Karen Burns > wrote:

> Yes, the nests are cleaned before being prepared (rinse, drain,
> repeat... hey, kind of like beans! haha... pick out any feathers or
> crud, etc.), but the nests *themselves* are made of hardened swiftlet
> saliva, with bits of straw and/or seaweed or whatever. So while there
> probably won't be any (much) bird poop residue, you are still
> essentially munching on some rubbery, gummy bird spit.
> I'd probably try it if I were somewhere where it was offered... here in
> Ohio, I doubt I'm going to run across it anytime soon, though.

I have eaten swallow's nest soups many times, mostly the low quality
stuff served in Chinese restaurants in the West, but I have also eaten
it in Hong Kong at Fook Lam Moon in Wanchai, a famous old Cantonese
restaurant which Ken Hom once declared to be the best in Hong Kong. One
of its specialities is swallow's nests, offered in many gradations of
quality and price. I chose one of the higher quality offerings, to see
what it was all about. I can report the following: swallow's nests are
nearly devoid of any detectable taste, they are all about texture, which
plays a much, much greater role in Chinese food culture, as well as
about their supposed/imagined health benefits suggested by the
traditional Chinese medicine. The nests may be rubbery and gummy when
raw, but they are soaked or cooked for a long time and the resulting
texture is actually what I would describe as glutinous, jelly-like, or
jelatinous, and all that in a fairly subtle way, somewhat resembling an
egg white. I would say that such foods as swallow's nest, shark fin,
and jellyfish, all of which share some of the above characteristics, are
not anything usually enjoyed by people raised on "Western" food. They
just appear as bland and pointless, as they are perceived as being just
too exotic and expensive to serve as mere carriers of other ingredients'
flavours.

There are accepted Western equivalents of such foods, too, namely
potatoes, pasta and rice, which are not very flavourful in themselves
and are rarely served on their own, with no adornments. They are prized
for their ability to provide the appropriate texture and absorbent
qualities to serve as carriers of, and accompaniments to, other, more
flavourful ingredients.

Victor