On Thursday, July 2 I hosted an event at the Hamilton Public Library to celebrate my book The World’s Strangest Foods.

I brought all kinds of unusual food from countries including Japan, England, Ecuador, Germany, and many others.We started out with horned melon from New Zealand, and dragon fruit from Vietnam. I offered about 19-20 different items, which varied from the tame (British candy and coconut soda) to preserved eel (in a can), and Limburger cheese. I never would have expected so many kids to try every item on the menu!
While I’d been expecting about 15 kids to attend, we ended up with more like 35-40 kids. They ranged in ages but there were lots of tweens and teens and many boys in the audience. I read segments from the book and got the requisite oohs and aahs at some of the more bizarre culinary offerings (fermented shark meat, anyone?).
I would love to bring a presentation like this to other libraries and schools. We had a terrific time!
This is what Library Director Hilary Virgil had to say about the event: “Limburger cheese, dragon fruit, canned roast eel, seaweed crackers, lychee candies, coconut soda and more! We had a fabulous feast exploring foreign foods with local author Alicia Klepeis…and we learned our teens are fearless! Thank you, Alicia!”
Library Board of Directors member Maureen Wallace said, “What a fantastic event. I cannot believe how attentive and willing the participants were to try everything! Alicia did a wonderful job!”