STRANGEST DISH YOU EVER ATE... (Something rarely found on a restaurant menu)

[yuiyoshida]

Just pick one item that you think was the strangest thing you ever ate. I will go first:



This is called "uni" in Japanese. うに aka Sea Urchin. This was very strong tasting, and a bit hard on the tummy, but it was good. Your Turn!

[TexasBushwhacker]

1. Alligator is the only thing that comes to mind

So what does sea urchin taste like? Fishy? Salty?

[yuiyoshida]

3. Its hard to explain but its a very very

strong flavor. Kinda like when you are eating curry, and you get that lump of curry that didn't quite dissolve yet. But yeah, its a once in a life time thing to try, if you ever visit a Japanese restaurant.

[Aristus]

2. The MRE meal Chicken A La King.

Man, that shit was nasty!

[GP6971]

57. For me

it was LRPP rations. Gross

[jpak]

59. In cans?

[GP6971]

60. Nope. In pouches

and added water and ate cold. Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol rations. Light weight and high in calories but terrible tasting. Were used during Vietnam by the Special Ops units.

[jpak]

58. I loved every MRE I ate

hunger overcomes all

[truebluegreen]

4. Haggis

[yuiyoshida]

5. I almost tried it, but I

Chickened out, literary... (ate the chicken)

[truebluegreen]

9. I'm a Scot by ancestry

so it was practically required. I had a fair amount of whisky* so that helped.

*did you know, "whisky" is about the only word in English that came from the Gaelic? uisge beatha "water of life"

[yuiyoshida]

11. Did you know that

In Scotland its Whisky but in Ireland its Whiskey?

[truebluegreen]

19. Yup.

Spent some time in both places, long ago. Even tried to learn the language. The two versions diverge in spelling and pronunciation (I found Irish spellings particularly boggling). Also speaking it is bizarre because they straight up borrow English words for anything invented in the last 200 years. Never had enough practice, alas, and I've lost what I had.

[Siwsan]

94. I'm Welsh, by ancestry, tried Haggis, and it wasn't bad, at all

I was in Edinburgh. Maybe it was how it was prepared. I remember it was served with turnips. Also tried it in the States, once, at a Highland Festival in Alma, Michigan. Of course, it wasn't authentic, because of certain food restrictions.

As for Whisky - have you ever tried Penderyn Whisky? It's from a Welsh distillery and really quite lovely, but unfortunately is kind of hard to find.

[truebluegreen]

99. I didn't actually dislike the dish,

so much as the idea of it. But I had it at a Robbie Burns dinner, also in Edinburgh, also with turnips--"bashed neeps" iirc, and champit tatties...I do remember the whisky was flowing!

I've never tried Penderyn; I will have to look for it. I haven't been to the British isles in years and I'm less familiar with Wales than I would like to be.

[LongTomH]

101. I've tried Haggis a few times, at the Highland Games here in Kansas City

It wasn't bad; I might actually develop a taste for it.

[Siwsan]

104. Authentic Haggis is banned, in the States, because of the sheep's lung ingredient

So I've tasted it both ways. Since I'm not an aficionado, it's hard for me to judge the difference, other than perhaps texture.

[First Speaker]

43. Seconded...I once tried this...

...never again...

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

113. I liked it - having grown up on slovenian blood sausage - ev european peasant cuisine features some

version of a sausage that uses "everything but the squeal."

Now chitlins - that made me a little ill. It was in tomato sauce so texture and taste was a lot like lasgna, but my mind kept reminding me that that chewy white stuff wasnt really pasta. The mind has a lot to do with how enjoyable a food is, I think!

[radical noodle]

6. Pork Brains or Pigeon Pot Pie

The pigeon was good and I ate the brains willingly when I was a kid but couldn't get them down now.

[yuiyoshida]

7. I knew a restaurant in Salt Lake City Utah

that used to serve Beef Brains and eggs in the morning. It was a popular order, and I never tried it, because it was ... BRAINS!

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. Yeah, my grandfather used to eat scrambled brains & eggs

[Doreen]

12. It took me a long time to eat cow tongue.

I could not grasp the idea of eating something that could taste me also. I finally tried and damn tongue is great. It feels like it just melts in your mouth.

[yuiyoshida]

14. Think I would pass on that too...

Infact, I really don't eat beef, pork or lamb. I enjoy poultry and seafood only now.

[Doreen]

18. I have also had sea urchin too.

Sushi is my absolute favorite food.

[tblue37]

63. Tongue is good. nt

[Doreen]

66. If cooked properly it is like it melts in your mouth.

[drray23]

96. Its really good. Its a french favorite.

My mother cooks it in sauce madere (with port wine ). When its properly prepared it melts in the mouth.

[radical noodle]

17. My parents grew up in the depression

so were accustomed to things that had been cheap (aka no one else wanted). My mom fixed the brains by dipping them in egg and cracker crumbs and frying them, then putting them in a sandwich. It was dinner, not breakfast, though.

My dad's mother was of German descent and he loved the Hasenpfeffer she made with kidneys as the meat, because... well... not many rabbits in the city. Hasenpfeffer was their biggest treat. The kids walked along the RR track near their home to find coal to use for heat and cooking and she made soups with sometimes just onions and a pat of butter. My mother's family was better off, her father worked for a bakery supply, so they not only always had money but also had a truck to drive.

[yuiyoshida]

21. Interesting, thanks for sharing ...

The one thing I always wanted to try was Poi, something you only seem to get in Hawaii!


My parents grew up on this stuff, to the point, they nearly hated it...and were very glad to leave it behind when they moved from Hawaii to San Francisco.

[radical noodle]

23. I've been to Hawaii twice but never had poi.

Hawaii is the most beautiful place I've ever been. We were jokingly told that the traditional dish now is Spam. (which is another "dish" we had in our family). LOL!

[yuiyoshida]

24. Pretty much!

I can't believe as a kid I used to eat the jelly out of the spam can, no wonder I later decided never to eat beet, pork and lamb again!

[jpak]

50. I make this for my nieces and nephews

yum

[LongTomH]

103. I understand Spam is still popular in the Hawaiian Islands

I saw it on the menu during my one trip to Hawaii.

[jpak]

49. Yum

[Marthe48]

64. I've got old recipe books

with the brains and eggs recipe. And tongue sandwiches, no thanks!

Oh and my Dad owned a grocery store and was the head meatcutter. One of his favorite jokes: How do you cook kidneys? Boil the piss put of them! hahahaha

Most exotic dish: Dried octopus tentacles in hot pepper sauce. My Korean sister-in-law made it for us. It was good, but very chewy. I remember my young niece sitting across from me with a bit of tentacle sticking out of her mouth, saying, "I don't think I like this."

[Doreen]

8. Rocky mountain oysters.

[yuiyoshida]

13. You had those?

wow, not sure I could do that either. But I did have Sharkfin soup in Chinatown. No longer since it is endangering the shark population.

[Doreen]

15. Yeah, my friends step mother knew how to cook them ( she was not drunk )

and I got to try them. They are somewhat chewy and seem a little grisly but they were pretty good. Rocky mountain oysters are very hard to cook and you have to know what you are doing. If you cook them to hot or to long it would be like chewing on your dogs rubber kong ball.

[yuiyoshida]

16. Sounds

ghastly!

[Nac Mac Feegle]

40. I grew up in a cattle ranching area

They were traditional. Breaded, deep fried, and served with a sauce closely resembling shrimp cocktail sauce.
Rather tasty, once you get past the "ick factor"
It all depends on what you grew up with.
Escargot, for example, is a classic French delicacy. Not bad. again, the "ick factor" is a big part of the resistance.

For an evening meal in the summer, when it's too hot to build up an appetite, I like to smear a bit of Braunschweiger (liverwurst) on a cracker with some smoked Gouda cheese and a dab of mustard.

[Doreen]

44. I am not sensitive to texture when it comes to food so that is not a problem.

I LOVE liverwurst. I am one of those people who would try bugs.

[tecelote]

92. Mexico loves bugs.

Chapulines (spicy grasshoppers) and Chicatanas (ants) are my favorites. They have over a hundred different bugs they eat.



A lot of tourists try them without realizing it. They are fairly common as a bar snack.

Haven't visited Thailand but they also love their bugs. I've had silkworm soup before and it tasted great.

[lapfog_1]

80. I once described them to a "friend" as having a "nutty flavor"

without telling him what they were of course.

[mainer]

98. I ate them in Wyoming

They were so thickly coated in batter, I didn't really taste much of anything else.

[Hamlette]

20. Finnan haddie and Hagis

my mom served each once. Finnan haddie had the nastiest smell. So did the hagis.

[yuiyoshida]

22. Speaking of nasty smell....

I had Durian Fruit Pudding the other day for the first time. For Years I have heard about Durian fruit from my friends in Malaysia, Indonesia and even the the Philippines. I had to of course try and yeah it stinks really bad, but the flavor is out of this world! Its so good, I would have it a few times!

[sweetloukillbot]

29. There's a boba joint in town that has a durian boba

One of these days I'm going to try it...

[flor-de-jasmim]

89. In Thailand the hotels forbid people to keep durian in their rooms--for the same reason.

[jpak]

55. I love finnan haddie cream sauce on toast!

series!

[yuiyoshida]

90. Next time I will ask for whipped cream

on my Durian Fruit Pudding. Warning though, bring some dentine with you, cause yeah it makes your mouth stink.

[HipChick]

25. Igauna Lizard..

[yuiyoshida]

26. Lemme guess ...

Tastes like Chicken!

[HipChick]

27. Well

As soon as someone informed me what it was, I spat it out...I did have Aligator though, and that did taste like chicken..I do want to try the Sea Urchin, but understand it needs to be prep'd properly.

[yuiyoshida]

32. A four star Japanese restaurant will definately

give you a great Uni experience.

[COLGATE4]

36. There's the story (probably apocryphal) of the Australian Bushman

who was taken on a tour of the US. His hosts took him out for some KFC Fried Chicken. When asked how he liked it, he replied "It's pretty good. Tastes just like snake."

[woody44]

117. Snake Chicken

I ate rattlesnake and it does taste like chicken.................

[sweetloukillbot]

28. Hog Maw

It's a regional specialty in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Pig's stomach stuffed with sausage and potatoes then baked till it's crispy on the outside.

I absolutely love it, and wish I could find the stomachs in Phoenix to make it myself.

[Freddie]

61. Veal shin

Is another PA Dutch "delicacy." Not exactly sure what's in it (was never that brave) but I recall it was chopped veal and some veggies (cabbage and onions I think) in a meat gelatin, served cold. Dad liked it. Grandma would get it at the deli at the local Super Thrift.

[sweetloukillbot]

83. Hmm. I never saw that (thankfully)

I know there were several pickled vegetable dishes my grandparents made though. And I love scrapple.

[Kali]

73. I might know someplace you could get it.

They raise pigs near Wickenburg.

[pfitz59]

30. Barbecued chicken feet

[pfitz59]

31. balut

https://ugc.kn3.net/i/origin/

[yuiyoshida]

33. Balut is DUCK egg with the baby duck

I know about that though I have never tried it... But you just reminded me of a song...

[GulfCoast66]

46. The only thing mentioned here I have not tried

Not sure I would

[no_hypocrisy]

34. Calves brains.

The sauce was exquisite.

[COLGATE4]

35. If drinking something counts, then put me down for Chicha

an Ecuadorean Indian native 'beer' which is traditionally made by having the elder ladies of the tribe (those without many teeth) chew corn grains and then spit the resulting mash into a pot, where it ferments for a given time. After the fermentation has taken place, decant it into old beer bottles and, Voila. Chicha. Bottoms up.

BTW, puked my guts up after I left the social event where I was offered this interesting beverage.

[mia]

37. Enjoyed campfire roasted possum and wild hog for Thanksgiving in Florida.

The father of a friend organized a camping trip to the Withlacoochee River Park. A few of the campers were experts in primitive camping.

[mainer]

38. Fruit bat. In micronesia

It was stewed in coconut milk.

[yuiyoshida]

70. My new gf says she likes Fruit bat

She said she would roast them over the fire in Malaysia.

[hay rick]

72. Linked to BMAA which is linked to early onset Alzheimer's...

[mainer]

97. Which is exactly why I'll never eat it again

It was years ago, before the BMAA info had come out.

[mainer]

39. Uni spaghetti is really tasty

It seems to be an in thing around here in Maine. I've seen it on several restaurant menus. The urchin roe gives the spaghetti a sweet, fishy flavor.

[milestogo]

41. Elephant and pineapple

I spent a summer living in an African jungle. Poachers got an elephant and left it to die, so the locals cut it up for food. It tasted like any other game meat but the grain on it was huge. I was freaking out that I was eating elephant the whole time I was eating it.

There's nothing as awesome as fruit in season in the jungle... pineapple, guavas, mangoes. Delicious.

[Adrahil]

42. Whale....

When I was a kid in Newfoundland, a local native tribe harvested a whale each year and sold the meat. Don't know if they still do. I remember it being bright red, but don't remember the taste.

[jpak]

51. They sell seal meat out of the backs of trucks in NFLD

Flipper pie dinners were mandatory there

[benld74]

45. Pelican, while in China

[jpak]

53. Sooty shearwater - Maori NZ

when in Rome....

[mrmpa]

47. Czarnina..................

It's a Polish Soup made from the blood of a duck. My Grandma made it sweet with fruit, apples and prunes, which is better than the sour type I've also had.

We used to go to Grandma's house in the City and there'd be a duck quacking in the basement. Mom took us 4 kids for a walk and during that time Grandma behead the duck, drained the blood and created the soup which also had duck meat in it.

[Lilyhoney]

69. This.

I just looked it up to find a name for it.

I went with a friend to his Polish grandmas house and I was made to try it. Let's just say at that age I was not into trying new food.

[jpak]

48. Ate a boatload of uni in Chile

pickled jellyfish and sea cucumber in NYC Chinatown

"whitebait" - larval galaxid fish in NZ

and raw minke whale in Norway - by misatake

[luvMIdog]

52. thank you for this thread. I did want to go snack, but I have no appetite now :P

[yuiyoshida]

71. Speaking of snacks,

My friend in Thailand once sent me these, chips... from Thailand. It wasn't potato chips but chicken skin chips. OMG! They were so addicting, after eating them I still craved for more the weeks after!

[pangaia]

78. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[WinkyDink]

54. Lamb's Brains---Cervelles D'Agneau. Yum!

[jpak]

56. No brains for me - prions

Tripe menudo and kidney pie?

meh

[WinkyDink]

125. Well, it's been about 20 years. And I haven't touched any beef/veal for

decades for the reason you state.

[pkdu]

62. Nastiest thing I've ever been served , was for Christmas dinner at my College girlfriends Grandmas..

Boiled Beef Tongue...knobbly side up . I tried but I couldnt do it.

[Red Mountain]

67. Presentation matters.....

I prefer tongue smoked and sliced thin.

[Freddie]

108. I worked at a Jewish deli in college

Properly prepared tongue, smoked and seasoned, is very similar to pastrami. It's really just another muscle.

[vixengrl]

128. Boiled is hardly the way to do most meat, but for tongue that's a sin.

I feel like that needs some dry cooking and spice rub--like others have said, smoke it or maybe grill it, or neither the texture or the taste are any good.

[pkdu]

130. Boiled , served knobbly side up

Gag

[Ccarmona]

65. Chocolate Covered Ants

Sweetbreads, which aren't sweet or bread, but fried pancreas; French Beef (it was beef tongue, it wasn't until years later I got the reference).

[GulfCoast66]

68. Squirrel brains.

A delicacy in SW Arkansas when my mother was raised there.

They have since been implicated in prion disease. Hope I had good ones.

[Kali]

74. sea cucumbers

at a very fancy dinner in Taipei. my impression was a chunk of rubber in a brown sauce that tasted like dirt (probably mushrooms and oyster sauce)

it wasn't the worst dish in that meal but it was the strangest.

[pangaia]

79. Yeah, I had sea cucumber in Guangzhou at a big banquet...

But at least it was cooked. Not always the case in Seoul.

[cabot]

75. Puffin

I was in Iceland. They're so cute and I felt bad but the puffin was tasty.

[longship]

76. That's easy. Lutefisk.

(Pronounced loot-eh-fisk, not loot-fisk)

Carp preserved in lye. It is like a wooden board. Soaked in water to get it unboard-like, and get rid of the lye. Then baked until it is a not so tempting white gelatinous fishy mass. Then, smother it in white creamy gravy.

I am half Norwegian and my advice is, Stay the fuck away from lutefisk! Some of my relatives love it. Their taste is in their mouths. Trust me. It's inedible.

Eat em up, yum! Or rather blech!

[Warpy]

86. It's probably damned good if you're starving

and preserving fish in lye from wood ashes in a place where salt was too hard to make is ingenious.

Andrew Zimmern's description of it as rotten fish in ammonia sauce was enough for me. He got it down and he eats this stuff cold sober, so I give him props for lutefisk.

[longship]

91. It's rubbish. Lutefisk is inedible. Especially with cream sauce.

And I am a fucking Norwegian!

[pangaia]

77. Oh I love uni.

Difficult to get really good uni in the US.

[Docreed2003]

81. In Afghanistan....

I had a BBQ'd lamb on spit...the meal was shared by the entire village and our troops invited by the village. You pulled the meat off the bone and ate it with the local bread, similar to pita bread. Didn't try the veggies, our in house environmental officer suggested we avoid them because the local afghani's used their own excrement for fertilizer. Yeah it's lamb and not weird by most standards, but it was certainly one of the strangest meals I've ever had!!

[WheelWalker]

82. Fresh Peyote Smoothie

[yuiyoshida]

88. interesting...

I had peyote in koolaide once..I don't know how I got home, I was told that I was offered a ride and somehow made it to bed.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

115. VILE! Extra points if you managed to keep it down for any length of time nt

[WheelWalker]

118. Ding, ding ding! We have a winner ! Vile beyond imagining. Could not get down, let alone

keep down. The more we tried to dilute it, we only succeeded in doubling the volume with each dilution until there were several 16 oz tumblers. Never again. Peyote is why nature gave us mushrooms.

[Richard D]

84. Suri

https://goo.gl/images/BnIeGy

Suri. I couldn't eat it, so it doesn't really count. Probably the oddest thing I've eaten would be Jellyfish in China.

[Warpy]

85. People I know who like sea urchin

hold it in a gloved hand and scoop out the raw innards with a spoon. Frying probably toughens it.

I've eaten a lot of weird things. Crabs and crawdads used to make people sick in Boston when I'd eat them. Fried grasshopper wasn't bad, kind of nutty, but it took a lot of work to pull all the chitin off them so it didn't get stuck in my throat. Fried rattlesnake was good, very good, but there's not a hell of a lot of meat on those things. Think one big snake for 2 people. Huitlacoche tortillas are really good, with a truffle-like flavor. Just open the can and dump it into the blender without looking at it. Trust me, you'll thank me for that.

I got sick to death of clams and lobster since I was plugged into the local barter system back east and knew a lot of fishermen. The only way I now like lobster is in something and I might as well use cheaper monkfish for that if I can get it.

My last good fish chowder was back east and I used a bunch of codfish cheeks I'd gotten cheap. It's amazing how much good meat there is on a fish head and people raved about the chowder as long as I didn't confess to what was in it. Mmmm, fish head stew.

Some day, I'd like to try geoduck and abalone, but those are on menus a long way away.

[aikoaiko]

87. Pigtails and Dumplings (serious southern soul food)

I had a friend who wanted to education me and ordered up the pigtails and dumplings.

The meat and dumplings were pretty good, but the tails emit a gelatinous ooze that was just too much for me.

And I love Uni. Whenever I eat sushi I order 4 pieces. Two are for right away because I can't wait and two are for the last pieces (like dessert).

[revmclaren]

132. I bake the pig tails simply with salt and garlic.

Crisps up the skin and firms it up. Love them with black eye peas.

[Siwsan]

93. Probably Black (blood) Pudding, which is actually like a sausage

I had it for breakfast, many times while in Wales. I've also tried Haggis. I actually enjoyed that, quite a bit.

[Mrs. Overall]

105. That's my strangest food, too--Blood Sausage. Ate it for breakfast while in Ireland.

And, considering it's made from pork blood, pork fat, and oatmeal, it was surprisingly tasty.

[alphafemale]

95. Rattlesnake

Neighbor had killed one.

We skinned and cleaned it ourselves.

Deep fried. Fairly bland tasting.

[flyingfysh]

102. I've also had rattlesnake

About 60 years ago. I agree with you on the taste.

[thecrow]

110. Rattlesnake, whale, frog legs, and squirrel

*burp*

[Best_man23]

127. Had Rattlesnake Too

Fried with Cajun seasoning. Was interesting.

[PufPuf23]

100. Wild Game Feed

I worked for the US Forest Service from 1969 to 1985 and on one of the Ranger Districts an annual event was the Wild Game feed which had a strong element of one up man ship in preparation and actually eating. Plus lots of alcohol drinking.

So there were specialties like (fresh) road kill skunk, Digger (squirrel) and dumplings, roast porcupine, and deep fried and battered rattle snake as well as a traditional game barbeque and roast.

My grand parents had a hunting and fishing lodge for 40 years and as a child I ate things like bear and panther steaks and sturgeon prepared for clients.

When I was a young teen, I shot a number of robins than headed, gutted, and de-feathered and put in tinfoil in freezer. When I had gathered a bunch my Mom used them to make robin spaghetti. My Mom was the instigator in relating her being paid by an Italian neighbor to hunt robins when she was my age then (11-12).

I haven't hunted since age 17 but a supposed delicacy that I partook but never liked was fresh killed deer liver. Yuck.

I have eaten Indian style lamprey eel (not really an eel but a fish) and they nauseate me.

I know maybe 15 types of wild mushrooms (some not the most obvious) to gather but now only gather and eat matusake and morel. I have some old recipes of Mom and grandmother for preserving and pickling less obvious varieties that I have never used.

As a youth, I fly fished for introduced bull frogs (to eat their legs) in our pond and caught crawfish in the local creeks with other young friends. We would cook them on a campfire just like we did trout.

My exe ordered a calamari specialty of the night at a restaurant in Venice and it was a mid-sized whole calamari and the body was stuffed with baby whole calamari and she was distressed. The same trip we were in a nice restaurant in Paris and I ordered the fish selection of the evening and she ordered the (horse) steak not knowing it was horse. I knew some French and wanted to sample and I did not tell her she had eaten horse until after the meal. The French are very good in the kitchen.

I used to be up for about anything sushi.

[oldcynic]

123. please tell me how your horse tasted

Ate it in France and thought it tasted like the cook had poured a pound of sugar on it. It was just a steak, no sauce.

[PufPuf23]

124. The horse in Paris was very tender and sweet as you noted.

There was a sauce and I would have liked the taste and texture of my sample except it was horse.

The exe was distressed and angry that I let her order and eat (and enjoy) the horse steak and never told her until after she ordered and ate horse steak.

We had passed neighborhood butcher shops that had prominent horse heads mounted as part of their street presentation.

Funny thing about taboos and what one find acceptable.

[Mrs. Overall]

106. Not strange to me, but it seems to disturb people--peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches.

I loved these as a kid: crunchy peanut butter, Best Foods mayo, white bread. Also tasty to slip in a few slices of lettuce.

[yuiyoshida]

107. OMG I LOVE

Peanut butter and Mayo!! i don't add anything to it!

[Freddie]

109. Sliced bananas

With peanut butter and mayo. Yum!

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

114. mmm, sounds good - try pnut butter and green salsa on ricecake - yum! Its a kinda african combo nt

[jmowreader]

111. Cuttlefish, in Korea

No flavor except for the sauce, and the consistency of an inner tube. Pass.

[mnhtnbb]

112. In Peru, guinea pig is considered a delicacy.

It is served for special occasions.

When we were there in 2009, the small tour group we were with was booked to have a meal in a Peruvian home.
Yes, we were served guinea pig. I kind of cut it up and spread it around my plate. I just couldn't do it. Reminded
me too much of my pet hamster when I was a child.

Peruvians in the countryside raise them outside their homes as we saw here.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

116. Thousand year old egg - usually am adventurous but could not get beyond smell and appearance - it

didnt help that the thai woman who made dinner insisted that it really was 1000 yrs old and at the time I didnt know that she was pulling my leg.

[oldcynic]

119. nothing is as bad as okra

rattlesnake
zebra
warthog
snails
ants
goats
squirrel
possum
caterpillars
scrapple
various insects that get in your mouth unintentionally
But the worst of all is slimy, oozy, awful, snotty okra! Once is too often.

[yuiyoshida]

120. OKAY But the question is what is the most

strangest thing you have ever eaten, (usually not on a menu) and... looking at something, smelling it and not taking a bite doesn't count.

My friend from Thailand send me these bug larva that are a delicacy. I ate half of it, couldn't eat the head. But I ate half and that counts. I threw the bag away. I could have given them to the birds i guess.

[oldcynic]

122. my list wasn't strange enough for you?

I did forget to add eland, alligator, crocodile and water buffalo. All of them were fine. The rattlesnake tasted fishy. Alligator was badly cooked. I will admit to not hunting down and killing most of my 'strange' food.

[yuiyoshida]

131. aw thank you!

[pinboy3niner]

126. Okra isn't slimy when you marinate and grill it

I first had it that way 20-some years ago in an open-air restaurant on the river in Saigon. The waiter brought a hibachi to our table along with bowls of sliced, marinated okra and we grilled it ourselves. Very good!

[NNadir]

121. Meat. I ate it 40 years ago, and it still strikes me as unpleasant, 40 years later.

[vixengrl]

129. I discovered I like tripe thanks to my husband.

It was served in an arabbiato sauce, which was a little spicy for me, but the texture was a lot like calamari. Thanks to him, I've had assorted hearts, kidneys, livers, and have loved them all--quite different from what I was raised on. I've yet to eat brains (any animal) or horse, which are two things I'm pretty sure I'm down for. The standard American diet just doesn't seem to respect eating all the bits of critters.