Missionary food stories: Called — and served

I was ready to get back on the boat midway through my first breakfast in Scotland. Not that the menu was unfamiliar: cornflakes and milk, with bacon and eggs on the side. But it rains four or five times a day in Scotland, and everything is extremely damp. So the cornflakes were limp to begin with, not crisp as I was used to. And this was before refrigerators were common in Great Britain, and the milk was a couple of days old, on the verge of turning. So limp cornflakes with half-sour milk.

On top of this, Scotland is a great fishing country. And they feed the fish heads to their pigs. So the bacon had a distinctly fishy taste, not at all like the crisp, sweet bacon a Utah boy was used to. ... I could hardly get down that first meal and immediately began wondering whether I could last out a two-year mission. But the wonderful hospitality of the Scottish people quickly made up for any culinary deficiencies, and it is wonderful how one's taste can accommodate to the food available.

David Brighton Timmins
Scotland Mission

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While welfare service missionaries in Thailand, we were served a basket containing little leaf-wrapped packages. We began to unwrap the packages held with string.

I am sure my eyes widened as my stomach lurched. They were filled with fried crickets, ants and ant eggs. There was also something our dear friends explained to be a bee nest. It was a piece of bee comb with the larvae in it, which had been roasted over a fire in several layers of green banana leaves.

Our escorts were so excited to provide for us such a treat. They passed the delicacies around, chatting and nibbling. We, too, ate, smiled and knew this would make such a good memory. No plates, no utensils, just pass the leaves and everyone help themselves. These snacks were served with an old china bowl filled with shredded papaya, other vegetables, little shrimp, peanuts and something hot enough to tan the soles of your feet. We did learn as the months went on that the adding of insects to scrambled eggs or to soup made the meal extra special.

J. Earl and Joan Bone
Thailand Service Mission

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