This post is going to be a short one because I posted a heavy reel on my exploration of Ellora caves while remembering the history from my civil services preparation days, fact checking, editing the clips while deciding what to keep and what to remove and drinking copious amounts of water while recording the voiceover. 

Coming back to today’s post, a weird incident happened with me in 2019, during my first trip to Germany. I was on a business trip and a friend from office decided to drop me to the train station while I was going on my weekend sojourn to Paris.

I was a heavy non-vegetarian then, so I was not very particular about what to eat and what not.

But your first trip to Europe changes you in a weird way, especially when it comes to food choices. 😅

So I decided to check out a burger/sandwich  joint at the train station. My eyes came to rest at a particularly light-looking fish sandwich. During the past 5 days, I had totally enjoyed the plethora of European dishes at Mulheim, especially freshly baked breads. But my friend advised me to not eat that sandwich because Europeans usually do not cook their fish the way we do. He warned that it might be bland as he had already explored the cuisine here for the past few weeks he had been on the business trip. I retorted back saying that I am a food blogger, my mom taught me to respect food and be open to all types of flavours and textures, and that I’ll pretty much enjoy it. 

As usual, I did not listen to seasoned advice. 

And as usual, I was wrong.

The first bite began tastefully with the crispy and airy bread breaking delightfully on my palate but the enclosed fish immediately sent me to foodie hell. 

Nine rings of hell! 👿 

The fish was a cold-aged fillet that was extra salted for preservation. It was raw. It tasted clammy and slippery, and felt nauseating in every bite. 

My friend saw my plight with a kind face that depicted the I-told-you-so expression. He also faced the same issue a few weeks back.

I have been a non-vegetarian my whole life and am used to the weird aroma of non-veg items. But I never felt so disgusted by a food item. I reluctantly finished the sandwich and headed for my Flix Train to Düsseldorf.

After this sabotage, I have always checked the sandwiches and burgers thoroughly while travelling in Europe. Thankfully, I had a wonderful cheese-loaded sandwich the next day in Paris although that trip also became a weird journey for me.

Caution: Just do not go for raw meats in Europe, if you never have had it before.