2-for-1 meal, Bangladeshi-style

On Thursday, I ate my most "interesting" lunch yet.

The "meat" component of the meal (which is usually fish) looked like dried apricot-sized chunks, with little tiny white balls (smaller than 100s and 1000s) covering the chunks and in the sauce.  I asked Moriam, the cook, what it was.  "Mach dim", she said.  Did this mean it was fish AND eggs or it was fish eggs?  I asked for further clarification.  "Dim," she says, pointing at the little white balls.  And what are the chunks?  "Dim," she says again.  So I think what I'm eating is fish eggs with chicken eggs broken up into chunks.

My first bite - about half of one of the chunks - confirms that the chunks are definitely not chicken eggs.  On closer inspection, I notice that there is a membrane-type covering around the chunk with a veiny-looking line in it.  Again I ask Moriam what the chunks are.  "Dim," she repeats, then washes her hands and comes over to pick up the half-eaten chunk.  She mashes it between her fingers so it separates into lots of tiny white balls.  Clearly, it was fish eggs in some kind of sac.

Somewhat perturbed, I ask how much this "delicacy" costs per kg.  Everyone laughs at me.  "No, no... Yesterday's fish!"  Ew.  I am eating the future spawn of yesterday's lunch.  After this horrifying realisation, both the sheer disgustingness of it to my Western middle-class palate and concerns about the potential bugs growing on and in these fish eggs, I was unable to eat any more.  I still feel queasy when I think about it.

It could only be worse if the fish were caught in the pond outside my house, where a couple of weeks ago I counted 10 dead floaters.  I chose not to ask from where the fish had come.  Sometimes, it's better to be in the dark.  I'd already asked too many questions that had answers I didn't want to hear.