From Saigon to the Kalahari

The other night my mom and I stopped in Saigon to pick-up a few vegetables.  We came across many items that looked similar or related to produce we buy on a regular basis.  And many things we simply couldn't name.

Here are just a few:

This is a Jackfruit.  It can get up to 80lbs.  It grows on a tree that's in the Mulberry family.
Would you have guessed this to be a Mulberry?

A very nice man from India saw us admiring this fruit and photographing it.  He gave us a little history and told us how to eat it.  Unfortunately, these were not ripe and there were none cut ready to try.  We couldn't taste it unless we bought the canned version.  He didn't recommend trying that at all.

King Mushrooms

Enoki Mushrooms

Many varieties of mushrooms, none of which were Portobello.

Roots and Yams.  The larger one to the right in the middle is Taro.  I have tried
the Taro flavored yogurt at Pink Swirl.  I did not care for it:(.

Whte Eggplant

Green Eggplant

But no Purple Eggplant.

And looooooonnnnnnnnggggg beans!  The longest I've seen.  I'm thinking one per serving.

Quail eggs.

Twenty-five egg omelette anyone?

Dragon Fruit

Dragon Fruit or Pitaya is the fruit from a cactus of the genus Hylocereus.  I've never tasted this variety but I've eaten the fruit of a prickly pear cactus.  It's popular in South Africa among the children in the desert.

Once while traveling with a priest in the Kalahari, we were caught in a flash flood.  The water rushed like a river down the road and within minutes was up to the door handles of our small bakkie (Toyota pick-up truck).  Finally forced to stop, the water swept us into the ditch.  With no way to get ourselves out, we were stuck in the middle of no where.  

After 30 minutes or so, two African cowboys rode up on horses.  They spoke in Afrikaans so we couldn't understand a word.  They tried to help push us out, but no luck.  One of the men had hot-pink, swollen lips. Dry and cracked, they looked tender and painful. I kept staring at him and thinking, "Oh dear he must have some form of lip cancer from being out in the sun so much."

After several unsuccessful attempts to move the vehicle, the two men spoke a few words, gestured, mounted their horses and rode over the dunes.  The man of the cloth thought we'd seen the last of them.  Oh ye of little/no faith.

I on the other hand had been stranded many times on empty country roads in Oklahoma. Stuck in ditches.  Spinning my wheels until my axel was buried in the mud.  There's an etiquette in the country and it's universal.  If you come upon someone stuck in a "bar ditch" you get them out.  I never doubted they'd be back.

Within another 20 minutes or so, we heard the moaning of a loud diesel engine.  We saw no sign of houses for miles so it was quite a surprise to see the two cowboys top the hill followed by a man on a tractor.

The water receded as quickly as it had come.  We climbed back into the bakkie, thanked the men for rescuing us and headed on to the next village.

"Man, that cowboy's lip looked terrible." I said.  "I've never seen lips that color. Do you think he has a form of mouth cancer?"

Bewildered by my comment, the priest looked at me, thought for a moment and then broke into
an embarrassing laughter.  "His lips are red from eating cactus fruit!"

The entire time we were digging sand out from underneath the driveshaft of the bakkie, my mind worried over the man with cancerous lips and how we might get him proper medical care.  Never once was I worried about being lost in the desert and never found.

Not sure how I started out in Saigon and ended up in the Kalahari.  But that's what I know about cactus fruit!

All my best,
Jenn