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Stands are found around the city where it is possible to buy a delicious slice of suckling pig on bread. The Singaporeans and Taiwanese love the skin-the head and skin are served up on a platter as the main course. Only the skin side is crispy, on the other side is a delicious slab of uncooked fat.

In Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia fish heads bring scores of customers to restaurant doors. Often of course the whole fish is prepared, but South East Asians always start by eating the head first. In Singapore and Malaysia the fish head is cooked with Indian curry, a contribution of the Tamils who settled there. The demand for fish heads is so great; they bring a better price than choice filet steak.

It is well known that Muslims don't eat pork, but less known is that in Pakistan an important guest is never offered beef. Beef is cheap and easily available, so a Pakistani in Hyderabad would be horrified to offer his guest something as mundane as a steak. Instead, leg of lamb is served as an appetizer and chicken and fish as a main course, or just the reverse.

The Japanese seem to enjoy playing culinary Russian roulette. They have a fatal attraction for blow fish, which is highly poisonous and kills a number of people every year. The danger is apparently an added attraction to the connoisseurs of Japan.

Sushi and sashimi are well-known Japanese dishes in Asia and more recently in the West. This fish is eaten raw (Sushi) or lightly cooked and has been know to contain larvae of worms called anisakid nematodes. While these are most often harmless, they can cause severe stomach pain and vomiting.

Snails are enjoyed with gusto as an appetizer all over France. In Spain, tiny snails are fed exclusively on rosemary for two weeks before being served. This cleans out their intestines and imparts a particularly delicious aroma.

Tripe is a dish made from the stomach of goats and sheep. In Florence, Italy you can buy steaming tripe sandwiches from food stalls. Not only common people like such dishes. King Constantine of Greece of German descent kept a German cook on his staff at all times.

The king was terribly fond of tripe, but no matter how many times his Greek cooks tried to prepare it, the king said it never tasted quite the same as the tripe his German palace chef made.

Finally the Greek cook approached the German chef and asked him his secret. "I don't know, " replied the German chef, "tell me exactly how you make his tripe." "Well", said the Greek, "I take the tripe,

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