Sunday, April 02, 2006

Chapters 5 and 6


tree
Originally uploaded by barbfecteau.
You know how in some books you read about food and it sounds so great it makes you hungry? This is not one of those books. So far the food descriptions sound gross and if you research them (as I am just obsessed enough to do) they only sound more revolting.

Remember fricadellen? I warn you it isn't pretty. And if you read the text from this site (which I can't do because I don't speak Dutch, but I used babelfish to translate) you will be more amused, confused and perhaps disgusted:

The frikandel became have invented end years fifty in brabant, for exact in the plaatsje Deurne. The inventor of this snack was a butcher who listened to the name Jan Beckers. He did not consider the ' knakworst ' without velletje, knowing that this one of the most successful snacks from the Dutch history would become. Nowadays about million frikandellen per day is produced. A frikandel has a length of 18 cm and is approximately 2.5 cm in doorsnede. Kilometres therefore more than 180 frikandel per day are produced!!!. Concerning the ingredienten of a frikandel most wild the tales do the round, thus brain, uiers, bowels, and other onsmakelijkheden are processed. This is not where, in a frikandel mainly paardevlees sit (the thin flesh from the front of the horse). Furthermore the frikandel exists from pig flesh (the bacon of the back of the pig) and from slachtafval of the chicken. It then however only concerns flesh that to the botjes lags behind, therefore no ingewanden. You can enjoy therefore without care this terrible snack.

I can only assume that this is now considered the Dutch equivalent of a really bad hot dog.

And finally, I loved a lot of things about Francie's trip to church, most notably how "Maudie, who led a less complicated life, had fewer sins to confess and had gotten out [of confession] sooner." I also liked how she described how "the old, old mystery took hold as the priest slid open the tiny door that separated him from the sinner."

I could go on here about how religion is portrayed here and interest no one but myself. But I have much more to read and must get busy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's so funny that you wrote about fricadellen because my husband just wrote (at my suggestion) about Francie going to the butcher. I'm glad you're enjoying the book!

http://www.rootsandgrubs.com/2006/03/29/lit-week-a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn/

Laurie Amster-Burton