Cooking Competition

When we arrived in the morning, there were about 12 Vietnamese women setting up the kitchen area for cooking. They spent the entire day preparing and cooking the meals. As this was right next to the playground construction area, we got to see the whole process. It started with deck ducks and chickens that needed to be plucked and gutted and cut up and then seasoned and cooked. This was quite a long process and we got front row seats to all the blood, guts, etc. I really do think I would be a vegetarian if I had to see my meat prepared. There was also pork mush and many vegetables and rice and noodles to be cooked. Sandy helped them prepare and cook for several hours and loved it. The whole time they used the water from the hose to clean and prepare the food and dishes. All of us made a mental note to not eat anything that was not fully cooked tonight as the unfiltered water in Vietnam is not safe to drink or wash your food. And not to mention all the meat and poultry that was left sitting around for hours outside before it was cooked. It made my stomach hurt just thinking about it. I didn’t eat lunch that day as I just couldn’t stomach anything. I had a cliff bar and almonds once I got back to the hotel.

We found out later that night that there was a cooking contest between the teams of women. They won Catalyst money for their families. I am pretty sure we paid for the food for the evening too as they were serving us as well as all the Catalyst sponsored Vietnamese children. There was soooo much food and I felt so bad that I could not eat most of it. At dinner they sat us with the Vietnamese children and we made sure they ate as much as they wanted of everything. The food looked and smelled so good and there was so much food left over, but I am sure the families will eat it. I did try some sweet potato curry which was excellent, a small half bowl of rice and three small fried egg rolls (with ??? inside). Unfortunately, by focusing on eating the one thing which I knew had been cooked (the egg rolls), I ended up eating the one thing cooked in peanut oil!! This is why I carry benedryl. My throat was feeling tight and I was wheezing a little which clued me in to the fact that the egg rolls must have been cooked in peanut oil. I took one benedryl and felt ok after 5 mins so I did not panic. I told one of our doctors so she could keep an eye on me if things got worse. I do carry an Epipen with me at all times on this trip, but I have luckily never had to use it.