Pajiba

Tried sushi (tuna) a few times. I like to think I'm adventurous but I'm probably not.

Oh, wait ... One time I ordered oyster stew because I figured it would be just like clam chowder. So I'm stirring the bowl and I detect something at the bottom. I spoon up what looks like an enormous booger. To Mrs. , I say, "ACK! What the hell is that thing?" She says, "An oyster, I guess."

I didn't finish it.

Am curently in Korea... and last week I ate both deep fried chicken asshole and live squid (or octopus, I'm not sure). Will probably eat fried slug penis this week... Because, if it is part of the culture, why not try it? (just once)

The live squid was probably the coolest, as they cut off the tentacles when it is still alive (I didn't do it and it's kind of a delicacy... so sorry to offend) and they keep moving around in the plate for a long time... and yes you eat them while they are still moving! You dip them into sesame oil and have to chew a lot otherwise you can die (as the tentacles still suck like crazy to the inside of your mouth, and if you don't chew them enough they can stick to your throat).
Really really interesting taste as it's salty and chewey, which is not common. yummmmm.

By the way, there is a dog soup place close to my apartment and I don't have the heart to try that!

i think that part of being southern is the odd food hazing process. where else do you have people who pour bacon grease into an old coffee tin and use it by the spoonful in anything and everything for years and years and years. i am pretty sure my grandmother fed us squirrel (but this remains unverified), so by choice, probably the oddest thing i've eaten is rattlesnake in chili or fried alligator. both were delicious and neither tasted like chicken (:

Cherry, I'm trying to decide what I'm more horrified by, the deep fried chicken asshole or eating the squid while it squirms and thrashes in your mouth trying to escape/fight back. Gahhhhhh.

I've had alligator sausage, chicken fried rabbit, rabbit stew, and some nifty rabbit concoction I once made while I had a pet bunny who lived in the kitchen...I fed him the veggie stubs to make up for cooking a distant relative.

I've also had a lot of buffalo, as roasts, steaks, and burgers, and ostrich steaks and ostrich egg omelets.

I was once coerced into trying a chocolate dipped grasshopper, and I've had chocolate dipped African honey ants.

I had possum once as a child, but don't actually remember.

I've also had squirrel, bear, venison, and dove.

I guess I've essentially eaten my very own zoo.

Cod tongues. There are about the size of a quarter. They taste like salt and feel like snot. They were not palatable. It isn't very exotic, I'm kinda picky about textures in my mouth so I don't often try new things (don't go there, it's way to easy and you're better than that.)

The best backyard burger I've ever had was made of moose. Can't believe it's been 10 years.

Calf Fries. They're not bad, actually.

Crocodile
Kangaroo
Snake
Dugong
Turtle
Guinea Pig

The ATL Memorial Drive Shoney's once served me some gravy (on mashed potatoes) that was so congealed I could slide a single fork tine underneath one edge of the gravy and pick up the whole mass right off the top of the potatoes. I lifted the fork slowly, and the gravy hung there like a gigantic brown, spackled loogie.

And yet...I set the fork back down, chopped the gravy into the clumpy instant potatoes, and tried a bite -- because you never know, right?

What can I say. It was not good.

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Alligator, frog, turtle . . . my cousin from Ohio almost fainted when I sucked the head of a crawfish at a boil.
I don't think any of it is weird though, I think raw oysters are the best thing ever.

The weirdest to me was Skyline Chili in Ohio (visiting the same cousin). Disgusting, bland chili on top of spaghetti. What? Who does that??

ALSO, did anyone else notice that Dustin is turning on his darling 500 Days of Summer? I saw that comment about JGL's voice. Not that I don't agree, but I just want to know if you're starting your own backlash.

I'm from Trinidad so we have "wild meat" usually served curried. It's not available easily but I have had curried manicou (possum), agouti (looks like a wild guinea pig), and tatu (armadillo). Oddly enough I liked the tatu most.

I've also had alligator soup in New Orleans (tasted like chicken) and have also had fried legs.

Some people think crawfish are the weirdest thing I've ever eaten since you know mudbug and whatnot. I love it.

Oh! I've eaten beef marrow! How could I have forgotten that? I think roasted beef marrow with parsley salad and sea salt may be my death row meal.

Oh crap. I should have thought out my response a bit longer. Haggis. How could I forget haggis. Living in Scotland I used to get a full Scottish breakfast every now and then. Haggis and black pudding (blood) with some other yummies. Delicious.

When I lived in Miami bitch I was knocking took me down to Bayside to some seafood restaurant. Bitch said try the alligator, I did, it tasted just like baked chicken, come to think of it so does pussy.

Pigeon's milk (kind of like a tangy cheese spread -- I had it with some Ritz crackers) or barbecued cricket would be my two.

Mmmm, beef marrow. My favorite part of getting osso bucco is getting the marrow out of the bones and putting it on bread. I'm with you, kiddo.

Chocolates filled with Kim-Chee. Very good.

Oh right, I did have grilled baby octopi at a Greek restaurant recently. They were good, really tender, very briny and strong. It kept swiveling in my mouth, though, so all of a sudden I'm tonguing this poor thing between the tentacles (ooh la la) and unable to chew it properly.
Delicious, but hard to eat more than 2 because of the flavor.

My one year-old ate an ant covered piece of hotdog she found on the ground at the park just the other day.

I, however, am slightly less adventurous when it comes to food. I've eaten a lot of Rocky Mountain Oysters in my time. I tried emu once. That's about it.

I ate goat-jerky purchased from a roadside snake farm just outside Waco, Texas.
The ingredients read as follows: Goat, Salt...

I totally forgot all of the different types of jerky I've had, which expands the list by moose, a few different types of antelope, and...

I don't know what it means, but I've forgotten all of the assorted animals I've had at the dinner table...

One thing I've never actually had and don't want? Lobster. I've had shrimp and crawdads, and that was enough sea bug for me.

Well, one memorable night in Dodge City, (Really!) I was staying with relatives of a friend, and was offered my choice of salmon patties or Rocky mountain oysters, (AKA calf fries). Since I knew I would throw up at the slightest hint of salmon, I opted for the RMO. Not bad, actually, deep-fried and a little spongy.

BTW, I found out that night that Rocky mountain oysters are from calves, and mountain oysters are from hogs. You never know when that info will come in handy!

-Ralphie

I've eaten rabbit, deer and elk, but the weirdest thing was when we went to an old school Chinese restaurant where they serve you the whole fish. Someone said it was good luck to pop out the eyeball and eat it. After the large group at my table kept saying "not me" and giggling, I finally said "fuck it" and popped the thing in my mouth and bit down.

I should preface this by saying that you are supposed to never bite down on the eyeball, just pop it in your mouth and eat it whole. I was 15 at the time and today is my 39th birthday. I'm still trying to get the consistency and taste out of my mouth. Ladies, if that is anything like the result of blowing a guy, you have my undying gratitude for performing such an heroic act so many times for me in my life. I should give out medals. Or at least pay for the cab ride next time.

I was served some grayish congealed meat like product in Germany. It was what I ordered, but not what I thought I ordered. mr.wsapnin's dish looked delicious and edible so I made him eat mine. It was either that, go hungry or gag. I chose swapping the plates.

hmm...

when i was a kid i was oddly obsessed with sucking all the marrow out of my chicken bones. whatever, it was delicious. i guess my other oddities would include durian (okay so it's a fruit but it smells like DEATH), alligator jerky, rocky mountain oysters which, as testicles go, were not too shabby i may report. there have also been snails, buffalo, ostrich, and apparently, a hamburger in paris that was made out of horse. dammit.

Delurking to say that I, too, have had kangaroo and that they are the deer of Australia. Not only do they taste like it, there is a huge overpopulation problem down under and they've considered bills to basically go around and kill a bunch of them.

On another note, I'm pretty sure I has ostrich when I was younger as well.

I ate my study species back in grad school--the murre (known locally as "turr," and a relative of the puffin) is a traditional game bird in Newfoundland, as well as being an interesting species on which to conduct behavioural observations.

Tasted oily and fishy, and it wasn't my cup of tea at all. But I am still grateful that my friend's mom had me over for a traditional Newfoundland turr dinner--it was very sweet of her!

I want to hunt a kangaroo. Not with a gun, I'd make it fair and box it. If it won, I'd let it go but if it lost.. OM NOM NOM.

My dear Granny once fed me a slice of raw cow heart. Being young and terrified of her I accepted it without asking what it was. It actually didn't taste too bad, though really metallic.

After living for several months in Germany, I managed to eat all types of entrails and clotted blood in convenient sausage form. I've also eaten fried crickets and dried mealworms (the latter tastes suspiciously like Corn Nuts). I've also eaten plenty of domestic animals: crocodile, rattlesnake, rabbit, squirrel, elk, and bison.

Most recently (um, two days ago) I was goaded into trying durian boba tea, which I think I might still be tasting. Though I consider myself an adventurous and open-minded eater, that is definitely something I will never, EVER eat again.

Less' see...

Alligator
Ostrich eggs
Ostrich flesh
Prairie oysters (by accident [they were on a platter of mixed "appetizers"] and UGH GRODY)
Squirrel (I recommend it; mmm)
Rabbit
Horse (I do NOT recommend it)
Venison

I would like to hear from anyone who has ever tasted a durian. I keep reading about it but every description is different. If you've eaten durian, could ya tell me what you thought of it?

Also, mysharona, I'm a Cincy girl. We do love our Skyline. Has your cousin ever made Skyline dip for you? I find that more palatable than putting it over the spaghetti...it's the chili mixed with cream and chedder cheeses and served with tortilla chips. Pretty tasty.

For your dining pleasure, here is what is apparently the latest food fad in Russia:

http://englishrussia.com/?p=3344

I know a few kids of the boy persuasion who would be delighted to see something like this on their plate for lunch.

Oh yeah, and Pickled Pigs feet. Had those too.

Nate has me beat.

But the worst thing under my belt is Turtle Wine. AKA bottom feeder moonshine. YEAACH...

Oh, and I have been to a few rodeos in my day, where they will deep-fry anything sitting still long enough. I didn't have the courage to try deep-fried Oreos, especially after seeing grandma's walker come out of the batter...

I grew up on an Ostrich Ranch (thanks, Mom and Dad), so I have consumed ostrich meat in every form imaginable. Ostrich steak, ostrich burger, ostrich jerky, ostrich sausage. We even ate the eggs a few times. I also know a vast number of random facts about ostriches that I unconsciously memorized while listening to my father trying to convince people to try the stuff at the county fair. For instance, an ostrich's eye is larger than its brain, which is about the size of a walnut.

However, the strangest thing I ever ate was probably a sea urchin with raw quail's egg cracked on top of it. My mom said, "You have to try this, it's totally weird." Looking back on it, I have no idea why that convinced me.

popejenn , Do you realize the door you have just opened by admitting you have no gag reflex????

Only the best damn door out there....how you doin' Popejenn?

I've had ostrich, bison, alligator, crawdads, rabbit, quail, venison and other stuff like that. But as I reflect upon the cuisine I've ingested over my life, what stands out the most to me is the braunschweiger. For whatever reason, my mom made us braunschweiger and cheddar cheese sandwiches when we were kids, and I loved that shit. Did I know it was liver? Hell no. Did all my classmates recoil from me and my braunschweiger breath or did the Capri Sun adequately combat the stench? I never thought about it before, but now I'm reevaluating my entire childhood. Braunschweiger! I'm not even German! It's like the one European nationality I don't have in my background! I'm virtually everything else! Why did my mom even know about this mushy, stinky lump of nerdiness rolled up in an orange glossy wrapper? My best guess: it was cheap and we were poor. Now I want to get some to find out if I still love it.

Mmm....braunschweiger.

Oh yeah, and Pickled Pigs feet. Had those too.

Posted by: ashes at August 11, 2009 12:04 AM

Ok...I'm from the south...I haven't even gone that far. You...just lost points.

Hmm, we have lots of strange dishes here in Iceland due to we had no spice for storing food until the 1900s.

Pickled rams balls
Pickled sheep heads (with eyeballs, teeth, tongue etc)
Ammonia fermented raw shark (which Anthony Bourdain called the worst tasting dish ever in his show)
Puffin
Whale sushi

Puffin is alright, whale is delicious but the rest is vile.

I had also some very strange dishes in my recent trip to China and Japan, mostly some sea critters I had no chance of identifying.

ugh, stinky tofu is sooo bad. Laz_ you are a very brave soul

Bardi Grub Pate. That would be pate made from moth larvae, which is a traditional Australian Aboriginal ingredient. It tasted very musty, earthy and just plain mothy. Have also had kangaroo, crocodile, emu.

"magic berries"

They make sour things taste sweet. So, licking a slice of lemon = a lemondrop candy. Beer tastes like a milkshake. It was quite an experience. And they're legal!

I've eaten pretty much anything and everything that can be made into a burger or stuck in a skewer. However, Balut takes the cake as the wierdest thing I've ever eaten. Balut are fertilized duck or chicken eggs that contain matured embryoes, which are then buried for 100 days to ferment in their own juices. Opening one is a truly horrifying experience, matched only by the crunchy-crumbly texture of the ghoulish mess inside. Tastes, unsuprisingly like a pickled mix of chicken and hard-boiled egg. Best eaten with lots of salt and a blindfold.

It's hard to narrow down. I've eaten the national dish of bhutan, which truly tastes likes nachos with Velveeta. Then there's alligator kabobs, calf's brains, squid stuffed with snails, uni, and cod testes. I had burning hot sauteed tripe at a Himalayan restaurant in Queens and deep fried crickets in chili sauce at an Indonesian place in San Francisco. And I'm considering the live octopus and squid at Su San in Flushing. Food that fights back might be my line in the sand, though.

I forgot all the weird stuff you get at dim sum--tendon, feet, jellyfish, etc.

If any Asians, Gastronauts, or Asian Gastronauts are on this forum, they will surely win.

The foods themselves aren't that weird, but in Guatemala, my host mother served me spaghetti with hot dogs for breakfast. My friend's host mother gave her jello for breakfast. Like I said, not terribly weird in general, but at 7 AM before 4 hours of Spanish lessons... a little hard to take.

I can't think of anything super strange that I've eaten. I've had venison, snails, and sushi, but I don't think any of those are that weird.

I was in Spain and I was served concha fina. It's an oyster served alive. You're supposed to sprinkle a little lemon juice over it and when it starts to fidget, you pour it down your throat. It was really weird eating something alive but very tasty!

Since both my parents are from very small hick towns in Florida (Umatilla and Okahumpka, anyone?), I've been tricked into eating raccoon, gopher turtle, and rattlesnake. Gah! You can't find those things at the Piggly Wiggly either. You have to run those little bastards down or go hunting. Blecch!

i'm delurking mainly for Jerce.

durian is thick, creamy, sweet and pungent, and the pulp has just enough give to keep you from feeling like you're eating mush. personally, i love the ones that have a well-defined skin i can tug just gently between my teeth, and it rips right into the curl of my welcoming tongue. you can suck the pulp off the seed, or strip it with your fingers and mix it into a plate of rice. eat with your hands while you're squatting in front of an electric fan on a hot summer's night, and it'll feel just right :)

the fruit smells warm, heady, fragrant but there's an undertone of musky, almost bitter stink that's always made me think of freshly evaporated armpit sweat. i think people differ in their descriptions because of that mix in the smell. depends on what you're pre-disposed to pick up, i guess. but the longer the smell lingers, the less fragrant it becomes, until all you're left with is the stink. storage spaces can suffer from that.

after you've eaten durian, you'll feel warm and tingly so a drink from a green coconut or some mangosteens are always good. ahhhhhh...

i didn't eat anything too out of the ordinary for an Asian diet. century egg, bird's nest, all kinds of entrails and body parts, dried and salted seafood, herbal roots, fungi. i really enjoy skin, bones and marrow (from fish and poultry, especially. really, really tasty). and pork trotters... stewed in black vinegar and ginger...

mercy.

love baby octopi, river snails and eel, and there's this smelly bean i adore called petai. grows on local trees. it makes you reek though, comes out of your pores and it'll be all you can smell when you go to the bathroom for a couple days... but it's heavenly fried with chili, onions and dried shrimp. ooh that reminds me. love fermented shrimp paste. and i've had congealed pig's blood. you hang the porker up, slit and drain its arteries into a bowl of salt water, then slice the mixture into cubes when it's set into a jelly. you can boil it or eat as is.

my uncle was the really adventurous one. he'll eat anything that moves, i think. apart from people :p he used to sit outside the house at dusk with a slingshot, waiting for the bats. he'd make soup out of them. he also took me eel-fishing, and he loved all kinds of wild meat. iguana, snake, boar, monkey, squirrel, deer.

my grandpa used to keep a giant glass jar in his room too, full of medicinal alcohol. there were all kinds of herbs in it, and a deer foetus. i used to watch it floating around through the murky brown swirls like it was still asleep in the womb, completely fascinated. couldn't make up my mind whether i'd actually want to drink from the jar, but the grownups always said it was too strong for kids anyway.

good times, good times.

balut, although that's not adventurous for me since i'm filipina and i love it. :)

Hey Trouble. I've been through Okahumpka and Umatilla. Then again, I grew up in Kissimmee.

As a kid, I once ate a small lightbulb and some super-glue.

I hope I didn't brain my damage?

Lookin' forward to eating some horse stakes with a buddy of mine in the near future, though.

I wasn't able to get online about this last night, so I'm belatedly adding something that I feel is untoppable:

Three-week-old chocolate-covered squid.

BOOSH!