A final dish that requires the queen's nod to serve, and a certain kind of roast turkey that even the specially trained fanguan didn't recognize, and even most of the Europeans present didn't recognize it... This series of questions was successfully mobilized Everyone's curiosity was aroused, and people came closer to get a closer look.
Edward really wasn't bragging. The Europeans present looked carefully for a long time and found that the roasted thing looked a bit like a turkey, but it was even larger than a swan.
With a fat body, short wings, and a big mouth, it looks like a stupid fat duck.
People looked at each other in confusion and shook their heads. However, Xiao Letian keenly noticed that some of the guests were frowning. There was no confusion in their eyes but there was an indescribable meaning. Maybe these people knew the secret of this delicacy. name.
Among them were Gladstone and Prime Minister Benjamin. Their eyes were not filled with confusion, but an indescribable shock and even a bit of reluctance.
There were also some elders from other countries who seemed to be knowledgeable, and they all looked at this delicacy with shocked expressions.
At this moment, Xiao Letian understood that there were actually sensible people who knew about this delicacy, but they had all seen the show-off mentality of the British royal family, and no one was willing to come forward to cause trouble. It was really impolite to steal the glory of the owner.
Prince Edward turned to look at his mother. He meant to let her introduce the delicacy, but the queen smiled and shook her head. She no longer needed to steal the limelight. She should leave this kind of thing to her children.
However, Prince Edward did not want to be in the limelight. Finally, he focused on the two children in the crowd, one was his nephew William, and the other was his son George.
George was only four years old and he couldn't cope with such a scene. It seemed that his little nephew, the future King of Prussia, was very suitable.
"My little William, come and introduce me to the guests!"
Little William walked over with his head held high. His nephew was not familiar with his grandma's house. This place was no different from his home stadium.
Little William proudly bowed to the guests around him, and then deliberately pretended to be calm and said, "This dish has a long history. It is a unique bird from the western Indian Ocean. Its meat is very tender and has always been a European food festival." The most sought after top quality ingredients…”
"But it is a pity that the production of this bird is too low. It only survives on a series of small islands, and it suddenly disappeared before it was artificially domesticated by humans..."
"This kind of bird has not been seen for more than 150 years, but I never expected that in the first half of the year, the British Empire's expedition team discovered the remnants of this rare bird in the Indian Ocean..."
"Now we welcome with the warmest applause our explorer...Sir Samuel Whiteback!"
All the guests applauded. A middle-aged man with a big beard bowed to everyone and walked to the table. He first glanced at the food on the table with regretful eyes.
"Dear guests, I would like to thank His Highness the Prince for giving me the opportunity. Now it is up to me to reveal the identity of this animal... It is the... Dodo bird that has been extinct for more than 150 years!"
"Let me choke..." Xiao Letian's eyes were so wide open that he almost fell down. "Dodo? Dodo, the specialty of Mauritius?"
Sir Samuel's eyes lit up: "Dear Head of State, do you also know the name of the Dudu Bird?"
How could Xiao Letian not know about this species that became extinct due to humans? This is a famous species in biology.
In the western Indian Ocean, on the ocean east of the large island of Madagascar, there is a series of islands called the Mascarene Islands, and a large island with beautiful scenery and rich products in the archipelago is Mauritius.
The first people to discover this place were the Dutch. They came to this treasure island in the Indian Ocean in the 15th century. It was at that time that the unique species of the dodo appeared in front of the world.
Before the 15th century, there were still a large number of dodos on the island. But since European colonists settled here one after another, not only did the pigs, dogs, monkeys, rats and other animals they brought with them began to prey on the eggs and chicks of the Dodo, but they also began to cut down large areas of forest and tenderize the meat. The delicious dodo was hunted extensively, which eventually led to the extinction of the dodo around 1690.
There was a time when the charcoal-grilled dodo was most popular on the dining tables of Europe's upper class. This large bird, nicknamed the Foolish Dove, was flightless and had no attack power. It was too easy to catch.
In addition, the meat of this bird is indeed very tender, so it quickly became popular throughout Europe.
Human beings' unscrupulous hunting, coupled with the destruction of the originally fragile ecological chain by new species, destroyed the Dodo's living environment without natural enemies and eventually became extinct.
The specific time of the dodo's extinction is difficult to verify, but the academic community generally agrees that around 1690 is reliable, which means that by 1869, the dodo had disappeared from the earth for more than 170 years.
"I never expected that I would be lucky enough to see a real Dodo. It's incredible!"
Sir Samuel clapped his hands. "The attendant outside pushed in an iron cage with a wheel. Inside, there were two living dodos looking at the humans outside in horror..."
“It is true that no Dodos can be found in Mauritius, but during one of my expeditions around the country, my expedition ship discovered an unnamed island that had never been marked on the chart more than 500 nautical miles south. Small island..."
"There, I found the last 24 dodos in the world, captured them all, and dedicated them to Her Majesty the Queen!"
At this moment, the queen's vanity was extremely inflated. Looking at the incredible expressions of the guests in front of her, the powerful scene of the empire where the sun never sets will definitely be deeply rooted in people's hearts.
The queen stood up from her seat and the whole audience was waiting quietly for her speech. The proud queen smiled and said, "Maybe this is a gift specially prepared by God for this exchange between the East and the West! For the guests from far away, For thousands of years of ice-breaking journey between Eastern and Western civilizations, the omnipotent God performed a miracle!"
"God has given us the best food, thank you Lord! Now please let our distinguished guests take the first bite. Your Majesty and the head of state, please use..."
The attendant wore white gloves and handed a silver knife and fork to Zai Chun and Xiao Letian. The huge roasted dodo was placed in front of them, and the tempting fragrance hit their nostrils.
Zai Chun had just been encouraged by the introduction of the explorer. He was eager to cut the knife, but when he was choosing the fattest part, he suddenly found that the master holding the knife and fork was motionless.
He is in a daze!
