Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Lamb Offal and Crab

How's that for the title of a post to a sailing blog?

I'm struck by what a universal signifier of human goodwill is the gift of food.

When we spent some time at a settlement in back-of-beyond East Falkland, and met with a gracious and friendly welcome, Alisa's first words upon returning to Galactic were "I gotta do some baking". When utter strangers drop what they're doing to invite us into their homes for a cuppa and a chat, it only feels right to try to reciprocate with some Galactic-baked cookies.

And the family that we've been interacting with a bit here - one generation runs sheep on a set of islands off the East Falkland "mainland" and the other runs sheep on West Falkland - have been showering us with gifts of food.

We've had an onboard feast of lambs' livers and lambs' hearts and crab. Surf and turf, Falklands style. Turns out that Eric loves liver, and Alisa got the chance to make her heart with tomatoes and onions dish that she always used to make during deer hunting season in Alaska. We've had a leg of lamb as well, and a big feed of mussels, in addition to gifts of eggs (chicken and penguin) and greens from the garden.

Just like gifts of fruit are such an insight into life in Polynesia, I reckon this selection of food gifts gives a visitor a real perspective on settlement life in the Falklands.

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