Hamburgers! The Cornerstone of any International Diplomacy

In my current job, I spend a lot of time traveling. I get to see places where I never imagined I would visit, and interact directly with people with highly varied lifestyles and histories. I think I never shared a stronger bond with these people than when we were able to come together around food. No matter the background, the dining room is one area where we all connect.

I returned this weekend from a fortnight in Curacao. There, my compatriots and I were having a conference with members of the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles & Aruba. As the station at Hato employs native Curacaoans, Dutch navy, and civilian Canadian pilots, this group was even more international than I'm used to. The conference was very productive, but everyone was looking forward to Friday, when Mr John Yoblonski (of Crawdad Boil fame) had promised to give everyone a hamburger cookout.

The tradition started when he and I went to Colombia, and when the facilities and ingredients are available, he's kept it going as a gesture of goodwill between nations. I won't divulge his special recipe, but it did involve me chopping up an obscene mound of garlic.

Mr Andrew Schmitt took care of the accompanying veggies, setup, and running raw and done burgers to their appropriate stations. The NA&A CG took care of beer. The burgers were succulent, with a rich garlic flavor that was not overpowering. The Dutch had them with a curry-infused ketchup that's a speciality on the island, but I prefer only onions. A properly-cooked meat needs no sauce.

As a special treat, one of the Curacaoans from the air station crew brought in homemade iguana soup. He made the soup from a dozen wild iguanas that had been shot and butchered that day. The iguanas were left in pieces on the bone and their juices created the broth, added to which were potatoes and other fresh veggies.


Since Summer 2007 I had been aching to try iguana meat, and finally this was my first chance! The flesh is tender and pink, tasting like a blend of fish and pork. The black, scaly skin is technically edible, but tough in most areas, so no one objects if you discard it. I loved it, and I see no reason that it shouldn't be on everyone's barbecue this Summer.