What strange things have you eaten?

[wolram]

I was offered an Ostrich meal but i could not bring my self to order it, yet when abroad i ate several things with no idea what they were

 

[fresh_42]

I can tell what I didn't eat. Once on a bowling evening someone from the neighboring track offered some grasshoppers he brought from Thailand. A few of us tasted it. Not me.
Once being in France I ordered something I did not know what it was. I thought you can't do much wrong in France. It turned out to be kidneys which I normally don't eat. Nevertheless, they tasted fine.
And by the way, what I've always wanted to ask someone who might know: Why is breakfast in English hotels called 'continental'? Firstly, it's not. It's a mixture of English and American breakfast, maybe with some french touch. Secondly, breakfast differs a lot on 'the continent' depending on where you are. So where the hack did this expression come from?

 

[Sophia]

I tasted canned crickets. They were OK, a bit like chips (crisps).
I also tasted cooked pork (or beef? I don't know) tongue and beef stomach, but that's really not so exotic.
And I had an octopus in Croatia.
I think I would try anything, maybe except for snake, because I'm afraid of them even if it was cooked :) And of course I would refuse protected species for ethical reasons.

 

[Borek]

I think I would try anything

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming

(not that I ever tried)

 

[Sophia]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming

(not that I ever tried)

Oh, I think I once watched video of someone eating that. They puked immediately, it was disgusting! D
Ok, I wouldn't eat that :)

 

[fresh_42]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming

(not that I ever tried)

This can be topped: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hákarl

 

[StatGuy2000]

The strangest thing I've eaten was deep-fried alligator meat, as an appetizer at a seafood restaurant years ago (btw, it tastes exactly like fried chicken).

I've also eaten a type of stew containing venison in Quebec a few years ago, which was actually quite good, but I'm not sure if any of you would consider venison (i.e. deer meat) to be strange. Any hunters on this forum?

 

[wolram]

I do not know the origins of a continental breakfast but.A hotel breakfast that may include sliced bread with butter/jam/honey, cheese, meat, croissants, pastries, rolls, fruit juice and various hot beverages. It is served commonly in the continental Europe, North America, and elsewhere, as opposed to the English breakfast served commonly in the UK. See also American breakfast.

An English breakfast may include, sausages, bacon, eggs, tomato, beans, fried potatoes, fried bread, black pudding, toast with jam or marmalade, deviled kidneys, kippers.

 

[StatGuy2000]

And I had an octopus in Croatia.

Perhaps it's my own bias, but I don't consider octopus to be particularly strange. But then again I am half-Japanese, and fried octopus is a delicacy in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki

 

[Psinter]

Living cockroach, but I don't remember the taste.

*Place Nutrition Facts of living cockroach here*

 

[wolram]

Perhaps it's my own bias, but I don't consider octopus to be particularly strange. But then again I am half-Japanese, and fried octopus is a delicacy in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki

It is chewing the tentacles, they will not go down they stick in my mouth

 

[wolram]

lhttp://www.examiner.com/article/nutritional-content-of-the-american-cockroach-periplaneta-americana-l

Yummy cockroach sarnie

 

[Sophia]

The strangest thing I've eaten was deep-fried alligator meat, as an appetizer at a seafood restaurant years ago (btw, it tastes exactly like fried chicken).

I've also eaten a type of stew containing venison in Quebec a few years ago, which was actually quite good, but I'm not sure if any of you would consider venison (i.e. deer meat) to be strange. Any hunters on this forum?

I ate venison sausage and it was delicious!

 

[Borek]

While I ate octopus on several occasions in Croatia I still haven't tried a particular variant - hobotnica pod pekom (or hobotnica ispod peke, not sure which is a correct Croatian name of the dish - hobotnica means octopus, peka is kind of metal cover using while roasting, "ispod" or "pod" means more or less "under", so the name refers to the way the dish is prepared; could be both names are correct, just there is a grammatical difference between uses).

 

[Sophia]

Perhaps it's my own bias, but I don't consider octopus to be particularly strange. But then again I am half-Japanese, and fried octopus is a delicacy in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki

yep, I know it is very common in cousines near the sea. I'm writing from my pork and sausage-eating point of view :)

 

[wolram]

I have eaten black pudding, congealed blood plus fat and other stuff, how horrible is that?

 

[Borek]

Oh, and things like kidneys and beef tongue I cook at least once a year - I happen to like them. They are definitely part of a Polish cuisine, although they were probably more popular between the poor working class (yes, fact that I remember them from my childhood says a thing about my paternal Grandmother's family).

 

[Sophia]

I have eaten black pudding, congealed blood plus fat and other stuff, how horrible is that?

omg yuck :/ But it's probably a very good source of iron :D How does it taste?

 

[Borek]

I have eaten black pudding, congealed blood plus fat and other stuff, how horrible is that?

Not terrible at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaszanka

 

[Sophia]

Not terrible at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaszanka

oh that's krvavnička :) but I've never eaten that :)

 

[Borek]

omg yuck :/ But it's probably a very good source of iron :D How does it taste?

Oh come on, hardly surprising in these parts of Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czernina

 

[Sophia]

Oh come on, hardly surprising in these parts of Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czernina

I know people eat it here but it's disgusting to me :D same as hurka (majority of fat). Wouldn't eat it. Only spicy sausage and relatively lean bacon for me, please! :D And various recipes using schnitzel, of course :)

 

[Sophia]

And tlačenka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlačenka but it must be homemade so that we know what's in it

 

[fresh_42]

I have eaten black pudding, congealed blood plus fat and other stuff, how horrible is that?

I'm not quite sure what it is since the British use the word pudding different from us. (Here it is something sweet.)
But your description fits to a sausage which is completely usual here: http://shop.landmetzgerei-dorer.de/media/images/popup/blutwurst.jpg

 

[nsaspook]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)

 

[fresh_42]

how horrible is that?

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/75904000/jpg/_75904921_154311347.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/25/article-2401662-1B73C5CB000005DC-486_468x286.jpg

 

[Sophia]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)

what?

but OK, it's just a prejudice. If we can eat adult duck, it is the same as eating the embryo

 

[Sophia]

Interesting. Just looking at "Slovak cusine" on Wiki. Of course it is mixed with Slovenian meals. Doesn't surprise me any more :)

 

[wolram]

Not terrible at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaszanka

I love a bit of blood pudding, it has a taste all of its own.

 

[wolram]

what?

but OK, it's just a prejudice. If we can eat adult duck, it is the same as eating the embryo

I looked at the picture and gagged.

 

[fresh_42]

Interesting. Just looking at "Slovak cusine" on Wiki. Of course it is mixed with Slovenian meals. Doesn't surprise me any more :)

You mean instead of being mixed with Czech, Austrian, Silesian and the old ones perhaps with even Hungarian recipes?

Edit: I bet they won't mix beer!

 

[Sophia]

You mean instead of being mixed with Czech, Austrian, Silesian and the old ones perhaps with even Hungarian recipes?

Edit: I bet they won't mix beer!

There are Czech and Hungarian recipes as well

and sour cherry soup that I have never heard of :-)

 

[fresh_42]

There are Czech and Hungarian recipes as well

and sour cherry soup that I have never heard of :-)

I know of a sauerkraut soup from this region. Tastes good. (Why is the English word for it the German one? Actually it's eaten from France to Kamchatka!)
That's one of the beautiful things about Europe: every 100 km you can have different dishes. And as long as you don't get north of Paris or east of Moscow you merely can do something wrong.

(For complaints: I live in Waterloo, Iowa.)

 

[Sophia]

I know of a sauerkraut soup from this region. Tastes good. (Why is the English word for it the German one? Actually it's eaten from France to Kamchatka!)
That's one of the beautiful things about Europe: every 100 km you can have different dishes. And as long as you don't get north of Paris or east of Moscow you merely can't do something wrong.

(For complaints: I live in Waterloo, Iowa.)

I don't know why I thought you were German?

 

[fresh_42]

I don't know why I thought you were German?

That's my alter ego. Recently I had been forced to get an American zip code. Waterloo was the first that came up.

 

[DiracPool]

 

[DiracPool]

Recently I had been forced to get an American zip code.

Lol. I scanned your post quickly and, subconsciously associating it with the title of this thread, thought you said, "Recently I had been forced to eat an American zip code." I said to myself, it's going to be hard to top that one..

 

[StevieTNZ]

I had baby octopus years and years back. I found it tastier by eating it little bit by bit. That's the strangest thing I've ever eaten. I'm sure when I travel more overseas I will encounter something more stranger.

 

[einswine]

Very many years ago I cooked a bobcat at the request of a friend who had shot it while it was taking one of his kids. Like most (all?) wild carnivores it had to be cooked well done (trichinosis). I don't remember what it tasted like but a mouth full was all I could stomach.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I once was served "vegetarian meatloaf". Still don't know what was in that - or how it was even a concept.

 

[DiracPool]

I'm a big fan of Vietnamese Pho, and there are a lot of mom and pop shops up in the Seattle area. I try to visit as many different ones that I can. In fact, there was this guy that made an entire documentary on how he traveled to Vietnam for the sole purpose of visiting every mom and pop operation there he could find because he was such a pho fan.

I want to do that. I want to be a pho expeditionary. In any case, in the old days I used to get the "works" with my pho, which included tendon and tripe, which I think are cow intestines. I stopped ordering the tripe in the early 2000's because of the Bovine Spongiosum outbreak. I read that the intestinal lining of the cow had enough nerve tissue that it was only about 97% safe, not safe enough for me. The tendon checked out OK, so I still get the tendon

 

[fresh_42]

I once was served "vegetarian meatloaf". Still don't know what was in that - or how it was even a concept.

I once had meatballs with a strong vegetarian and essential part. Does this count?

 

[Mark44]

A delicacy in Hawaii is Tako Poke (tako is Japanese for octopus). Tako poke consists of raw octopus that is pickled, plus green onions, some kind of seaweed, sesame oil, and vinegar, and possibly a few other odds and ends. Most of the people I know don't like it, but I pick some up at the local stores whenever I'm there.

One of the weirder things I've eaten lately was listed on a menu in Brittany as "Oigneaux d'agneau avec champignons," (spelling might not be exactly right). I figured it was lamb something, but the "something" turned out to be kidneys. I ate them, but it wasn't my favorite meal in Brittany.

Probably the most unusual thing I ate on that Brittany trip, hands down, was wasabe ice cream, served on a small block of salmon tartare. Delicious!

 

[DiracPool]

Btw, not to poison the well or taint the pond, but here's an interesting food story. I woke up around 6:30 this morning and was putting on my socks and shoes to make a drive out to my local cybercafe for my morning Joe. Typically, when I do this, I flip on a cheesy "antenna TV" channel just as background chatter. Sure enough, the local news was on they were talking abut a Listeria outbreak in packaged salad mixes. They listed the brands, and sure enough, "Fresh Selections" was listed. I had just bought a package of Fresh Selections the day before and came within a heartbeat of eating it with the 50% discounted ribeye steaks I bought at the same time. I got meat and potatoes head, though, after a few cocktails and said screw the salad. Lucky for me, a lot of people got sick and one person has died from the outbreak. It was just serendipity that saved me. Because if I didn't see that news report this morning, I probably would have had the salad for lunch.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...led-after-listeria-kills-1-sickens-12-n502311

So, you don't want one of the strangest things you have eaten to be Listeria. That's all I'm saying

 

[meBigGuy]

Raw horsemeat
Whale -- Kind of like fishy steak.
BBQ chicken cartilage (triangular tips from chicken breast)
The usual selection of insects and fish eggs and other fishy weirdnesses
What the english call toast (bread soaked in fat)
Alligator po'boy (New Orleans)
Various Meaty Organs (unavoidable in Rome)

One of the worst tasting things I've ever had was Natto (fermented soybean) which is a favorite Japanese breakfast food. Not for American palates.
Also Uni (sea urchin, tastes like essence of estuary)

 

[Hornbein]

I have eaten moose lips, which were very rubbery. Also deep fried caterpillars, which were a lot like Cheetos but natural. Very good.

I once found myself gnawing on the head of a chicken, but I didn't swallow.

Fermented sweet potato and fermented rice can be delicious, really good.

Sea cucumber -- at least that is what I think it was -- is awful. It's like eating congealed snot. I don't care for Vegemite either. Fried shrimp paste smells like an unmentionable bodily secretion, but tastes pretty good. Just don't be around when its being cooked. I friend of mine was evicted for that.

Durians are wonderful, but you either love them or hate them. Mangosteens are incredibly exotic. Snakeskin fruit must be the only tetrahedral fruit. Custard apple is good, but you have to get it at exactly the right time. Dragon hearts -- yes, there really is such a thing -- are flavorless. Tamerinds are great, but take a long time to eat.

I will eat almost anything, but drew the line at large beetles. The long antenaea and legs look too raspy.

 

[Dotini]

In 1978 I found myself and my climbing party stranded on a glacier in Alaska. We were without food for 6 days before descending to the coast where we spotted some lupine. I ate it.

 

[wolram]

All i can say is there are there that are far more adventurous than me.

 

[Hornbein]

Oh I forgot the raw whale blubber eating contest I got involved in. Whale blubber tastes good but is extremely chewy. To win you have to just swallow it.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

A banana with a lot of seeds inside . Any of you tried it before ?
There used to be several banana trees in my house. They gave birth to tasty seedful bananas.