until it started to smell like ammonia, then hung it out to dry for about four or five months,” Gerrie explains. “Definitely one of the least favourite things I’ve tried on my travels!”

VIETNAM | DogsDogs (and cats) are raised

commercially in Vietnam, where locals believe the delicacy increases stamina; they eat as many as five million dogs a year. “Vietnamese consider dogs a normal protein, much like beef or chicken – but this was an unsettling one for me, because as one dog roasted on a spit, a pet dog looked on,” says Gerrie. In recent years, the government has tried to ban the practice, saying it can lead to disease and hurts the country’s international reputation.

KENYA | Cow’s blood“While the Maasai of Kenya and

Tanzania are mostly vegetarian, they drink blood as a sacred cultural tradition and as a way to get nutrients,” explains Gerrie. The Maasai believe the practice is particularly beneficial for people with weakened immune systems, such as women who have just given birth or boys who’ve undergone circumcision. The blood is harvested without killing the cow, by nicking the loose flesh on a cow’s neck with an arrow or sharp object once a month. The fresh blood is consumed warm, added as an ingredient to other dishes or mixed with milk.

SEYCHELLES | Bat curryThe Seychelloise have

been catching and cooking fruit bats since the days of slavery in the archipelago, and it’s now a delicacy on the main island, Mahé. “This was surprisingly tasty,” admits Gerrie. “It was juicy, and when I finished I had a tiny bone from the wing to clean my teeth.”

HONG KONG | Stinky tofuA street food classic, Hong

Kong’s stinky tofu is made in a brine of fermented milk, vegetables, meat and fish. “It smelled like milk and vomit that had been fermented for a month,” recalls Gerrie. Deep fried until it’s crunchy, and topped with sweet chilli sauce, the taste is allegedly better than its smell – though that’s not a difficult benchmark to beat.

VIETNAM | SnakesVietnam’s “Snake Village” near

Hanoi is infamous for its eyebrow-raising reptile offerings: still-beating snake hearts, alcoholic snake-blood shots and snake meat – and of course, Gerrie has sampled the serpents here. “They catch and eat common reed vipers in rice wine as an aphrodisiac or as a show of power and virility,” he notes.

FOLLOW GERRIE ON LEEF JOU REISSee what other adventurous meals Gerrie has tried, in the seventh season of Leef jou Reis, currently airing on Mondays at 18h00 on kykNet and kie. And keep an eye on Sure Travel’s Facebook page for the weekly “Where in the World is Gerrie?” competition, with great prizes up for grabs.

FROM AROUND THE WORLD Weird and wonderful dishes

FROM AROUND THE WORLD

WINTER 2019 // DEPARTURE LOUNGE

MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE // 15

LUCKY TREATS | Today in Austria, if you bite into brioche-like

rolls called buchteln, you’re likely to find a dollop of apricot or plum preserve, but bakers have stuffed these pull-apart buns with some surprising ingredients throughout history: from squares of chocolate to poppy seed paste to lottery tickets!

STATUS FRUIT | You’ll need a few hundred thousand rand to sample

the world’s most expensive melon, called the Yūbari King. Cultivated in a sleepy town on Japan’s Hokkaido Island, the lace-patterned cantaloupe is actually a hybrid of two varieties. Every melon is given the royal treatment during its 100-day growing cycle: they wear paper hats to prevent sunburn and growers wipe the fruit clean daily. Why so pricey? Giving fruit as gifts is traditional in Japanese custom, so growing and selling “luxury” fruit has become big business.

SECRET SAUCE | Forget sriracha or Tabasco – a handful of street vendors in Hanoi, Vietnam, are purveyors of a much stranger, more expensive and coveted condiment: cà cuống. This essence is made from the mating pheromones of an increasingly rare water bug (Lethocerus indicus), and its funky-yet-floral aroma can be added to dipping sauces, soups and broths. It’s valued as an aphrodisiac, but it’s said that too much will numb your mouth.

TOPSY-TURVY WINE | A 200-year-old tavern called

Oepfelchammer in Zurich, Switzerland, is home to an eyebrow-raising drinking ritual. Its beam challenge – or balkenprobe – has participants shimmy their way up to a ceiling beam and hang upside down from an adjacent rafter – and then attempt to drink an entire glass of red or white wine without spilling. Each challenger has three attempts to finish, and the winners have their names added to a wall of honour.

BARMY PIES | Cake, pie or sandwich? In the English town of Wigan – host of the annual Pie Eating Championship – locals have enthusiastically dreamed up new ways to eat their beloved meat-filled pastries without getting their hands dirty or burnt. It’s called a “barm cake” (AKA a savoury pie sandwiched between a buttered roll that’s been leavened with the barm – or foam – at the top of a beer), and it’s a thing of pure genius. Want to know just how crazy Wiganers are about pie? Well, in 2016, they tried (unsuccessfully) to launch a meat-and-potato pie into space using a high-altitude weather balloon.

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VISIT ONE OF OUR 11 BRANCHES NATIONWIDEAND TEST DRIVE THE NEW FORD RANGER.

Action Ford Roodepoort: 087 256 6006Action Ford Krugersdorp: 087 256 5885Action Ford Citrusdal: 087 256 4300Action Ford Louis Trichardt: 087 256 2424Action Ford Moorreesburg: 087 894 4447Action Ford Mokopane: 087 256 6411

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ACTION FORD IS APROUD SPONSOR OF

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