A Meal To Die For

You asked about the greens, sir? Meet Bärlauch, the wild and delicate German garlic whose crime is to grow alongside look-alike lily-of-the-valley leaves, with their 38 heart-stopping compounds. The steamed fish: fugu, an extravagance forbidden the Emperor of Japan because of its paralytic liver toxins. Your mash: cassava, staple of the tropical latitudes. Chef assures me it's been soaked long enough to lose its cyanide. But you’ll catch up . . . with these bitter Anatolian almonds, their flavour as distinct from that of ordinary nuts as a Romeo y Julieta cigar is to your garden Marlboro. Seventeen will get you intubated. Chin chin!

Images from Wikimedia Commons.