Texas Hold 'em Poo-ker
I love a bit of friendly poker with friends, especially when there's no money involved to lose. One of our hosts bought some 'POO' chips to try from an Asian supermarket in Kingsford — mostly for the shock/humor factor. They seemed to be made from tofu although I'm not actually sure why they're called poo and they had the textural consistency of polystyrene — perhaps they were. Maybe it's a marketing ploy to get all the tourist who visit Indonesia to buy them for a laugh? They smelt a bit like cardboard and tasted about the same and left a pretty bad aftertaste. Very unappetising for my palate and they didn't go down too well with the rest of the table. I guess they live up to their name of being pretty sh*t and cr*p in my books. Thankfully we had some nice potsticker dumplings, pizzas, salads and chocolate dessert to eat throughout the night to help get rid of the aftertaste.
SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: It'll probably get a laugh
CONS: Very unappetising smell and taste
MUST TRY: Avoid eating
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POO packaging complete with smiley woman.
Ingredients: Beancurd, MSG,Vegetable Oil, Salt.
POO. They look like hand cut fries and have the consistency and taste of polystyrene
Dumplings and salad
Pizza time
Dessert time of chocolate mousse in handmade chocolate cups made with balloons
The starting chips
Let's play
Best hand of the night — 4 of a kind but wasn't mine
My last chips — no one wanted to accept my Canon lens cap. I was the first out of six.
We have a cocktail 'floater' — do not attempt this at home
We have a cocktail 'floater' — do not attempt this at home
6 comments:
I suspect these chips could be manufactured from by-products. I would read the food labels very carefully before popping them in my mouth although coming from Indonesia, it probably makes little difference.
I have stopped eating a whole range of Asian snack foods especially pickled / preserved fruits as I have visited many factories which manufacture these foods. Aussie health authorities will shut them down in 2 seconds based on their health and hygiene standards. Worst still many people feed these kind of stuff to their kids without awareness of the health consequences.
What a bizarre food item...I'd probably try it just to say I've tried it (and for the wrapper!).
I like your cocktail glass.
Mmmm Poo! Something got Lost in Translatio by this marketing company me thinks. LOL.
Maybe you should have used the poo chips as poker chips. They probably weren't worth the polystyrene they're printed on, though :(
@ Simon : love your blog! I've been to the POO store in Indonesia, and had the fresh stuff, and I've got to say, it's delicious! Never tried that dried stuff, and yep, don't know why it's called POO but hey, us Asians can give weird names to things!
@ chopinandmysaucepan: I've eaten all manner of things while in Indonesia in the umpteen times I've been there over 30 years, both in city and country areas from malls to street side "warung". And yes, their hygiene practices may not be up to scratch with a developed country such as Australia's. That being said, the two times I have gotten severe food poisoning has been here. In Australia. Where we have a certain "standard" of official food safety rules and governances.
Personally, I believe it is our (and when I say our, I mean Western countries) anal-retentive attitude and 99.9% germ free culture that is propagating the high level of food intolerances and allergies seen in this country. Went to Indonesia a few months ago, and asked a number of people about food allergies, and no one knew what I was on about. Maybe we've got different stomachs or something. Maybe we're too damn paranoid about these "health and hygiene standards".
I was born and raised in Indonesia and I agree that Australians may be unconsciously propagating a high level of food intolerance. But for every food poisoning case in Australia, there are many more in Indonesia. Living in Melbourne now, I rather have higher food hygiene and nutrition standards here and I know my children are a lot healthier eating more nutritious food than their friends back in Jakarta who are exposed to a whole range of junk snacks in school everyday.
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