How do you explain something to somebody who's never heard of it?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Specifically, tapioca.

I was talking to an online friend last week, and mentioned that I’d gone out for bubble tea with a bunch of my friends the weekend before. He asked what bubble tea was, adding that he thought he’d asked me about it before. (he had, but no biggie) So after that, I gave him a link to the Google search results on bubble tea.

He read some of the results, then said:

I was sort of stumped, and I didn’t think the dictionary definition would be of any help. I’m not sure tapioca could be easily described, after all. (I could be wrong) Don’t they have tapioca in Australia? (or Adelaide, since that’s where he’s from) Then again, he just may not have heard of it because he hasn’t been exposed to it. So, any ideas?

F_X

2

Tapioca- Pudding with little, tiny, slimy, chewy ‘chunks’ in it.

Tasty, if you try not to imagine eating a bowl of fresh snot.

3

In addition, you could show him photos of tapioca.

4

Hey, Flami, what’s tapioca? :::d&r::::

5

I Just read about bubble tea and now I’m vaguely queasy…

6

Tapioca is essentially vanilla pudding with white rice mixed in it.

7

I always thought tapioca was fish eyeballs… :slight_smile:

I have the same problem when trying to explain some Finnish foods to foreign friends who have, understandably, never come into contact with it. I still haven’t been able to figure out how to explain mämmi, and salmiakki is also quite a tough one (when I explain that it’s ammonium chloride, everyone gets this weird look on their faces and slowly backs away).

8

Point him at http://www.bruceandclark.com/tapiocapearls.htm explains the whole darn thing. What tapioca pearls are, what plant they come from and how they are cooked.

Is your friend somehow google-impaired or sommat?

9

or just say “It’s round balls of a starchy substance which comes from the root of the cassava plant. Small tapioca balls cooked in milk used to be eaten as a pudding in the UK and US (and probably AUS) back in the mid 20th century. It wasn’t very popular because of the way that the tapioca would get a slimy texture when overcooked. In those days, Westerners overcooked a lot of things, and besides, the Western palate isn’t as adventurous when it comes to different textures as the Asian palate.”

10

Yes, we have that strange stuff here in Australia.

Dunno if anyone actually buys it. I haven’t eaten it since I was a kid.

So I know what tapioca pudding is, but bubble tea?

11

The nearest Bubble Tea shop to my place is the “Sweet Bubble Tea House”, which I always somehow misread as “Sweat Bubble.”

There are so many of the cussed places around, I had to try it to see what the fuss is about.

Understand that the stuff is drunk through straws with a diameter only slightly smaller than a garden-hose and slightly bigger than a tapioca “bubble” - which are eerily uniform.

Imagine using a jumbo pea-shooter backwards. The balls bounce off your tonsils, and hit with enough force that it’s a little disturbing.

I just had sweetened green tea, but they’ve got a variety of flavours that seem to be aimed at teenaged girls.

Yes, it’s a stupid beverage, but not as stupid as Slurpee[sup]tm[/sup] by half-- Marginally more nutritious, and less likely to cause blinding pain.

Oh yeah, and the lids to cups traditionally look like little [url="http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=bubbies"bubbies, (at least in Canada,) which really reinforces the whole oral-gratification aspect of the bevvie. Good marketing, that.

The more I think about, the more I think I’d like one now.

12

Thanks, everyone. I will either show him this thread, or tell him what the links are.

Ashtar, it’s not really that bad! Certainly not a snotlike texture. Then again, you might not like it.

lel, visual representations might help, since he’s sort of a free-lance graphic artist. You should see the artwork on his band’s website.

ResIpsaLoquitor, you know I like you and all, but honestly… no amount of ducking and running is going to save you from my wrath when it comes! :wink: I mean, really… “What’s tapioca?” Sheesh… I can understand that friend of mine asking, but you? No doubt you’ve been exposed to tapioca pudding at some point in your life (hey, I’m having some right now), so this question is no doubt designed to dissipate my good mood of the moment. If that’s your objective, you have now achieved it. :frowning:

Just kidding, of course… I’m not even a wee bit fashed by that comment. (for the non-Scottish: I’m not mad at all) Definitely in a good mood, of course.

Opal, no need to be queasy at all. The stuff’s not that bad… in fact, I know a few non-Chinese that love it. (my brother’s friend Rob comes to mind, in fact)

auRa, it’s not really ammonium chloride, is it? Maybe I’ll ask my sister’s friend Kate to explain mammi and slamiakki to me. (she’s Finnish, though not born in Finland)

Tansu, that looks like a very helpful site and explanation. Thank you. :slight_smile: I don’t know if he is Google-impaired, but I won’t ask. (or at least, not like that: “Hey dude, are you Google-impaired or what?”)

TLD, I’m not sure that it’s all that easy to explain. It’s an Asian drink, made of tea and pearls mainly. I’d search out a link for you, but the search engine seems to be crawling again, Just look for the words “bubble tea” and “Flamsterette_X” under MPSIMS. I’m glad that they at least have it in Australia; if they didn’t, I’d be sort of poleaxed. :smiley:

Larry, “Sweat Bubble”? Ick. The mind does amazing things when you try to read things, that’s for sure. They’ve recently changed the lids to a sealed-on cover with funky drawings on it. You have to stick the straw in this cover just the right way, or the bubble tea will splort all over… not good. The straws, however, are the same. They have to be just bigger than the bubbles, right? (then again, you can also order coconut jelly instead of pearls)

Jumvo pea-shooters? The last time I went for bubble tea (about two weeks ago), some of my friends practiced shooting the leftover bubbles out of the straw onto the ground. Quite amusing. :slight_smile:

Haven’t had sweetened green tea flavor myself, but some of the other flavors aren’t too bad. However, if you go to the Dragon Ball Tea House on King Edward and Cambie (I think), do not try the fresh taro. My sister had it once, and didn’t like it. I tried some, and didn’t particularly like it, either. Strawberry isn’t that bad, though.

F_X

13

Oh, and by the way… I am not Scottish. I am, in fact, Chinese. I’ve just been reading too much of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Those who have read it will know what I’m talking about; the others, well… let’s just say it’s set in Scotland and America in the 18[sup]th[/sup] and 20[sup]th[/sup] centuries.

TLD, the search engines have finally roared back to life, so here is your link: Bubble Tea explained.

F_X

14

I recommend interpretive dance.

15

Hastur: interpretative dance over an online communication medium such as ICQ? Sorry, but I don’t have a webcam. Besides, I just do not dance. How would you figure that one out, anyways? The mind just boggles… :slight_smile:

Oh good… he’s online. I will show him this thread.

And if you want the website for his band, where he has such cool artwork, it’s here.

F_X

16

Oops, he just went offline, so I can’t have a conversation with him about it now. I’ll just send him the thread link anyways.

P.S. Hastur, I know (or hope) you were joking. :slight_smile:

F_X

17

I’d always heard it was fish eyeballs too, strangely enough. Didn’t really believe it, but having heard that I wasn’t going to get close enough to find out the awful truth.

18

yup… I’m the “online friend” who originally asked the question…

I’d heard OF “tapioca” before… but, only as a vague foodstuff, which I never actually bothered learnin’ up on… I always assumed by the name… that it was Italian… and some kind’ve pasta dish… then, didn’t think much more of it… (coz, it’s not like I wuz planning to eat it anytime in the near future…)

anywaze… the pictures kinda help… and cheers for the description, probably should help me to avoid eating it if I see it… (kidding).

still puzzled over the whole bubble tea thing… probably coz every aspect of it… seems utterly alien to me…
(guess that’s something I REALLY gotta try… :slight_smile:

anywaze… if you think it’s silly trying to describe “tapioca” to someone… try being an Australian attempting to explain “Vegamite” to someone who’s never had it :wink:

P.S. I’m not google impaired… I’m just lazy…
(kinda happens when you’re doing search engine inquiries at 5AM…)

19

Vegemite? That’s easy. It’s a yeasty brown goo that even Chinese won’t eat. Marmite is SSDD (same slop, different dispenser). Now to explain the appeal of Vegemite (or Tapioca “frog eggs” in your cha) to the uninitiated is a challenge.

20

well… look at it this way… it’s easier than explaining the concept of colour to someone born blind…