Barbecue

Living as a human might not be so bad. I had a remarkable new experience this weekend. Our neighbors invited us to a social ritual feast that is apparently some kind of celebration of the non-working day. They called it a barbecue.

I have never experienced such a delight of consumption of sustenance. You must understand of course, that the biology of my world allows us to absorb nutrients from minerals in the soil directly through our skin, so having to chew and taste food is an experience I am slowly getting used to. Not that I am completely unfamiliar with it. The warriors of Antares, for instance, skin and consume the raw flesh of their defeated opponents to honor them in the afterlife. Other races have been known to heat or cook dead animals so as to tenderize the meat best for consumption. But I have never seen the likes of the preparation and care that goes into cooking the animals of this world.

It is not just flesh, either, but the fruits and vegetables from the earth. All the spices, the different ways to cook—grilling, steaming, boiling, frying—to bring out different flavors. This is all a new experience. There is certainly an ingenious quality to the human mind that it can look at a tomato and think to do anything to it. Of the tastes I was most impressed with at this barbecue was something called Tabasco sauce. A veritable explosion on my tongue. I could drink it by the bottle.

Up until now, I have been content to blending protein drinks, which my sister does not particularly care for, but I think I will have to learn more about this cooking. Madison suggested that we pay for cable television, apparently to stay in touch with human popular culture. Anyway, there is one channel dedicated entirely to food! I had no idea there could be such a thing as a cooking program, but here they broadcast different cooking programs all day. (For a culture so obsessed with collecting valuable currency, humans sure like to waste it on things they aren’t even aware of.)

I look forward to learning more of these culinary arts.