A Delightful Delicacy

Frog only had bananas for breakfast and was craving something more sophisticated when lunchtime arrived with its burning glory. For the first course, frog started with a raw apple and cucumber plate marinated in light balsamic vinegar. The second course comprised of a deliciously charred porkbelly, served with caramelized onions and figs. Frog paired this with a peary and peppery rose wine from the Savannah region of Southwestern Africa. As frog was contemplating about the wine pairing for the third course, the mockingducks arrived.

The horror. The mockingducks were a terrible species. They made fun of everyone and everything, and they weren't even funny. They would stick to you like flies on a frog's tongue and wouldn't let go until they bored you to death with their unbearable standup routine.

"What the fuck are you eating?" said the mockingducks as one. Frog was annoyed. The mockingducks would make bad jokes about frog's lunch for years to come. Frog would be the laughing stock of the animal kingdom. So, for the third course, instead of caviar and roquefort cheese, frog had mockingducks a l'Orange.

What frog didn't know, was that eating those mockingducks brought their number just below the critical mass for extinction. After a short period, not a single mockingduck walked the earth anymore. In animal hell, one mockingduck, from the group eaten on that fine June day, was grinding its beak. Yes, they were already on their way out, but frog sure didn't help, DID IT? 

Seven million years later, a hideous creature called Man has appeared. Around this time, the mockingduck escaped animal hell with a daring adventure that involved digging tunnels and faking demon credentials. It then found its way to Catherine de Medici, and camped underneath her enormous bed. Every night as she slept, the mockingduck crawled out and whispered in her ears sweet whispers about a yet undiscovered delicacy. Finally one morning, Catherine talked to the cook and ordered him to try this dish she dreamt of, no matter how repulsive it sounded. To the cook's surprise, Catherine, under the influence of many nights' brainwashing, enjoyed the fried frog legs. When she married Henry II of France, she brought this bizarre recipe with her as a piece of home. The French aristocrats in their race for acceptance and appearing exotic either forced themselves to love the dish or pretended that it’s exquisite. Gradually, frog legs became a delight of French cuisine.

Even as it was captured and on its way to lower levels of animal hell, the mockingduck was smiling. It had exerted a satisfying revenge on frog, on frog's entire species. No torture could wipe this feeling out. Or so it thought, until the debeaking begun.

And this, is how we came to think of this disgusting dish as a delightful delicacy.