Thanks for this link Robert - I've just tried and it looks as though I'll be able to listen in.

Isn't technology wonderful??

Well, that's exactly what I thought - that's why I found it laughable.

My input? Well, maybe it wasn't Kurtz who placed those shrunken heads on posts around his house . . . maybe that, in itself, was a custom of the natives and Kurtz knew it would be unwise to remove them - or have them removed.

He probably didn't believe anything would come of it through supernatural powers such as witchcraft, but, he might have known that if he removed the heads that the aggravation the natives would cause him (or other missionaries) over it, wouldn't be worth it.

Well, of course we'll never know.
All we see is the narrator's impression on seeing those heads.
Marlow assumes that it was Kurtz's choice , a sign that he had "gone native" and was using this native custom to assert his status as a powerful man, in control of his environment.

I remember an Indian friend of mine who went home to India, married the bride his parents had chosen (whom he adored anyway), then brought her here to Canada . . . poor Sri Dev . . . when she sat down in the restaurant with the gang from the writing group, I could see she was horrified.

At least two of us were eating bacon with our meal. I could see she thought us revolting beasts . . . guess Giri oughta' have warned her that some of us were not only meat eaters, we also ate swine.

Giri told us that Sri Devi was really looking forward to eating french fries (chips). She'd heard so much about them, and just had to try some.

When they arrived, she looked at her plate, nibbled a few, then gave them to her new husband to finish.

He visited Jeff and I at our home, a couple weeks later to bring an autographed copy of the book he'd published (complete with acknowledgment on the inner page to me . . . how nice to see my name).

But his wife did not accompany him . . . guess she was afraid I might have a roast pig on the table.

People . . . people . . . people everywhere.

..................

There are, of course, things I wouldn't dream of eating, yet I suppose others would.

I'm pretty good with food though . . . I was once sent a blood pudding from the mother of a Scotsman I was once madly in love with . . . that meant she had accepted me, he said.

Yeah . . . well, I ate it and didn't have a problem with it - thought it was kinda' good.

My father once bought some beef brains from a farmer (it's illegal to sell beef brains here, btw). He brought them home, fried 'em up, put lotsa' pepper on 'em and he and I ate 'em.

My mother was horrified - why? They were good!

Ever hear the joke about the guy who said he wouldn't dream of eating beef tongue? Just couldn't imagine eating something from an animal's mouth.

His friend said. 'really? You eat eggs?'

When we went to India - I ate mostly vegetarian. The Hindus are artists with spices.....the veggie food there is wonderful.. But the meat dishes were awful... They didn't seem to know how to butcher the meat, never mind cook it. I thought it must be the opposite in our restaurants where the meat dishes are great but the vegetarian ones can be quite alarming.

I eat meat - but I love vegetarian food and I like cooking it. It is always so imaginative.... Coming from Lancashire we eat Black Pudding regularly - made with pig's blood, spices and groats. Ymmy. I have never eater brains though......They eat them in France I think, don't they Ophelia?

Carley - you will never win me round to that Kurtz guy. I think he was an out and out rotter.

Yes, we had those traditional dishes, usually from local cuisine, like tripes, brains. My mother used to cook them but they're disappearing because they're not fashionable and also I guess it takes time and knowledge to cook them.
I was never a fan of them.
I eat snails though (about once every two years).

And I agree that a good vegetarian restaurant is a rare and wonderful thing.
For everyday life, think of brussels sprouts in the school cantine...