Most of us have been to a “meat market”. That isn’t the type of meat market where you actually purchase lamb, beef, pig and chicken to put in your soup but it is the kind where you can pick up a woman. These meat markets usually revolve around clubs where lots of people go that hope to get “lucky”.

The Berkowitz family of Ambler gathered yesterday for its traditional Christmas dinner: wonton soup, pan-seared pork dumplings, salt-baked shrimp and scallops, orange beef, and sweet-and-sour chicken.

Succulent, tender chef-carved beef is featured every Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. along with Executive Chef Jeremy Bosley's unique side dishes. The cost is $29.95 and includes a choice of soup or salad and potato, seasonal vegetable and dessert. Beverages, tax and gratuity are extra.

What is one thing that has seen wars, opened gazillions of canned beans, corned beef, soup, bottled colas, and beer, and is now sitting prettily at the New York Museum of Art?

Partial list of foods featured. * Baby Bee Larvae * Yak Meat, Yak Butter Tea * Beef-eating Buddhists * Lizard Soup * Deep Fried Sand Worms * Beef Tongue * Cicadas * Pig Brains* Raw Sheep Heart * Horse Meat Ham * Snake Soup * Dog Meat * Bird's Nest * Worm Fungus * Rats!, Cambodia * Sea Horse Soup, Shanghai

Russian cuisine derives its rich and varied character from the vast and multicultural expanse of Russia. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of plentiful fish, poultry, game, mushrooms, berries, and honey. Crops of rye, wheat, barley, and millet provided the ingredients for a plethora of breads, pancakes, cereals, kvass, beer, and vodka. Flavourful soups and stews centred on seasonal or storable produce, fish, and meats. This wholly native food remained the staples for the vast majority of Russians well into the 20th century. Lying on the northern reaches of the ancient Silk Road, as well as Russia's close proximity to the Caucasus, Persia, and the Ottoman Empire has provided an inescapable Eastern character to its cooking methods (not so much in European Russia but distinguishable in the North Caucasus).Russia's great expansions of territory, influence, and interest during the 16th-18th centuries brought more refined foods and culinary techniques. It was during this period that smoked meats and fish, pastry cooking, salads and green vegetables, chocolate, ice cream, wines, and liquor were imported from abroad. At least for the urban aristocracy and provincial gentry, this opened the doors for the creative integration of these new foodstuffs with traditional Russian dishes. The result is extremely varied in technique, seasoning, and combination.From the time of Catherine the Great, every family of influence imported both the products and personnel - mainly German, Austrian, and French - to bring the finest, rarest, and most creative foods to their table. This is nowhere more evident than in the exciting, elegant, highly nuanced, and decadent repertoire of the Franco-Russian chef. Many of the foods that are considered in the West to be traditionally Russian actually come from the Franco-Russian cuisine of the 18th and 19th centuries, and include such widespread dishes as Veal Orloff, Beef Stroganoff, and Sharlotka (Charlotte Russe).