Bizarre foods YOU''VE eaten? Or want to try?

[LGK]

DH ate dog in Vietnam when he was 18. He was wandering around Ho Chi Minh City in the middle of the night after getting kicked out of a hotel room and his rickshaw driver tricked him into eating it, thought it was a reaalllly funny joke. He said it was like nasty chicken.

Hmmm. I''ve eaten gator, snail, ostrich, cow intestines in asian soups (hmmm, is that a tiny slice of bread? oh, no it isn''t!), blood sausage, sashimi and sushi of course, and I think that''s pretty much it. And weevils inadvertantly. They tasted like Rice Krispies since that was what they''d been eating. Oh and I love oxtails- I make beef stock with them in the winter all the time, and then put the edible bits back into the stock when it''s done. It''s really good!

 

[Dancing Fire]

you Asians are freaking out the Americans

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 6/23/2010 12:37:21 PM
Author: jaysonsmom

Date: 6/23/2010 3:54:44 AM

Author: Yimmers

Dude, I hate durian. Even my Vietnamese friend doesn''t like that stuff. But DH will get durian milkshakes with tapioca balls and everytime he burps, he offends all of us who can''t stand it.


Other weird stuff? Uni (love that stuff), squid, octopus (but hey, as a Korean that''s just standard fare), tripe, tongue (lengua), intestines (yuck), caviar, fish eye (cooked), foie gras, rabbit, goat, sweetbreads, skate wing, pedon (1000 yr old egg), and brains. Actually, DH scoured Barcelona for a restaurant that would serve brains or bulls testicles, but could only find a restaurant that serves brains. Brains are not my favorite thing.


Oh, my dad ate dog growing up. He said it wasn''t his favorite thing, but his friend loved it and would insist they go out and eat some. Dad likes dogs, so he''s never gonna eat my pet.


A lot of cultures eat the whole animal, or at least they eat the offal parts in addition to just the meat. But yea, it does seem that Chinese take the cake for eating anything that moved. Or eating stuff that we wouldn''t really consider eating usually (like, bird''s nest - it''s bird''s spit for crying out loud!) Even my Chinese husband agrees with that.

Yimmers, we are opposite. I''m predominantly Chinese (mixed with Japanese and Dutch), dh is Korean (grew up in Montana though).


I am WAY more adventerous than he is. He is an Amercanized-Asian. I introduce him to dim sum (chicken feet, tripe, tendons, jellyfish, pedon, chicken heart etc)....The only weird Korean thing his family ate that was more bizarre than anything I''ve heard of is raw crab marinated kimchi-style. The crab was chopped upwith the shell on, and pickled. Basically you just chew/suck the raw crab meat out, have you had that?

Your DH is from MT? What city? I ask because (as a fellow Korean from MT) I know there aren''t too many of us in the state

 

[jaysonsmom]

Date: 6/23/2010 8:07:49 PM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl

Your DH is from MT? What city? I ask because (as a fellow Korean from MT) I know there aren''t too many of us in the state

My hubby grew up in Butte. I think he said there were 2 families there. His family and his Auntie Lucy''s.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Date: 6/23/2010 12:48:04 PM
Author: jaysonsmom

Date: 6/23/2010 12:42:11 PM

Author: HappyNewLife

ok phew, durian is produce. lol

It''s like eating rotten Avocado that''s been fermenting in a dead body. I''ve tried to eat it twice, and both times my gag reflex made it come back up. I''ve given up on it.

It certainly smells like it, but the people I know who have tried it think it has the most amazing flavor ever. I certainly wouldn''t be eating it if my DH wasn''t though. I have always wanted to try it, but I hear the Thai varieties are by far the best and you really can''t get them outside of Asia.

I forget, I also had a pea Popsicle (it even had sweet peas in it), shrimp ice cream in Mexico, which really wasn''t bad, tasted like a fresh seafood snack, frog, but not just the legs and blubber, which I believe came from a seal. One of my archaeology profs worked in Alaska and he brought some for us to try. It didn''t have a strong flavor, but the texture was awful and I will never eat it again. It was a bit oily, but it had air pockets in it for buoyancy which makes it almost crunchy in a way so unpleasant I can''t really describe it.

 

[oobiecoo]

I''ve eaten some unusual things but nothing *bizarre* really...

Boudin
Crawfish
Frog Legs
Escargot
Octopus
Liver, hearts, and gizzards, tongue
Buffalo
Squirrel
Rabbit
Eel(really don''t like it)


I really want to try raw octopus and durian!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Date: 6/23/2010 8:32:56 PM
Author: jaysonsmom

Date: 6/23/2010 8:07:49 PM

Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl


Your DH is from MT? What city? I ask because (as a fellow Korean from MT) I know there aren''t too many of us in the state

My hubby grew up in Butte. I think he said there were 2 families there. His family and his Auntie Lucy''s.

Thread jack. I love Butte, its where my dad''s family is from. Of course, they''re Irish so there are way too many there for them to all know each other. Are they still there or did they move when the mining collapsed?

 

[Winks_Elf]

I''m not very adventurous. I''ve eaten haggis (I ADORE haggis, actually! Especially from the Argyle in Kearny), rabbit (yum!!!), venison, alligator, caviar, frogs legs, quail, duck (my fav!), foie gras, crawfish, and that''s pretty much it. Pretty boring compared to most here.

 

[jaysonsmom]

Date: 6/23/2010 8:51:33 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy

Thread jack. I love Butte, its where my dad''s family is from. Of course, they''re Irish so there are way too many there for them to all know each other. Are they still there or did they move when the mining collapsed?

His Auntie Lucy still lives there, but my husband''s immediate family moved out to CA around 1982. He was only there until 5th grade, but had very fond memories. They went back to visit a lot for holidays and such...

and to bring the subject back to food, his uncle used to hunt in Montana, and he''d send us the most AWESOME venison salami! I''m not really into gamey meat, but the spices of the salami took away all the gaminess.

I spent part of my childhood in South Africa as well, and we used to eat Ostrich Biltong (dried jerky), Boerewors (sausage made with mutton). I thought all the meat tasted the same. It wasn''t until adulthood that I started "smelling the funkiness" of certain meats.

 

[lilyfoot]

... I knew I shouldn''t have came into this thread

No disrespect, but the duck-egg picture on the 1st page did me over!

 

[charbie]

bison is great! I''ve eaten bison burgers a number of times.
I''ve also hadf alligator (yum) and horse (yuck). Can''t think of many other odd things...tho id try anything if it wouldn''t make me ill.

 

[ArtistJess]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but when I was in Scotland I ate traditional haggis (sheep heart, liver, and lung, cooked inside sheep stomach). Tasted a little like livermush, which (I think) is a southern food consisting of pork head, liver, and some other parts. My grandmother served that every time we would visit her in North Carolina.

Here in Louisiana a few years ago the state tried to run a nutria rat campaign and encouraged restaurants to serve it in gumbo and other things. I don''t think it ever really took off very well.

 

[Cehrabehra]

weevils inadvertently hahaha - on that note, I swallowed a fly.

 

[chrono]

Date: 6/23/2010 8:45:02 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy

It certainly smells like it, but the people I know who have tried it think it has the most amazing flavor ever. I certainly wouldn''t be eating it if my DH wasn''t though. I have always wanted to try it, but I hear the Thai varieties are by far the best and you really can''t get them outside of Asia.

For the durian, the Thai variety is larger but I prefer a different type; I don’t know the name but it is almost half the size and instead of being sweet, it has more of a bitter sweet flavour.

 

[MissMina]

I like chitterlings properly cleaned, boiled then fried
(Like preparation for sweetbreads).

I will try natto and uni if the opportunity presents itself.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 6/24/2010 8:51:02 AM
Author: Chrono

Date: 6/23/2010 8:45:02 PM

Author: brazen_irish_hussy


It certainly smells like it, but the people I know who have tried it think it has the most amazing flavor ever. I certainly wouldn''t be eating it if my DH wasn''t though. I have always wanted to try it, but I hear the Thai varieties are by far the best and you really can''t get them outside of Asia.

For the durian, the Thai variety is larger but I prefer a different type; I don’t know the name but it is almost half the size and instead of being sweet, it has more of a bitter sweet flavour.

the jack fruit?

 

[Yimmers]

Date: 6/23/2010 1:54:41 PM
Author: jaysonsmom

Date: 6/23/2010 1:47:42 PM

Author: Yimmers



Oh wow, I haven''t heard of that before, I''ll have to ask my parents about that. I like crab I have eaten raw skate wing that''s been pickled and spiced up - you have to enjoy crunching on food b/c it''s mainly cartiledge. Heh heh, some of my friends take a pass on it.


Have you tried this other K-dish that consists of wrapping stewed pork with a raw oyster with kimchee/condiments in a steamed napa cabbage leaf? It''s called Bo-ssaam. It''s really good. David Chang apparently has a restaurant that serves it in NYC, but it costs $200! But I guess he uses heritage pork and fresh shucked oysters. It normally runs for $20 or so usually, but its meant to be ordered with a group of people.

I''ve had this dish at my cousin''s graduation lunch, but without the raw oyster. Glad to find out what it''s called because dh didn''t know, and I tried to describe it to my FIL (who has since passed away), and he didn''t know what I was talking about! I really liked it.


BTW, my kids (8 and 6) are big fans of Ten--jiang kook (Stinky fermented soy bean soup). They said it''s just like strong Miso, which is something I make at home often.

I''m a horrible K...I can''t stand ten-jiang kook...or shitake mushrooms.
On the other hand, we finished up the 4 remaining balut eggs we had in our fridge the other night. The second time, it was a lot easier to eat. Lol!

 

[Cehrabehra]

yimmers that is so funny - I''m here thinking how can you not like shitake mushrooms and yet like the ballut? lmao

 

[chrono]

Date: 6/24/2010 12:01:18 PM
Author: Cehrabehra

the jack fruit?

Jackfruit is completely a different variety of fruit and doesn''t belong under the durian umbrella. It''s really sweet and refreshing though, just don''t ever eat the canned ones.