As they say in Italy, Italians were eating with a knife and fork when the French were still eating each other. The Medici family had to bring their Tuscan cooks up there so they could make something edible.
I remember that during the period leading up to independence in Angola in 1975, I was the only correspondent there at all for three months.
I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.