T H I S+W E E K Acting on wild impulse By Don George, Editor Thai Die By Karl Taro Greenfeld An adventure gone awry in northern Thailand D E P A R T M E N T S The Surreal Gourmet By Bob Blumer Garlic Worship Postmark | New Orleans By Lance P. Martin Big Easy Addiction Passages "In the Ring of Fire" By James D. Houston Pacific Journeys: Three Kinds of Silence >Mondo Weirdo Killer Tentacles Readers' Tips and Tales Does your neighborhood still feel like home? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Your virtual travel agency - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LA S T+W E E K Tuesday, July 15 Sex! Sand! Surf! Po Bronson at Club Med A full list of all Wanderlust articles

M__O__N__D__O____W__E__I__R__D__O__________ More strange food tales from around the world. BY DON GEORGE | And so the strange and wonderful world of food continues. This week we have three tales from different corners of the globe -- Asia, South America and North America -- and culinary dishes made from tentacles, guinea pigs and rodents. Share the harrowing experiences you've had with food or different travel destinations, whether it be a dish with peculiar ingredients, a ritual in a different culture or a festival honoring a local god. Send in your stories to wanderlust@salonmagazine.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tasty tentacles i've been living in South Korea for the past two years and have had several opportunities to eat what certainly must be one of the world's most active foods: raw squid tentacles. Koreans call this dish San Nak Chi. The basic method of preparation is to take one medium-sized squid, cut the tentacles off and put them on a plate. Then you eat them. The problem is, if you don't properly oil your tongue, the wriggling tentacles stick to the inside of your mouth and throat. If this happens, the only way to remove them is to quickly belt down a drink of the local firewater, soju. The tentacles supposedly release on contact. Apparently, several people have died as a result of eating this meal. The people I ate with recently were disappointed that the tentacles weren't moving enough after being cut off from the squid. My verdict? A bit expensive, a bit wriggly, but quite tasty. -- Jason Kuykendall - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mystery stew On a return trip from Florida in 1971, my '69 VW Bug developed carburetor trouble somewhere in the middle of South Carolina. Forced to stop at a local garage off the interstate, the mechanics said they'd fix my car while I got some food at Nat's Cafe & Grill, which was just around the corner. I ordered the evening's special, "Brunswick Stew" -- something hardy and hot. The waitress brought it out while I was washing up in the bathroom. I dug in. I remember there being large chunks of meat and perfectly done vegetables and a delicious gravy. It was served with plenty of bread and butter to dip with and two cups of coffee. Not familiar with this particular stew, I asked the cashier what was in it. She smiled and rattled off a string of animal names: opossum, squirrel, chipmunk, rabbit, groundhog and whatever else they could shoot or find, presumably fresh road kill. I knew if I thought about it much longer, I'd get sick and lose dinner. So I got a six-pack of small Cokes to go and headed for the garage to pay my bill. No one was out front, my car was ready and I was ready to get the hell out of there. I walked behind the service bays and there were the two mechanics skinning all kinds of critters for the next day's stew. I paid my bill, got back on the interstate and headed north. On the radio came a veterinarian show about how to care and feed wild animals. I pulled over and lost my dinner. I haven't been to, nor would I go back through, South Carolina again. And any kind of stew isn't on my culinary menu anymore. I'm a vegetarian. -- John Shelley - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rats or Guinea Pigs? I just saw the short piece by Elaine Johnson in the June 24 edition of Mondo Wierdo, where she writes about finding rat snacks for sale on the streets of Ecuador. I must correct the record. I think she saw something else. While visiting the majestic country last year with my fiancée, we also came upon many street-corner stalls selling snacks. Lined up in nice little rows, we found grilled guinea pigs on sale for 15 cents each. We took a pass, but they appeared quite popular with the locals of Baños, a cloud forest town near the Peruvian border. -- Peter Cleary July 22, 1997 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How about you? Do you have a weird travel tale to share? Send it to wanderlust@salonmagazine.com. And join our Table Talk discussion on travel and food.

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