Most of us tend to avoid strange food. Hoppy was just the opposite, the more unusual the better, especially if the locals favored it. In Cairo, Egypt we hired a cab to take us to a authentic local hole-in-the-wall restaurant (we later figured it was owned by the driver’s brother) so he could try pigeon (yes, rats with wings). Later, while on a train heading to Aswan, we were served a “meat” that everyone agreed looked like camel turds. Hoppy jumped right in while the rest of us waited for his opinion which, as expected, was “it’s good - try it.“ In France, it was upscale snails he had to try. In Kenya he convinced our safari cook to prepare us some kind of local favorite. What the cook (he being a member of a rather poor tribe) made resembled a large cake of rice interlaced with bits of twigs and leaves which the cook swore was chicken, if you believe the guide’s translation from Swahili. Back in Nairobi, post-safari, we enjoyed an example of what a the better-off tribes ate - wildebeest. In Thailand, Hoppy had to try an ice cream sandwich from a street vendor - the sandwich was literally a scoop of ice cream between two slices of white bread. Closer to home, while in Leesburg, Florida on lab business we passed a burned down gas station that had a sign advertising smoked goat meat sandwiches (hmm.. burnt gas station - smoked goat?) Didn’t stop Hoppy. He had to try it! In truth, a great many of the strange foods that Hoppy influenced us to try were in fact pretty tasty and our lives were richer for having tried them - just as our lives are richer for having known Hoppy.