Sheep's Brains and Snails -- jcarolek

Now, on the subject of different words which, as a famous man once noted result in “two countries separated by a common language,” I can also attest to the fact that as a youngster, my new American friends were quite appalled when I spoke of some of my favorite dishes, served regularly in England for lunch at school.

Of particular note was a dish we called Faggots.
What, I hear you cry, could that possibly be?
Well, what it LOOKED like was meatballs in gravy.
What we were TOLD it was, was SHEEP’S BRAINS……
See, I knew you would think it gross…
I thought it was great…spicy and meaty…yummy.

But, perhaps a note to ponder….when I returned to London last year on business travel, I did not search high and low for a restaurant with faggots on their menu. No, indeed, I thought it might be better to leave childhood memories where they are….reliving them can prove, well, disappointing….

I learned that lesson when I was served escargot as a teenager. When I was a kid in Cyprus our landlord’s maid used to prepare snails for us. We ate them like Americans eat popcorn...for a snack….loved them. But the hoity toity escargot did not live up to my childhood memories….

I wonder where “aunt despina” as we called this lovely lady, got those snails…