Head Above Water

Day 19: Bulgur w/ Red Lentil and Fennel (left), Barley w/ tomato and cucumber (right)

First of all, I have to hand it to Darren for making it this far into his 30 Day Challenge of vegetarianism. I wouldn’t have made it this far, especially with some of the vegetarian options that Shafer provides on a daily basis. That being said, I was about to make another lackluster attempt at a whole bowl of mush, so I decided to try two veggie-friendly dishes I haven’t had before instead.

Starting off with the barley, I was really perplexed at how oily it was. I expected something bland and boring, but the oil brought out the flavor within that made it quite enjoyable. Succinctly, ‘twas supple yet satisfying for something as basic as it is. Bulgur is an entirely different enema altogether. A turkish cuisine commonly found in Armenia, Bulgaria, and Turkey, I could taste traces of familiar dishes in every bite, but couldn’t quite tell what it’d be likened to. The texture proved similar to couscous, but the flavor was a vast departure. Part of me wants to believe that I could have gone two bowls deep of just this alone. The rest of me knows better, thanks to the confusion brought on by the presence of lentils in the dish. My tongue couldn’t handle the juxtaposition of awesome and blegh at the same time. As a result, I have to give this one a perfectly average recommendation to anyone looking to try something left-field for the typical American palate.

(Subnote: As a bonus, I thoroughly treated myself with a b-rate Chicago dog that totally made my week. Even though Shafer didn’t have sesame seed buns and pretty much winged the whole thing, props for making it so that I didn’t know the difference when I was chowing down. You get all the awards today.)