WAIE (whatamieating.com)


This is the searchable online international food dictionary with 61,500 terms in 302 languages plus 12,690 plurals.

Just type in the word that you're looking for and press enter or click on search. There are other types of search; see search help for more information.

 

The database behind this site was the loving creation of Suzy Oakes, who sadly passed away on 31st July 2011. She will be greatly missed.

A cookbook, featuring Suzy's favourite recipies is now available. People who are interested should contact Mun Flint on mkf1000@medschl.cam.ac.uk. Currently, the cost is £12.50 plus postage and packing. All proceeds go to the Suzy Oakes Trust for Mill Road.

Plural: goose barnacles

Description: Goose barnacles attach themselves to logs, the bottoms of ships, rocks, any surface which is constantly submerged. I watched a delightful television programme with Billy Oddy, in which he talked about a log which had drifted up on to a beach in the Scilly Islands. It was covered in silvery, shimmering goose barnacles. He said that he had never seen a goose barnacle before, and that was because they were normally deep under the sea. He then lifted a single goose barnacle away from the hoard, showing a long and muscular "foot" - the edible part. As he lifted it, it became clear that it looked for all the world like the neck and head of a delicate goose. He went on to explain that the Victorians had believed that, when geese set off on their migrations, they were actually travelling into the oceans, and that these goose barnacles, when they hatched, became geese and flew to land. There is, he reminded us, a goose called the barnacle goose. The tough neck is cooked in its skin, which should be peeled off before eating. Sometimes a small amount of orange liquid is released at this stage.