Sunshine Conch, Black Platter Clam, and Club Trumpet.
These three were Edlen Village’s signature specialties.
“The Club Trumpets need to be purged…”
“If you eat them as they are, you will bite into mud.”
“Right. Will you help me, Iser?”
“Yes, of course.”
Iser expertly lifted the basket containing only Club Trumpets and began purging them. He fumbled a little after so long, but his hands soon found their way and continued the work.
“We do something similar on Earth.”
“Ah… Do you?”
“Though there are some differences.”
These local specialties would spit out their mud only when purged in Edlen Village’s freshwater. Water from other regions made them wither, so it differed slightly from Earth’s method, where one merely adjusted the water’s salinity with salt.
Iser nodded in surprise.
“They expel the mud even in water from another region?”
“Yes. It seems they accept it readily enough as long as the salinity is right.”
“Perhaps their sense of self is weaker than that of Edlen’s shellfish.”
“Let us not grant a sense of self to clams we are about to eat.”
The basin full of Club Trumpets was soon covered with black cloth.
“Now we need only leave them until the stew is ready.”
Edlen Village’s celebrated Club Trumpets were famous for purging quickly.
Perhaps because almost their entire bodies consisted of flesh rather than organs, they swallowed little mud. They needed to rest for at least thirty minutes,…