Friday was the Folklife Festival at our school. Middle School social studies students choose a country and research the history, economy, customs, and the food. They prepare a display about their country for the Festival. Each display includes a traditional food. The Elementary classes are invited to visit the displays and sample the food.

From a yearbook perspective, we get some of our best Middle School and Elementary pictures at the Folklife Festival. From a BTD perspective, I was curious about what types of ethnic foods I would find.

Not surprisingly there were lots of starchy foods - pasta from Italy, baguettes from France, pastries from Switzerland, and several types of cookies and cakes. The Australia display had chocolate koala bears.

The Puerto Rico display included mango. I had tasted mango only once before I started the Blood Type Diet. Since then it has become one of my favorite fruits. Sometimes I eat it raw. Sometimes I grill it in a little butter or ghee. It was fun to watch the younger kids spear a cube of mango with a toothpick and taste it for the first time. Some liked it; others didn't. I wondered whether the ones who liked it were all Os, since mango is beneficial only for Os.

At Guatemala I tasted the best black beans ever. I later asked the student's mom for the recipe. It included a packaged seasoning that I need to check for MSG or other avoids before I try it. However, I can see that by serving canned black beans I have been depriving myself, and my As, of the rich flavor of dry black beans.

The Kenya display featured avocado papaya salad. Unless I turn out to be a non-secretor, avocado is avoid for me, but the student really wanted me to try some, so I did. The flavor combination was really quite good. When I got home, I checked the food lists, and found that O non-secretors are the only ones who could eat this dish. One ingredient or the other is avoid for everyone else.

It's interesting to speculate whether ethnic foods are more related to the blood types of the people, the availability of food, or the seductive qualities of wheat and sugar.