The Strangest Food(s) You've Eaten

[krawlx]

In a separate thread started by Echophonic the discussion was about a cheese in Italy. I thought it would be a good idea to see what strange foods others have eaten. Try to remember to include where you ate this as well. I'll kick things off.

1: 산낙지 (san-nak-gee) Literally translated: living octopus. A traditional Korean dish. They pull the octopus from the tank, cut it up, and put it in front of you....while it's still squirming. It's often a battle to get it off the plate because the suction cups are still working, and they cling to anything the can. Once it's off the plate it goes into a oil-salt mix, and then into the mouth, where the fight continues as it attaches itself to the tongue. Chew thoroughly. Swallow. Repeat. Delicious! Pictured below: (I hope you didn't just eat!)






2: Snake Soup in TaiPei. The snakes are in cages, and they cut it up in front of you and put the pieces into a broth. But, that's not the weird part. The weird part is drinking the 50% alcohol, 50% snake blood mix that is served with the soup. Not to mention a small green pill that contains the sexual organs. It does the stamina good.

3: 육회 (yook-hwey) A Korean dish of raw horse meat. It's served chilled. Not as bad as you might think. Plus it comes with a few other dishes, such as horse soup, sweet and sour horse, and finished with another raw dish.

I guess those would be my top three. Can't wait to hear of others' forays into the strange.

[MCsommerreid]

Lutfisk. That stuff is just plain wrong.

sweet and sour horse

For some reason I found that incredibly hilarious.

[echophonic]

1: 산낙지 (san-nak-gee) Literally translated: living octopus. A traditional Korean dish. They pull the octopus from the tank, cut it up, and put it in front of you....while it's still squirming. It's often a battle to get it off the plate because the suction cups are still working, and they cling to anything the can. Once it's off the plate it goes into a oil-salt mix, and then into the mouth, where the fight continues as it attaches itself to the tongue. Chew thoroughly. Swallow. Repeat. Delicious! Pictured below: (I hope you didn't just eat!)

That's both super freaking gross and somewhat sad-- octopus are extremely smart creatures and I wonder if there's some consciousness going on there.

Seriously, you won this thread already. I cannot top that.

[SalvadorMontenegro]

For some reason I found that incredibly hilarious.

+1 x 50.

I can't stop laughing at the idea of walking into a restaurant and seeing that on the menu.

I don't think I've eaten anything weird.

[krawlx]

That's both super freaking gross and somewhat sad-- octopus are extremely smart creatures and I wonder if there's some consciousness going on there.

Then I guess you'll be equally sad to learn that dog-soup is a common dish here as well. I have yet to eat that, but if I look out my back window I can see one restaurant, and if I look out my front window I can see another.

[KenS]

[quote=MCsommerreid;271248]Lutfisk. That stuff is just plain wrong.


You must mean the jellied Lutfisk which is in my opinion pretty bad. The nice flaky white stuff in a cream sauce with boiled potatoes is worth trying..

Ya Sure You Betcha...

[TimmyBoston]

I've never had the opportunity for anything too weird, so for me, it's escargot.

[Nick]

Seriously, you won this thread already. I cannot top that.

A big ditto on that one. I like to think I'm somewhat adventurous, and will give most anything a try once. Thank god I've never been anywhere you've eaten, as it would've seriously tested that assertion!

I thought just the little side dishes of weird fish cake and kimchi I had with my bulgogi in Incheon were strange.

Aah, let's see, aside from the 'normal' bizarre foods like goose liver and sweetbreads (neither one I care for), the weirdest have been Jellyfish, Sea Urchin, and Crocodile. The tastiest weird foods were Kangaroo, and Ostrich.

-Nick

[PZBarber]

My 'real' job involves a fair amount of worldwide travel and as I spend most of my time in factories I eat what the locals eat.

Here we go with some of the more bizarro things I've eaten.

China:
Pigs Brains
Chicken Necks
Ducks Head
Ducks Feet
Pigs Ear
Pigs Tail
Sheep Stomach
Donkey
Dog
Rat Soup
Deep Fried Frog
Pickled Fish Eyes
Birds - Don't know what they were but they were small birds.

Japan:
Raw Squid
Hot Sake with Blow fish fins - Fish Sake is not a good drink.
Raw egg with some kind of animal in it.
Blow Fish/Puffer Fish - Fantastic fish, beautiful flavour and texture.
Live elvers (baby eels)
Mostly japan has great food.

Korea:
Raw Sea Cucumber - almost made me retch
Dog
Animals in slimey stuff - not sure what but it tasted ok
Snake
Rat

See, now that all sounds strange to us, until you do a job in Louisiana and end up eating:
Armadillo
Alligator

I like to try all the food, it's good to be submersed in someone elses culinary culture. Although these things seem weird and even gruesome to us it is normal daily tucker for a lot people.

The one thing I refused to eat was Horses Penis.

There are probably loads of other things I've eaten but can't remember what. I filled a 28 page passport in 12 months 2 years ago so it's impossible to even remember half the places I've been.

I like food

Yum Yum

Mat

[Nick]

I'd imagine you'd only have to make a short trip north to eat Sheep stomach.

That reminds me, add to my list Haggis (yum), and I had frog's legs earlier tonight (for the second time) which are surprisingly good when done right.

-Nick

[krawlx]

Great list Mat! I am the same in that when I travel i like to try as many new and different foods as possible. It gives a sense of the people, and if you're doing business it really helps to endear you those you need to do business with.

[MarSellus Wallace]

@Mat: very interesting. What do you do for a living?

Tell me, what does dog taste like?

[PZBarber]

I design, build, program and commission control equipment for industrial glass furnaces and production lines. That's when I'm not shaving people in the shop.

Dog is a bit fatty, I would say almost greasy. It leaves a sort of layer of grease on the roof of your mouth. It tastes fine, it's just light red meat, kind of like veal but tough in comparison. It's ok, nothing special and I don't think I would choose it off the menu. Not for moral reasons (I have no morals ) but because there are nicer meats to eat than Fido.

Cheers

Mat

[bjrn]

Okay, here's another one for you: Surströmming. It's a Swedish thing (but please don't think that everyone from Sweden likes this), and basically it's rotten fish. They take herring, let it ferment in barrels for a few months, then can it and let it ferment in the cans for another few months (up to a year apparently). Of course Wikipedia has a page.

And not very different is the Icelandic Hákarl, which is shark, which has been buried for two or three months. Wikipedia knows about that as well: Hákarl


Edit: I've actually never eaten either of them, but been nearby when served and eaten.

[MarSellus Wallace]

Duck and goose liver and riz de veau (sweetbread) is the farthest that I've gone so far. I believe strange stuff is eaten all over the world. Folkloric customs over here include(d) eating/swallowing live goldfish (new EU regulations on the consumption of live animals caused a big row in that particular town), eating the baked entrails of porc (horrid smell), consuming starlings (dead), muskrat (dead) and of course, during WWII and particularly in the north(east) of Holland where liberation wasn't accomplished until 1945 (hongerwinter), all dogs and cats were suddenly no longer to be seen.

[Mama Bear]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/I...ow/2186701.cms

[Flaxorca]

Okay, here's another one for you: Surströmming. It's a Swedish thing (but please don't think that everyone from Sweden likes this), and basically it's rotten fish. They take herring, let it ferment in barrels for a few months, then can it and let it ferment in the cans for another few months (up to a year apparently). Of course Wikipedia has a page.

I live relatively close to where they make this stuff... Seriously I would eat most of what has been listed here before I try this. Open the can outside or underwater because of the pressure build up due to the fermenting process. And then the smell... I once was at the world championship Surströmming eating and that put me off completely. They just kept stuffing fermented fishes down their throats and of course vomiting meant you were out of the competition... Normally you are supposed to eat it with potatoes and onion, but I pass... A variation to this is gravad lax (salmon), which used to be buried in sand to let it ferment, nowadays it is made industrially and no longer really fermented and I am happy for it, since it is a fantastic product!

[Frank7580]

The strangest foods that I've ever eaten have been:

Haggis
Ox tail
Lamb's head soup

These will score me a lot of points in the US, but they don't sound quite as adventurous as the snake soup . The octopus I could eat but the snake/blood concoction... YECK !

(BTW, if anyone wants to broaden their horizons by experimenting with a canine I'll offer up a few in my neighborhood in the interest of culinary diversity )

[bmwe28m5]

Chocolate chip cookies with tobasco sauce, soul food in saint louis, oh and fugu.

[NurseMedic]

I thought that my penchant for sushi, sashimi, and nigiri was pushing the envelope, not to mention the gator tail I've had on several occasions, but y'all got me beat by a WIDE margin.

Mike in Michigan