Strange food you've eaten or been offered . . .

[doomsdave]

This is a riff off mightyboosh 's thread relating to really really really hot sauce, I thought it might warrant a different take.

Eating is an emotional exercise. There's a lot we don't eat for all kinds of reasons, and, as with many things like this opinions vary, sometimes a lot.

A good friend actually eats liver and onions, without a burly housewife (or -husband) standing over him. He likes it. Me . . . no.

But, on the other hand, I like sushi. And Cheech and Chong did a sketch years ago called "Sushi Bar" in which Cheech plays this Hollywood dude introducing a dweeby fussy-squeamish-type, portrayed by Chong to things like raw fish, which a long time ago, was weird and I guess still is.

So, how about you? What have you been offered and declined, or offered to others and had declined? As the B52s admonished in a song, let the discussion "Roam" . . . .

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

I've eaten many bugs. I like to roast grasshoppers and superworms with garlic and onion, and mix them in with plain spaghetti and butter. I've also tried eating roasted dubia roaches and isopods but wasn't fond of the taste much. Planning also on raising crickets for this! Or silkworms, or even grasshoppers.

 

[doomsdave]

I once cooked some flying termites in a hot skillet; they tasted peanutty! My roommate and I were watching a National Geo special that showed people chowing down on flying termites and, kaboom, some appeared.

I found them good. My roomie, well URK, no thanks . . . .

 

[KittyFriday]

I love sushi. I actually prefer pretty much all of my food to be on the raw side of done or just raw for some things.

I'd try certain things but never have really eaten anything that weird. My parents get half a cow from a butcher every year so they get things like liver, heart, tongue, etc. but we just prepare them for the dogs. I had red rice the other day which is something a coworker of mine eats religiously. Not weird really but not the norm for rice.

 

[Willowy]

I've lived in enough places to know that everything is weird/gross to somebody, and it really all depends on what you're used to.

But anyway. I do enjoy sushi, including raw fish, but I'm not really up for the more unusual things like cod milt or sea cucumber. I like most fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut, but not natto. I've never tried lutefisk, but I'm told nobody really likes it; they only eat it at Christmas for tradition, lol. Our Filipino neighbors used to cook pig's blood and it stank up the whole apartment building, but their kids thought it was delicious.

 

[doomsdave]

I've never met anyone who'll admit to liking Haggis.

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

Chitterlings are good too

 

[catapault]

I've had blood sausage, in Ireland. Enjoy calves liver, and like kidneys - but only lamb or veal kidneys, beef kidneys have been too well used. When I was a child my mother would cook tongue for the family- used to fascinate me to watch her skin it. Tried sea urchin, didn't care for it at all. Made pickled mackerel, and think I remember milt was part of the Scandinavian recipe I used. And used mackerel roe to make tamara salata, salting the eggs myself - a friend who fished would give me all sorts of bits and pieces

 

[Kat0121]

I don't eat sushi because I don't like most fish or nori
I wouldn't eat anything containing hard boiled eggs, green peppers, cilantro or bananas because I cannot stand any of them
I wouldn't take anything containing organ meats. Sorry Haggis. Maybe the next person in line will try you.

 

[mightyboosh]

I've never met anyone who'll admit to liking Haggis.

I've tried it and it's ok ish. I wouldn't go out of my way to order it again.

Anyway, my brother came up from London and he likes really hot stuff so I bought these Carolina reaper coated peanuts as a challenge.

He took a handful and said they were tasty and quite warm. I tried one and found it quite hot. I then thought I must be a tough guy because I've seen loads of stuff on YouTube about this type of thing and I wasn't begging for mercy.
It turned out that most of the reaper coating had come off and ended up at the bottom of the bag. My brother had a mouthful and his mouth was then set on fire. I had the tiniest bit on the end of my finger and it set the end of my tongue on fire. It was quite bad. So I'm not a tough guy at all.
My brother said that during the night his gut was crippling him.
I also took a tarantula in a can to work one day for a challenge. I had a bit and it tasted like I imagine what the soil from a rain forest would taste like, damp and earthy. I spat it out after tasting. Some one else ate it, crunchy legs and all.

I've also tried squirrel which was tasty and Zebra, crocodile, little eels and stuff like that.

 

[susanm9006]

I grew up on pheasant, rabbit, squirrel, duck and venison. I have also tasted Bear, frogs legs and I know I was offered alligator but don’t remember if I tried it..

 

[mightyboosh]

Oh that reminds me. I tried snails once or should I say pieces of rubber in a shell with garlic sauce!

 

[Tik cat's mum]

I've tried frogs legs part of our French class. Camel in Egypt, and was given Crocodile in Africa but didn't try it my mother in law did said it was fishy. My ex husband is Scottish and loved Haggis.

 

[Winchester]

We come from PA German stock, so liver and onions is a part of us. My sister and I really didn't care for it as children, but we love it now. Last year, when she had her traditional February turkey dinner for family, she asked me to make a big pan of liver and onions and I was only too happy to do so. It was a lot of liver for the 3 people who were willing to eat it and some got frozen for later on. But it sure was good.

We also eat filled pig stomach. It's filled with a sausage, onion, potato, and bread mixture, then roasted in the oven at a low temp for several hours. We all eat the stomach, except for Rick and my BIL; they'll eat the filling. (It's truly amazing how large a pig stomach is when it's full!)

We are fans of filled beef heart, A stuffing of bread, onions, and celery, then tied shut and roasted. Good stuff.

I don't think we've had pig stomach or beef heart since Mom passed away. I cannot touch a raw pig stomach. Oh, once it's roasted I'm fine. But raw? Nope. My sister said she'll stuff it and sew it and then put it into the roasting pan if I'd take over from there. And that's fine with me.

Bugs, snakes, raw fish? Nope, not going there, if I can help it.

 

[Kat0121]

Mom liked liver and onions cooked with bacon. No one else liked it though. Dad disliked it so much that she had to cook it for herself when he wasn't home. He hated the smell of it.

 

[maggiedemi]

I bought these Carolina reaper coated peanuts

I have some Carolina Reaper powder. I love it, but I have to measure it out with my tiny pinch spoon. That will flavor an entire plate of food, it's so hot!

 

[muffy]

You guys are making this vegetarian nausea. When I was a kid I ate squirrel and deer meat that my father had hunted. I was about 6 or 7 years old and did not know any better.

 

[furmonster mom]

When we go out for sushi, we usually tell the chef we are up for most anything... except uni (sea urchin) and natto (fermented soy). Oh, and I don't think we're up for blowfish... nope nope nope.
We've eaten quite a variety of things at the sushi bar, sea snail, baby octopus, giant clam... we enjoy it.

I've had escargot, caviar, alligator, buffalo, veal... I really consider most of those relatively standard "experimental" fare.

I had a great aunt who lived through the great depression and cooked liver and onions, my 14 year old self was surprised to like it.
I think she cooked the onions in bacon fat until they were caramelized, took the onions out and cooked the liver quickly in the same pan with some pepper, then topped the liver with the onions and served.

I like spicy foods, and when we go out for Thai, I usually ask for a 7-8 level. I possibly could go higher, but I actually like to taste the rest of my food. Kimchi also makes the list for spicy foods, though I usually consider it fairly mild.

I've never had stuffed pig stomach, haggis, or cooked pigs blood (though I see that all the time at the Asian market). I've had beef heart stew at a Mexican restaurant, but not stuffed and roasted... that actually sounds interesting.

 

[Jcatbird]

I was raised that in order to be polite, if you eat with another human, you take what is offered, smile and eat. Lol I wouldn’t have chosen many of these things but then maybe my beloved, boiled peanuts were gross to my friend from up the coast! Possum, tough and my friends thought it was great. I didn’t. Raccoon, like pot roast but gamey.( poor raccoon!) I’ve eaten lots of things where I grew up that I would not choose to eat now. Brains and tripe are something I don’t like but are eaten here. Lizard, light but a little peculiar. ( maybe because I knew what I was eating?) I had the opportunity to stay in the jungle awhile. I learned very quickly, don’t ask what it is since the only food was from the surrounding area and mostly things I loved to look at or avoided stepping on. Lol . I prefer to eat fruit above all. I have eaten some wild plant foods. Wild potato. Yummy! Fiddle head ferns. Typical greens taste.
Wild garlic, super strong! The same with wild onions. Too strong for me. Cactus, not terrible but texture a bit off for me. I had some peppers in Guatemala that were unidentified. Wow! Blazing sun hot! My daughter loved rutabagas. Not me!

 

[catapault]

I forgot about some wild foods, both game and produce. I've cleaned and cooked pigeon, duck, pheasant, woodchuck, and raccoon. Assisted with venison. Have had scrapple but I think that's something you need to be raised with, to enjoy it. And I do not.

Have foraged for mushrooms (about 6 kinds I know are not only safe to eat but also delicious), and greens including dandelion, garlic mustard, nettles, bamboo shoots (garden), fiddlehead ferns, young daylily shoots (garden), giant butterbur (garden) (Norachan would know them as fuki) and more.

Dahlia tubers were food for the Aztecs but we have bred them for stunning flowers so tubers are often bitter - and today might be laced with garden chemicals.

Sometimes it depends not on curiosity but on how scarce food supplies. During the Hunger Winter of World War II the Dutch ate tulip bulbs. Six were considered an adequate serving for a grown man, coarsely grated and sort of fried.