Chicken Fricassee
One of the most exciting parts of traveling to another country is the opportunity to try new and sometimes exotic foods. Whether it is sampling street food from a bustling market or sitting down to a formal dinner in a local restaurant, trying new foods is an adventure. I’ve found some that I really liked and others that I didn’t, but it is all part of the experience.
Over the last several weeks, I have been doing my best to adapt to the daily VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity) that I face when living in a new country. Even the little things are different.
When I order food at a restaurant in Brazil, I sometimes get surprised. They have a different take on various well-known dishes and sometimes the result is nothing like what you think it will be like pizza served with a side of ketchup or chicken parmesan served with a layer of ham.
We were at a restaurant recently and I decided that I would order on my own. I had the menu in Portuguese with my handy translation app and was looking up various dishes. I was in the mood for something with chicken and I saw Chicken Fricassee on the menu. This is a dish I have had before – a classic French chicken stew. If you look it up on google, you will see lots of mouthwatering pictures.
Roberto, who was talking to a friend at the bar, came back to the table and asked what I ordered. I told him and he said, it won’t be what you expect. I showed him a picture of Chicken Fricassee on my phone and he said, that’s not what you’re getting. In Brazil, it is an entirely different dish, shredded chicken smothered in cheese with skinny potato sticks baked on top. The only thing it had in common with the dish I was expecting was the chicken. Although it wasn’t what I expected, I ate it and it wasn’t bad.
Getting a completely different dish than what you thought you ordered can be frustrating, disappointing a pleasant surprise, or even funny. In general, I find it best to embrace the situation and go with it. It could have been worse. With my unique pronunciation of Portuguese, the waiter could have thought I was asking for a live chicken.