Exploring Culinary Curiosities – via Herp Digest

By  V.L. Hendrikson, 3/20/12, Wall Street Journal 

"Did you try the scorpion?" asked Explorers Club member Lois M. Kahan.

Yes, actually—we loved it with the snow pea, though it tasted more like vodka than our drink. And the sauce served atop the roasted bull penis was divine. The duck tongue was rich and flavorful, but the deep-fried earthworm was a bit bitter for our taste.

The Explorers Club showcased these "sustainable culinary curiosities" at its 108th annual dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria on Saturday night. Guests in black tie—including actor Dan Aykroyd, filmmaker (and keynote speaker) Ken Burns and astronaut Buzz Aldrin—clinked glasses and talked about their most recent excursions to places ranging from Ethopia to Everest.

"No goat eyeball for me," said one guest as she ordered an Explorers Martini, with a smoked-bourbon sugar rim and a garnish of skewered eyeball (it was chewy, tasting—not surprisingly—of gin).

Chef Gene Rurka has planned the dinner's menu since about 1990, when he transformed the annual event into a feast of far-flung foods.

"If you've never had a cockroach, you should really try one," Mr. Rurka said, explaining how he infused them with citrus, banana and apple. He's quick to point out that the menu does not include "things you'd never want to eat, like whale, puffin, shark." Which is to say, none of the animals offered are considered threatened or endangered.

During the sit-down dinner, medals and honors were handed out to several of the club's illustrious members—deep-sea divers, paleontologists and conservationists. Traditional Native American and Maori dancers took the stage, and zoologist Jim Fowler, a former host of the television show "Wild Kingdom," helped wrap a Burmese Python around Mr. Aldrin and Holly Heston Rochell, the late actor Charlton Heston's daughter.

Guests were treated to reel after reel of footage from destinations like the Galápagos, Mongolia and the Badlands, encouraging them to consider the evening's theme, "How Far is Far: Remote Exploration." There were also expressions of concern for the oceans, wildlife and the overall environment.

"We've got 10 years" to save the oceans, said marine toxicologist Susan Shaw, who received a citation of merit from the club. She appealed to the members to act, saying that if any group could help, it would be the Explorers Club.

Once upon a time, what we now think of as accessible was remote, said club President Lorie Karnath. The Explorers Club flag has flown in places once considered unreachable—Antarctica, Easter Island, the moon. These days, Mars is the next frontier, said Mr. Aldrin in his closing remarks. "How far is far is constantly being reinvented," he said.

That left us to wonder what sort of culinary curiosities the explorers would bring back from the Red Planet.