I do want to have some crowd participation and so have compiled a questionnaire for you to each fill out and I will compile your answers into some fun lists down the road. You can fill it out here. Additionally for each list, I will put the prompt or questions at the bottom of each post for you to copy and paste (CTRL-C, CTRL-V, my site does not allow right click copy and paste) and answer as well!
Without further ado, here is list number one: strange things that I have eaten. Now, I realize that (a) some of these actually are not strange to me (in fact many of them are not strange to me anymore!), but they may be strange to you, and (b) some of them may be strange to me but not strange to you, so feel free to add your strange thing if I have not covered it!
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| Rambutan |
1. Rambutan (fruit). Various parts of Asia, San Francisco, US.
I have mentioned this one before but if you look at the outside of it, you would never think that it was something that you could eat and enjoy. The inside tastes and looks kind of like a lychee and is quite delicious! You can find them at your local Chinatown sometimes or possibly in an Asian grocery store, and I have actually seen them at Fred Meyers in Portland, OR, so you never know! If you see them, I suggest you get them so you can try them!
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| Chapulines |
2. Chapulines (roasted grasshoppers). Mexico.
These are actually quite good, if you get over the fact that they still have legs and wings and can ignore the feeling that they may crawl around in your mouth when you are eating them. However, if you were fed them with a blindfold on, you would just think you were eating some popcorn with nutritional yeast or something like that. They are not bad at all.
3. Sweetbreads (thymus and/or pancreas glands). La Folie and other restaurants in San Francisco.
Neither sweet, nor bread! If you get over the fact that you are essentially eating an organ, these are also quite good. Often they are covered in sauce and again, if you did not know what you were eating, you would likely enjoy them. They are quite light and a bit fatty in a good way, kind of like fois gras, which I also enjoy a lot.
4. Chicken hearts. Bolivia, Peru, Brazilian steakhouses.
In Bolivia, you can buy these from street vendors, who grill them on a little BBQ right in front of you. They are not my favorite organ, but they are worth trying at least once.
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| Pho |
5. Phở Dặc Biệt (rice noodle soup with beef tendons, tripe). Vietnam, San Francisco, any place that serves pho.
This is my favorite pho. Usually it comes with beef brisket, sometimes meatballs, and then of course the tripe and tendons and strange pieces of collagen. It may sound strange, but I have the nicest hair and fingernails you have ever seen. :) If you are not so adventurous, you can just get regular pho, which only has the beef brisket. If you have not tried this before, I highly recommend it; it takes like two days to cook the broth and it is so flavorful. This is one of my go-to meals, as in, if I have a chance to have it, I get it!
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| Oink, oink |
6. Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle). Germany, with variations in Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and other countries, also in German restaurants (this one in New York is my favorite).
If you like pork, you will like this. It is an entire pig knuckle, slow roasted for a really long time so that the skin is super crispy, and then below that you have a nice layer of fat and below that you have a fall of the bone tender pork. With one bite you get heaven every time. I got it when I was in Germany with the girls and made them try it so that they could see that just because it has the word knuckle in it does not mean it is gross. They both loved it!
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| I did not eat this one |
7. Rattlesnake. California.
When I was growing up, we had rattlesnakes in our neighborhood (this is a loose term since really it was a lot of land with very few neighbors) a lot. One day after killing one that was getting frisky, we barbequed it and ate it. I was maybe 13 or 14 at the time, and it was surprisingly good to me, and of course, like the cliche states, it did taste a bit like chicken. However, it has a lot of bones and very little meat (see also: #13)
8. Pig trotters (hoof). The southern part of the U.S., and La Folie, San Francisco.
Pickled pigs feet are definitely worth trying if you ever get the chance. They usually come in a jar with a lot of them floating around, which is a little off-putting, but like most pickled things, they taste delicious. And if you are not into that, you can find them at fancy French restaurants sometimes, which is where I also tried them, in a very delicious pig foot and lobster terrine.
9. Haggis. Scotland, the U.S., my family gatherings.
My family hails from Scotland and so we have heard about haggis all of our lives, but I did not try it until I actually went to Scotland in my 20s and it was delicious. It is traditionally made of the parts of the sheep that you could not use, which are then cooked with herbs, onions and oatmeal, by steaming the entire thing inside a sheep's stomach. So essentially, just think of eating turkey stuffing, and that is haggis. I mean, not to insult anyone, but it tastes like stuffing, and nowadays is often made with artificial casing (no stomach) and less offal, so it is not even that crazy.
10. Alligator. Florida, Australia.
Alligator also tastes like chicken, and I have had it fried which really makes it taste like chicken, and in Florida you then even dip it in mayo based sauce, so you may as well go to McDonalds and get a chicken nugget. For real though, if you can get it grilled so that you can actually taste it, I suggest that. And actually, it tastes a tiny bit fishy, so it is like fishy chicken. Haha. Did I sell it or what? I actually like it just fine.
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| Portuguese snails |
11. Escargot. France, Portugal, Philippines.
Snails! Who knew that you could take a pencil eraser and smother it in butter and garlic and it would taste good? Actually in Portugal the ones I ate were so tiny that they give you a kind of safety pin looking thing to pluck them out of the shell with and you also get like a hundred of them so by the time you are done you have burned so many calories and taken in so few that you need to go and get a pizza.
12. Cuey (Guinea Pig). Peru.
It tastes like very greasy chicken. The weird part is that when you visit people's houses they have them running around in the kitchen and you just know that later that day, the poor wee beastie is going to be someone's dinner.
13. Chicken Feet. China, San Francisco, any Chinese restaurant.
These also taste like chicken. Haha. Just kidding; I mean, they do, but they taste just fine but just like the snails, they are a lot of work without a lot of meat. (see also: #7) Worth trying, but nothing that I would order over and over. If I am going to do a lot of work for only a little meat, I would rather eat crab.
14. Yak Milk. Nepal.
Apparently the lady yak is actually called a nak, so technically (unless they are milking the males) you are really eating nak milk. It is quite sour, like kefir or plain yogurt, but apparently has some really healthy properties. I only tried it once and it was okay but nothing I would have gone running out to procure after that. I wonder if I would feel differently now, since I have developed more of a liking for non-sweetened yogurts etc.
15. Ube ice cream. Philippines, San Francisco, Hawaii.
I have never met an ice cream I don't like and ube is no exception. Ube is a purple root that looks like a yam, and is often used in Filipino cuisine. In San Francisco, there is a really good ice cream shop called Mitchells and they have ube on the menu (they also have some really good ones like green tea, Thai iced tea, and seasonal favorites like pumpkin and eggnog) and it is delicious! If you go to the Philippines, you can get halo halo, which is an odd concoction of jellied things, beans, shaved ice, sugar, coconut and ube jam or ube ice cream. It is a must try!
16. Cherimoya / Custard Apple / Sugar Apple. South America, Vietnam.
These are strange fruits that looks kind of quilted on the outside, and then inside is white with large seeds. I first tried it in Vietnam it a little messy to eat when you are traveling by backpack, but is well worth a try.
17. Kohlrabi. U.S. etc.
I accidentally grew these in my garden, thinking it was a beet based on the photo. However, once they grow, they are a large round vegetable with leaves growing out of it, and if you cut it up and eat it, it tastes similar to a jicama or an Asian pear or water chestnut (kind of). I found that I enjoyed putting them in salads for a nice crunch, or made into a slaw, but you can also put it into stir fries or boil them like a potato and eat them like that.
18. Cacao fruit. Panama.
I never knew before I went to Panama that the Cacao was a fruit. They harvest this fruit, remove the seeds, roast them, grind them and make them (the seeds) into cocoa that we are used to. However, the fruit (fleshy) part can also be eaten, and it is quite good!
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| Nopales + Prickly Pear |
19. Nopales (cactus) + Prickly Pear. Mexico. U.S. (+ Mediterranean, Australia etc.)
In San Francisco, you can get a burrito made with nopales and when I was a vegetarian, I would do this a lot. You can also get all kinds of dishes made with it. Also, fun fact, the nopales cactus is the same one that has the prickly pear fruit that is also edible. You can find them growing wild all over California, as well as other U.S. states and other countries. I used to work with a woman from Malta who would pick and process (peel, cut etc.) the prickly pear for us and bring it into work; I loved her, as that is a lot of work to do!
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| Young almonds |
When I was walking the Lycian Way, a farmer gave me these fuzzy little fruits and I was not really sure what it was but I ate it (why not, eh?). Later I Googled and it was young almonds. You can eat the entire thing (the shell is not hard yet) except for the fuzzy skin, but the outer part is a little bitter, but the inner part, which will later be the nut that we are used to, tastes kind of like cucumber!
COPY PASTE - which of these have you tried?:
1. Rambutan
2. Chapulines (roasted grasshoppers)
3. Sweetbreads (thymus and/or pancreas glands)
4. Chicken hearts
5. Phở Dặc Biệt (tendons, tripe)
6. Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle)
7. Rattlesnake
8. Pig trotters (hoof)
9. Haggis
10. Alligator
11. Escargot
12. Cuey (Guinea Pig)
13. Chicken Feet
14. Yak Milk
15. Ube ice cream
16. Cherimoya / Custard Apple / Sugar Apple
17. Kohlrabi
18. Cacao fruit
19. Nopales / Prickly Pear
20. Young Almond
Don't forget to fill out --> THE QUESTIONNAIRE!
Have you eaten any of these things? Or what other weird thing have you eaten that is not on this list?
Well, I don't eat meat so most of those I have not eaten. But I wasn't always vegetarian and I have had a bite of haggis in the past, and I did not like it. Kohlrabi isn't a strange thing to me, and I have enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete20 years! That's a big accomplishment, I look forward to the posts!
I went to the questionnaire and got "access denied" - I think there might be a privacy setting on there you might need to change.
DeleteKohlrabi is a German staple, traditionally eaten boiled with a Bechamel sauce, more advanced recipes suggest grilling slices of it but I just eat it raw straight from the vegetable bed in the garden.
ReplyDeleteI've eaten the escargot and sweatbreads and also frog legs in France and would not recommend any of it. Worse is tripe, an Irish staple of old. Also, do not try seabird eggs.
Custard apple can be delicious, so are bilimbi (a type of star fruit) and small green chilies with salt. Tops is breadfruit, very versatile.
My access to the questionnaire was also denied!
ReplyDeleteI have only eaten Kohlrabi! I have not traveled extensively so haven't had an opportunity to eat most of these things, but I don't know that I would to be honest... I am not great at trying new things, especially if they strike me as unappetizing!
Happy 20 years! My 20 year will be in 2028!
Woo hoo let's get the 20 year party started!!!
ReplyDeleteI think I had chocolate covered insects once and I only remember that they tasted like chocolate with a bit of crunch. The reason that I say "I think" is that I know I've seen them for sale, but my memory of whether I bought them is hazy. That's the problem with the pre-blog era.
It feels likely that I've had kohlrabi, but I can't say for certain. I would be open to trying pigs feet, but I think I would need someone else to get them out of the jar the first time. I would also be down to try sweetbreads, mostly because I remember the term from the Little House books.