What's the strangest thing you've EATEN in the N.East Asian
region?
I'd like to hear what kind of weird food delicacies are out
there. (Maybe things I might want to avoid or try in the
future..)
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I had jellyfish in Shanghai on a few occassions. It looks a
bit like fried onion rings, but tastes completely different.
I found the taste to be a bit sour and a bit musty (is this
the right word?) as well. You will love it (not).
I didn't actually eat it, but when in Beijing around New Year's time I saw lots of tiny birds plucked, cooked (probably roasted) and stacked whole about three to a stick - a lot like shishkebob.
jellyfish?! i had jellyfish at a chinese restaurant in
bloomington, indiana! thanks for playing, please come again!
:) (all in good fun) :)
aaron
I ate fried scorpions in
Beijing, it was scary to put the
first in my mouth sting and all,
but they were good, a bit like
very crispy bacon.
I asked my Chinese brother -
in -law about the affect of
eating it poison and all and he
replied a bit of scorpion
poison good chinese
medicine!
Live octopus in Korea. The suckers (sic) stick to your lips,
your teeth, your gums... and then squirm all the way down...
after that, live shrimp and live eel wasn't so bad... but
still.
in Korea, jellyfish is eaten cold in very thin strips, mixed
with cucumber, radish and some chinese mustard, sort of like
a salad.
...and then, there is poshintang - dog meat soup.
for lots of interesting food items, check out this website:
http://www.andreas.com/ray/food.html
I once had Frog's Egg cooked in some sweet liquid for
dessert in a Chinese restaurant in Singapore.
I looked like some strange jelly with a white center. After
taking a small teaspoonful, I asked the waitress what I was
eating. When she told me, I nearly threw up! :p
Not quite yum to the tum, let me tell ya!
I live in Hong Kong and I once had to eat toad's
placenta....it was a present and it's very expensive so I
couldn't offend by not eating it. The taste was repulsive
but the texture just made me gag - think rancid frogspawn.
The only way I could do it was by chucking a strong belt of
Scotch in the stuff.
In the countryside (nagano prefecture) in Japan, it's pretty
normal to find stewed grasshopper and roasted bee larvae in
the grocery stores. Also, raw fish meat is a delicacy; can
be found at many sushi bars in tokyo too. Lower on the
gross-out scale but still unusual are the local mountain
vegetables and mushrooms. and i've made it a goal to eat
all the "weird" ice cream flavors i can; they include,
spinach, tomato, carrot, wasabi (green horsradish), garlic,
miso (fermented bean paste), shiso (a japanese herb), "herb"
(whatever that meant), and nozawana (a japanese pickle),
among others.
bon apetit,
jennifer
sorry, I meant to say "raw horse meat", not "raw fish meat"
(which is totally normal) above. how embarrassing.
my friend kevin says he ate camel tendon--doesn't remember
where. and he says that one of his friends ate a pig's ass
on a dare. yum yum.
Taiwan is a wonderful place to sample food that some
consider pests.
Cats, Bats and Rats.
After living in japan for 8 years nothing seems weird
anymore. Amongst the culinary highlights I have had raw
venison (absolutely divine), tempura deep fried baby
salamander (no taste really, but they insisted that I eat
it from the head first), the jellyfish (good) bee larvae
(great), raw horse (so-so) and deep fried grasshoppers (as
mentioned above). I also tried out the deep fried giant
cockroaches in Myanmar; not bad, very sweet and crunchy.
Others that kind of blew me away at the time were pickled
sea squirt (very nice with sake), snake meat, snake blood
and raw snake hearts in sake (thank God I had already drunk
enough to get me through that evening!), rock lichens in
soup (so delicious!) a huge array of seaweeds over the
years (my favourite; if you can try out some iwanori, best
in the early spring). And of course, the first time I had
dinner at my (now) wifes' family home, her father, being a
great joker, had to test the limits. Started off with the
normal sashimi, sea urchin eggs etc., then sakura (raw
horse; be careful as horse meat can harbor parasites than
are transferable to humans!), raw chicken (same cautions
apply) and a variety of beautiful mountain vegetables (fern
fronds, lichens, fungi etc.). To cap it off he placed this
plate in front of me piled up with what looked like
congealed blood; it was actually dolphin and whale meat!
Well, what do you do? And it did taste just like blood;
then I asked Dad if he was going to eat some and he said
'Me eat that shit? You've got to be joking! It's
disgusting!!'
I ate broccoli once!
Snake Bile Wine!
,,,,,, that I didn't try, here are some excerpts from the
menu at Suzhou Friendship Hotel
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Thanks for your presence, give me some valuable suggestion
please
As department concerned policy, please pay 10% service
charge. DonÆt bring any drink by yourself. But if you sure
want to bring some special drink by yourself, you must plus
20% service charge as market retail.
Thanks for your coorpeation.
Roasted Po
Fantastic German PigÆs Knuckle
Shredded Turnip with Jellyfish in Mired Sauce
Great Garlic with Cucumber
Tomato with BrewedÆs Grain
Celery with Dried Praws
Lotus Root with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Parsley and Hair Fail Fish in Casserole
Grilled Belly
Braised Fret
Lion in ketchup and Oil
Soup of Wood Cook in pot
Pickled vegetable belly soup
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I saw people fish, what seemed to be, small goldfish from a
pond in Beijing zoo and then eat them raw.
I did not try it myself, but I am sure it's better than the
3 mths old greenish eggs they eat too...
The good thing about China is that must menues are in
Chinese only, so if you're eating dog or rat meat, you
probably want know it.
Claes.
How would you like NATTO?(fermented soybean)
You can also find, if you're lucky, some grasshoppers to
eat in Korea. Crispy, not bad....
You can try the deep fried bambu worms ins any Bai
restaurant in Yunnan (China), namely in Kuming or
Xishuangbanna. They're nice with dried pork meat.
Pedro
Turlte, (I had no choice - can't offend the host) Donkey and sea slug. Steer clear of the last, but donkey aint too bad.
I did see "fried crap" on a menu in Beijing, lets hope it was a typo.
In Taiwan,there are many strange foods.In winter,most people
like eat dog meal because they feel warm after eat it and in
north Taiwan ,there is a market .You can eat snake meal in
there.Some people like eat monkey's brain or frog .If you
interest in it .You can visit Taiwan.
Have you ever eat dog meal? If you have not,may be you can
visit Taiwan because you can eat it inwinter .
Nothing like scooping the brains out of a boiled sheep's
head from Xi'an's muslim quarter,...and the eyes are to die
for!
Raw dog meat served with dog bile sauce. Soooo bitter.
Drunken Shrimp: a delicacy served in many restaurants in
Sichuan province. Under a glass bowl, mired in a bed of
lakeweed, impregnated with vinegar, garlic and high octane
liquor, you watch live, manic shrimp slowly become
inebriated until their antenna are barely moving before
popping them in your mouth. Not repulsive in flavour or
texture but you are reluctant to chew when the food can chew
back!
Turbine Mutton/Pig - my description of a feast prepared in a
remote, rural community in the Liangshan Yi Minority region,
near Xi Chang, southwest of Chengdu. Take 1 large sheep or
pig, extrude through turbine engine, collect effluent, boil
and serve in large white enamel basins, eat with wooden,
sideways spoon, not chopsticks. Choose from skin, intestine,
organ meat, fat chunks, teeth and occasional muscle, i.e. a
gestalt experience. Served in a large, open courtyard of
town centre while squatting on small, rectangular seats with
6" legs, all the men in a circle around the basins of pig,
mutton, mantou, boiled potatoes and rice, washed down with
spoonfuls of yellow, mutton soup.
Sea urchin sushi. Very tasty, but feels just like eating
wet sawdust. Has that kind of gooey feeling with rough bits
in it.
The strangest food I had in China was pig's feet, duck's
feet, duck stomache, , stinky tofu, tofu made from blood,
and pig ears. I also had snails...which I thought were
really weird. And one of my friends ate a rabbit on a
stick!
I once ate kalamari in Korea. Before everyone says, "Big deal, it's breaded" I have to say, at one restaurant in Osan, I ate one of its tentacles, I think, and the thing slid out of the breading! It was all pink, with big suckers. I used to like kalamari. Now it's a nightmare! Also take a look around in the markets in Korea. Many times I wondered about buying poultry, fearing I could get poisoned because sometimes the poultry could have been sitting out on the cutting block for hours, maybe days! Uggh! Think of sanitation! Koreans are supposed to be very smart, but they can't simply refrigerate a chicken (maybe throw it out if it's bad) but serve it to people! Uggh! Gross! Salmonella alert!
sparrow yakitori in Japan - head was real mushy and tasted
like mud and the body was crunchy, like eating a handful of
toothpicks. Thank god for sake !
In the deep rainforest of Papua New Guinea we had been offered ants and wasps to eat alive! The kids came from all over the place to eat them. I tried. The ants taste sour and the wasp were sweet! But this was only an appetizer. For dinner we hat a kind "rats" (Marsupalias), hunted with bows and arrows, roasted on the fire for hours with all their guts and fur! I just tried a leg and this was delicous!
Yours Nick
G'day,
Been to Hong Kong + Japan just recentley and I was
determined to try as many different foods as possible !st
day Got into the old pigs intestine's not bad, next I went
for the Toad (as you do)stir fried with ginger and it was
absolutley delicious, did the usuall from then on out chooks
feet, pickled pidgeon eggs but the best in Hong Kong is when
(just like in Indiana Jones movies) they serve up a snake
slice her open and "hey ho" there's hundreds of baby sakes
for dinner.
It was definitely not that kind of German soups called ox-tale-soup
(the original names in German sounds both the same).
The soup was hot but the "meat" itself tasted like a bit of chewable
nothing in your mouth, and perhaps the Malay I was working with did
just fool me ... but then, it did┤nt remind me in it┤s
consistence on something I ever
have eaten before.
i eat satay, roti canai, lontong, mee rebus, cha kuei tiao,
chicken ball rice, wan tan mee, bo bo cha cha, tosay, mee
goreng, and.... a lot more of Malaysians' food.
They're great!
You don┤t have to travel far to find disgusting food - even
in Europe. Go to the Pfalz area in south-west Germany and
order Saumagen, a pig┤s stomach filled with blood, brain,
liver etc.
Bon appetit!
I had some guinnea pig in Ecuador (locally known as cui). It
was served in one piece, standing in a bed of potatoes and
peanut sauce. Quite a beauty looking at you with the little
head, ears and teeth sticking out. Crispy skin, very fatty
and hardly any meat. The head is a delicacy and has to be
eaten completely! Yum.
We had friends from China(Shanghai) staying here in Canada.
They invited us over for a Christmas dinner. Everything was
wonderful, bamboo, fish soup, etc. The last course was
Peking duck, with everything still in it. I, being the
youngest and the daughter of the guests, was offered the
brain. It tasted like a peanut and was about the same size.
It wasn't all that bad, but still a bit strange at first!
I'm leaving for Shanghai tommorow, so if I can find this
page again, I'm sure there will be wilder additions to it
from me!
Whlie traveling in Africa last year we came upon
some caterpillars and grilled mice on skewers but by far the
most amazing thing were lake flies. There are some islands
in the middle of Lake Malawi where, occasionally, swarms of
lake flies reach. People come out of their homes and
swing large baskets to collect thousands of these tiny
flies and then they mold them into small patties. They're
actually quite sweet and the kids there seemed to feel that
it was a real treat!
I just want lonely planet to show a trip to thailand
Ive been there twice and just back packed around i want to see how they would travel it.
I want to take my own single engine plane to Cuba. i have
been to Cuba before and know my way around, but I am not
familiar with the issues surrounding air travel to Cuba. I
would like as much info as possible or direction to the
source for such info.
THANKS!
I've never read a more gross bunch of posts. And it's
not that you're eating weird things, it's that many of you
seem to be gloating over the distress you're inflicting.
Where are your heads at? Ever spare a thought for the misery
you're wreaking on your fellow creatures? Live baby snakes,
live drunken shrimps? 'Dog meal'? Sounds like not many of
you have got a handle on empathy for the other creatures we
share the planet with. Ever think that maybe a shrimp's
purpose in life was not to be tortured then eaten alive, or
that a snake's higher purpose was maybe not to be cut open
and have its offspring tipped out for some geek from
Murrumbidgee's (Settsa) dinner?
Grow up and think before you head out into the world.
I've enjoyed this posting for several months now and hope LP
keeps it for longer. For one thing that this posting should
show people, esp Mr Unpronouncible above, is that the
essence of traveling is learning and experiencing new
cultures and their perceptions of the world. One of these
perceptions more common than not is that animals are
animals, not people. And if it's to be eaten, then dammit,
enjoy it! We CERTAINLY don't need any more neo-imperialists
running around the world telling the locals how to do things
(or what to eat!)
Hey Louis, I don't know where you got the impression that
I'm running around the world telling locals how to do
things. I have no idea where you got the impression that I'm
a 'neo-imperialist'. I'm simply saying that the tone of many
of the above postings bugged me. As I said, many of the
writers seem to be gloating over the distress they're
causing. If you want to go ahead and do it, well good luck
to you. But it doesn't say very much for your level of
awareness and empathy with your fellow creatures.
I know that animals aren't people, but if humans did show a
little more empathy then maybe the world wouldn't be in the
disastrous state that it's in.
I enjoy a piece of meat as much as the next person, but I
don't go around cutting live sheep open or stuffing live
animals in my mouth, and then gloating about it. Similarly,
I'm not on a crusade to change the eating habits of
Vietnamese villagers or Arabic nomads. I don't believe
you're learning anything about another culture or their
perceptions of the world by participating in the cruelties
they perpetrate, even if they are in the name of 'cuisine'.
That argument would take you along to Saudi Arabian public
beheadings, Afghan public hangings, or allow you to enjoy
eating live monkey brains in north east Asia. And if you
think that's ok, then you've got a long way to go.
Little did I know what was in the tom-yam at the issarn
restaurant on Saket road. My wife asked me "Honey, you know
what meat you eating?" I said, "Uh, no, but it tastes okay
to me." She said, "You eating cow's penis!" I chewed on that
bit of information and replied, "Dear, cows do not have
penises, but I know what you are saying..."
if you are in Japan, then you should try natto (fermented
soybeans) - smells terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible, looks
terrrrrrrrrrible. They tell me it's healthy but ....
smell,stcky,looks trrrible,,,,but I love it.
try try try!
A clarification: It's neo-imperialist to go to a foreign
country and tell them how to do things, including how and
what to eat. If someone somewhere gives you some food as a
gesture of goodwill, cultural understanding, etc, it's often
a grave insult not to accept it. Then, to judge the food on
it's preparation is insult to injury. It's ethnocentric to
say what they do is wrong.
***
Many cultures DON"T have the empathy with animals you're
talking about, and I don't blame them, and I DEFINATELY
wouldn't equate it with that country's Human Right's record.
Some places it's just not economically or environmentally
practical to treat animals humanely. Furthermore, some
cultures don't believe that animals have feelings. They
wouldn't interpret eating live, drunken shrimp as cruel, for
example. Plus, in the wild they're eaten raw, alive, and in
more violent manners.
I do think it's odd how people squirm about what they've
eaten, but that's just one of those cultural differences
that people encounter while traveling. What's disturbing
are people's judgements. Notice how no one writes about the
fppd oddities of their OWN culture. Hey, I think the most
disgusting food in the world is McD's hamburger, or Oscar
Meyer weiners, and you can almost prove it: A "pure" fresh,
recently-living creature, no matter what, isn't nearly as
disgusting as chemical-filled, hormone-injected, diseased US
Grade-A beef.
***
Like I said, This is in NO WAY related to a country or
cultures Human Rights record, as humans are different than
animals. Nor should you infere that a country's eating
habits reflect their treatment of people. Though it'd make
an interesting comparison, such a comparison is pointless
and meaningless.
Hell, Louis, thanks for straightening me out! Your lucid
arguments have left me shivering with shame and self
loathing.
For the record, I'll reiterate, because you don't seem
to be able to read my posts for some reason (perhaps your
mind is closed? You've had a lobotomy?):
Please point out to me where I said I was going around
foreign countries telling people what to eat? I am not on a
crusade, and am dumbfounded at your accusations of
'neo-imperialism'. Big concept, Louis, but maybe you should
go and look it up in the dictionary before you start
accusing me of it.
You said that 'the essence of traveling is learning and
experiencing new cultures and their perceptions of the
world'. Take that to its logical conclusion and you allow
all sorts of cruelties, including cruelties and abuses to
humans and human rights. In parts of the Arab world (and
probably elsewhere) they still practise female circumcision.
Go and check that out, mate, hey, it'll really help you
learn about another culture's perceptions of the world. When
I travel, I'm not a vegetable that accepts without
judgement that what is going on around me is fine and dandy
and that whatever I see will broaden my mind and help me
understand how other people view the world. They kill dogs
in China? Ah, now I understand! They cut up live tigers in
Taiwan! I get it! They cut off baby girls' clitorises in the
Middle East? Well, isn't that fine and dandy, now I know how
these people view the world.
Sure, I don't tell people how to live their lives (that
would be NEO IMPERIALISM, because I'm a white, western
male). You can't change other people, but you can set an
example that others may follow. Who knows, if tourists
stopped asking for live animals on the menu, the practice
may even diminish?
It's a very simple matter to feign stomach upset or
vegetarianism if you don't want to eat what's offered to
you, without causing offence. And judging from the posts
above, these travellers haven't been invited into people's
homes anyway - they've ordered this stuff off menus in
restaurants in the first place.
Your argument that in some countries it is just 'not
economically or environmentally practical to treat animals
humanely' is specious. There is no environmental or economic
imperative dictating (in this case) that you have to eat
live snakes or shrimps or that live monkeys' heads be cut
open so we can scoop out their brains(or in the broader
sense) that bears be kept in zoos with open wounds draining
their bile for Chinese medicine, or even that animals be
kept in zoos and circuses for our 'entertainment' etc. Tell
me, Louis, where the environmental or economic rationale is
for that? That is ignorance and cruelty, pure and simple, in
anyone's language.
That some cultures believe that animals don't have feelings
DEFINATELY (you better get out your dictionary again matey)
doesn't make it a fact. Humans have feelings, and we're
simply dressed up animals. We in the west believe dogs,
cats, primates etc have feelings, and in the case of
primates they obviously do. So where's the cut off point?
Tell me that? If larger animals have feelings, where do we
say, 'uh uh, you don't have feelings so I can fuck you over
in any way I like'?
You say that in the wild, animals are eaten in a violent
way - sure, but we're not in the wild, are we? We're not
starving when we go to a restaurant to try a new taste
sensation. We're going because we've made the world our
playground and forgotten that we share the planet with other
life forms that have every much a right to life and a death
with dignity as we do, and we're doing it out of our own
greed and need for self gratification. The cruelties we're
inflicting are totally unnecessary, whether shrimps are
better than McDonald's hormone and chemical injected beef or
not.
Listen, you're the one who wants to go off experiencing new
cultures and their perceptions of the world in all their
glory. In my experience if people can't treat animals, no
matter the life form, with any sort of respect then the
chances are they're likely to treat their fellows with a
similar disregard.
Go and get a life and a dictionary Louis, you great
fucking dope.
Louis you are fucking brain dead
Well, I certainly hit a sore spot, eh? A bit on the
defensive?
Although I think your rant is distasteful (pardon the pun)
and too emotionally charged (as well as scattered,
unorganized and unfounded) to bother replying, and I don't
really feel like bothering with you, I think I should
clarify some things.
***
First, Please note that I didn't call YOU a "neo-
imperialist" (it ain't cool to attack people on the net, and
personally I'm getting sick of it on the LP, but it seems to
be rampant).
I said that imposing one's socio-cultural values on other
people IS ethnocentric (and thus forceably imposing those
standards on those people is neo-imperialistic. I hope I
don't need to make the connection here. And again, I'm not
pointing fingers.)
***
Alot of what we think of being "inhumane" or gross are our
OWN socio-cultural perceptions. THUS, it's ethno-centric
(damn I wish i had a dictionary here. If someone needs a
definition, please ask KINDLY and I'll get you one) to deem
something "bad" because it doesn't look nice and good to
you. (not you, John, just You in the non-specific 2rd
person form). This ranges from Spiders on a stick, to
drunken shrimp, to Female Genital Mutilation (I suggest
anyone wanting to dive into that subject look somewhere else
on the web. But please note, many of the supporters of this
cultural practice are the young women themselves! (and
they're NOT babies))
***
And again (yawn) you can't compare a country's or culture's
culinary practice/treatment of animals to their treatment of
people and human rights record. Such comparisons are
usually biased, and I really question their point and
effectiveness.
***
ANYway, John, if you want to save the world, start with your
own country, as whatever it is, it needs help. And you won't
be a foreigner telling people what to do based on foreign
cultural norms. Other than that, If you write a
professional thesis with all these arguments, I'd be glad to
respond to them point by point, but you certainly don't need
to make any personal vendettas here...
yawn
Not only is John a Bore, Not only is he an ignorant, bossy "ethnocentric" bastard, Be he fell asleep in his own debate!
Alright, nothing to see here people, Let's get Going Again with those AMAZING food Stories!!! Anyone gotten SICK from this food? I myself, once had LIVE AMOEBAS-! they were sitting right on my spoon, every time I use it, actually. I try getting rid of them, but they just DON'T GO AWAY! Good thing i'm not a Jain...
It's true. I ate every bit of him, amoebas and all, leaving
only his shoes and a few crusty bits. He was rather bland
and was reminiscent of several other banal flavours I've
come across before. But I seasoned him with Louis as side
salad. He was a bit crunchier and complained louder,
generally had more to say for himself (and I had to wash his
newly bought dictionary down with a good red), but I stirred
in a splash of my own 'ethnocentricity', a dash of
'neo-imperialism' and seasoned it with my 'bossy'-ness and
it was all quite palatable really.
I guess I've been wandering around in my own 'socio-cultural
values' for so long that I can't see clearly any more! I
thought whan Xaelk said 'Not only is John a Bore, Not only
is he an ignorant, bossy "ethnocentric" bastard, Be he fell
asleep in his own debate!' that he was inviting me to eat
him!!! And when Louis said, 'Anyway, John, if you want to
save the world...' I thought that was an invitation to shut
him up!!! What better way to shut up opinionated, stubborn,
wrong-headed people? (In fact, I'm hungry right now, and I
might eat myself! That'll certainly shut me up!!! I might
start with my fingers so I can't hit the keyboard any more!
Then I'll pop out my eyes, so I can't read these wicked
accusations any more!! Unbelievable what being mired in your
own socio-cultural values can do to your outlook on life.)
By the way, Louis, I apologise for playing the man and
not the ball. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
But right now, I'm getting to work on eating my fingers. Can
any one top that on this wacky, hey-let's-eat-anything-(even
if-it's-still-alive)-because-we're-the-rulers-of-the
universe-page?? gawk, gurgle arghhh grmph (the tendons
aren't too bad, actually)
Your blathering made me more nauseous than any of the food stories. If you wanna piss and cry all over yourself about how cruel people are for what they eat then do it somewhere else, because I for one was thoroughly enjoying these twisted food stories. I wasn't even gonna post here, but you're such a whingey little, interruptive bee-ahtch that I felt compelled..
Let's see...lobster bile cocktail, snake blood soup, chicken feet, part of a fresh yak carcass that I'd watched being sacrificed an hour earlier...
Damn dog, just lighten up--ple-e-eze.
One more thing...
If you really believe that foreigners refusing to order certain things off the menus is gonna' change the eating habits (such as eating EVERY part of whatever creature happens to be on the dinner plate for the eve) of a culture as old the Asian culture, then methinks you're a bit delussional.
and you STILL have a sense of humor?
John--apology accepted. Now, I dare you to look up the "debate" in Washington state between the sea shepards and (Native American tribe, forgot the name). The tribe wants to reinstate their traditional whale hunt--completely sanctioned by all national and international orgs--but drastically opposed by the Sea Shepards. (The SS are radical anti-whaling folk who take illegal actions against illegal whale. I once thought they were "cool" for their actions, but their stance now really disgusts me.) More on the lines of what we're arguing here, and a more appropriate forum than LP.
One final note here--how ironic in this "debate" that you admit to being a meat-eater! You should do some research on the treatment of animals in the US before you criticize other cultures. I myself, am of course a vegetarian, except when traveling... ;)
James--thanks for your voice of logic and understanding.
Hi there James
Your particularly insightful, logical, understanding and
thoughtful post left me a little perplexed. Can you please
tell me what a 'bee-ahtch' is? Is it some kind of new door
to a beehive perchance? Can you explain what 'pissing and
crying' all over oneself is? Methinks you may be a little
'delussional' yourself? And Louis, (yawn) my argument has
been against inflicting cruelty and gloating over it, as
people are doing here. I can't be bothered responding
further to you. That I didn't mention abattoirs was an
oversight. You obviously come from another planet. I suggest
we keep our distance, and you'll never stop ME FROM BEING A
NEO IMPERIALIST and running around the world telling other
people how to live their lives, (as you can obviously tell
from my previous posts). In fact, I'm the one who started
most of the strange food customs you come across in their
travels. I told the Bangladeshis, Koreans, Africans etc what
to eat, and they actually listened to me! You can pick a neo
imperialist in the dark at 50m paces with a blindfold on,
Louis.)
I take that back about you having a sense of humor...
John, you poor schmuck...as a published novelist I'm deeply saddened by your lack of creativity..."Door to a beehive?" Jeezus, that's gotta' be the lamest comeback I've ever heard (eh-hem, read) in my entire life. If you can't figure out what "pissing and crying" all over yourself means, then I'm sure you're past the point of help...just keep on barfing all your angry little words, and don't worry about the fact that you have absolutely no imagination or sense of humor. Hey Louis ("from another planet..." wow, the original, acidic wit is genius--could I use that in my next book, John?) --your easy-going style showed pure class against John's immature, schitzophrenic rantings. Smo-o-othe, bro! :~)
The wisdom and depth of analysis by our 'published novelist'
friend has convinced me of the error of my ways (or at least
to stop trading insults with 'schmucks' and 'bee ahtches'
on this web site). I could think of a very good place for
you to put your published novel, your ego (Who gives a stuff
except you if you've published a novel? And what sort of
legitimacy does it give you in a debate?) and your
patronising attitude, but this is certainly not the venue to
say it, Jimmy. And please feel free to use any of my
rantings in your next book. They will enliven it
considerably, assist you with your spelling and increase
your vocabulary.
Sorry if I'm interrupting your guys' argument, but I think this post lost its original thread. Maybe one of you should make your own posting. . .
More peculiar international foods:
A girl from Japan told me about a friend of hers, who in China ate a living monkey's brain. The head and scalp was sliced open, but the monkey strapped down. The poor fellow (obviously the monkey not the Japanese) was crying during the process. The dish is supposed to be illegal, but I guess with a bunch of money, one can do anything.
In korea, there's roasted silk worm larvae (smells like burnt hair). And also another interesting dish. Little live eels are boiled in a pot of water with a block of tofu. The heat drives the eels for refuge in the tofu, so they get cooked speared into the tofu. Then the tofu is taken out and sliced with the little chunks of eel interdispersed.
Pretty gross, huh? I actually haven't tried any of them (I myself am vegetarian), but I find it fascinating
... why nobody brought up fresh oysters, mussels, escargots, froglegs, ... and other delicacies of western cuisine ? Or Filet AmΘricain (raw 'kebapped' beef & fat) and horse-steaks as eaten in some European countries ? Or Foi Gras ? Or the small grilled fish which are eaten as they come (complete) in mediteranen countries ? And what is the Scottish pride Haggis again made of ?
I myself had fermented mares milk (forgot the name of it) and dried mares butter in Mongolia, fried grasshopper and grilled snakes in Thailand and a pizza from Pizzahat in Moscow.
In Norway I had a traditional Christmas dinner with a
friend's family that consisted of a dish that was made from
a lamb that had been slaughtered in the spring, introduced
with some sort of mildew and left to dry in the cellar for
9 months. Once it had become a chunk of hard moldy
leather, it was sliced thinly and soaked in Aquavit, to of
course cover the moldy lamb flavor with fiery PAIN! It was
the most difficult thing I've ever had to eat, but at least
it got me drunk.
I once had lamb's intestines impaled on a stick, washed
down with 100-proof homemade brew in Albania. What made it
really disgusting was that as a guest of honor, I was forced
to watch the poor animal being slaughtered while the family
dog feasted on it's squirting blood ... and I was a
vegetarian !!!! The last Americans to visit this village
were parachuting CIA agents that had been shot down and
killed(or so I was told), so I wasn't about to refuse.
I had fried bee larvae and fried moss in Xishuangbanna. In
Saigon, I ate pig's brain, which was mixed in with scrambled
eggs. And in Hanoi, I was served bull's penis! (And no, they
didnt just tell me that as a joke -- it was printed on the
menu!)
You were misinformed, toads don't have placentas, they are
amphibians!
Only mammals (placental mammals at that: excludes spiny
anteaters and duck-billed platypus)have placentas, which
connect the foetus to the mothers blood supply in utero.
Duncan
dgfgdfgdf
I tried posting this message before but I dont think it
worked... if I'm repeating myself, chalk it up to residual
effects of eating these things. My brushes with strange
foods include eating bee larvae, fried moss and a chicken's
head in Xishuangbanna; eating pig's brain and scrambled eggs
in Saigon; and being served bull's penis in a restaurant in
Hanoi. Mmm-mmm good.
One of the more unusual things I have eaten was large bamboo
worms from Northern Thailand. They are about three inches
long, as thick as a finger, and all white except for a black
face(?). They are deep fried and taste like excellent
french fries with a very high protein content. I'd eat them
again. I have not found any in Northern California,
unfortunately.
Most countries I have
travelled to eat some pretty
strange foods! But the Orient
was the weirdest.
It is difficult to eat an animal
(dog) (or cat) that you spent
most of your childhood with.
Asians overall are extremely
barbaric. Some days we were
pretty freaked out. We joked
that the only thing they
DON'T eat is people!
Ironically after that, in one
village that we were in, we
were told that the soup we
were eating had fluid and
tissue from the testicles of a
older man who had died in
the village that week who had
fathered many children and
went on to have many
grandchildren. He was
believed to be "fertile and
fruitful" in his life and his
prosperity was to be passed
on to everyone in the village.
I really hope this was a joke
(!!). Sure gives new meaning
to "Sweet and Sour soup".
We also saw several bamboo
cages of cats waiting to be
skinned and eaten in most
cities and towns. We were
told that they bonk the cat on
the head so its woozy and
then skin it and deep fry it. We
believed them and did not
stick around to watch it.
All in all, the countryside
throughout Asia is beautiful
and the people are pretty
friendly. But it was difficult
most days finding and
choosing what to eat. Most of
the creatures that are
consumed are killed brutally,
inflicting terror which is
believed to bestow strength
for those eating.
Next year we are going to
travel in a strictly Buddist
area for a change! The
cuisine is great and pain free!
Australia has to be one of the top "wierd food" places,
traditional aboriginal foods being at the top of the list.
1. witchety grubs - worms the size of your index finger and
cream filled-yummy.
2. ants - you're only supposed to eat the back part, which
tastes like a sour lemon.
3. fried goanna lizard or pit-roast kangaroo tail.
If you ever travel to Australia and have the guts to do it,
try one of these.
How about boiled turtle in Guilin? Pretty good except for
the feet which had a couple bones too many in them. Really
thin slices of deer antlers were pretty good too...kind of
like toasted almond slices. Only problem was that I was only
allowed to have a couple because they are considered to be
an aphodisiac, and so only men are supposed to eat them. :)
....brussels sprouts.....
Plus excerpt from a Hong kong menu "mini Buddha soup - unique ingredients include shark's fin, abalone, sea slugs, yun nan ham, deer sinew and conpoy"
You don't have to go all the way to Asia to find weird food.
Go to Sweden and tase the sour herring, or to Norway for
lutefisk - fish pickled in lye. Try the salted whale blubber
in the Faeroe Islands, or eat it raw in Greenland or Canada.
Come to Iceland for the putrefied shark (we bury it for a
few months and then dig it up and eat it). It is a heavily
acquired taste. If someone offers some to you, there will
usually be a glass of the horrible Black Death schnapps with
it. If you don't like the smell of the shark, drink the
schnapps first, that's what we do! Actually, eating
this shark is supposed to protect you from food poisoning -
mind you, it hasn't been scientifically proved!
If you are ever in Iceland on the day before Christmas
Eve, yoy may smell an ammonia-laden aroma coming from some
of the restaurants in Reykjavφk. That's when we are
celebrating the feast of St. Thorlakur, by eating (again)
putrefied fish, skate this time. A wonderful cure for colds,
this is one meal many of us give a miss!
I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried the shark, what
did you think of it?
Chicken Embryo Soup. In Vietnam. Seemed odd to have those
little chickies bobbin up and all around in the soup.
Fried Swallow. In Vietnam. Being an invited guest I
recieved an added treat - the heads and necks of the poor
little buggars.
Much as I would like to contribute to the neo imperialist
debate it all seems a bit irrelevant to our discussion on
weird food. After all just becuase one says one doesn't like
something it doesn't mean that the person doing it is
killing thousands now does it....my mother has some fairly
horrid wall paper at her home.......
Anyway on with the gross food. I was just in Mongolia and we
had marmot (bit like large guinea pig) and fermented mares
milk. Both of these scored high on the general scale of
nastiness. The marmot in particular was also not so good as
it carries the plague.
Method: Spend all morning pointing out the marmots to your
guests, telling them about their little burrows and
encouragng them to believe that they have a long and fun
life. Guests:Take photos, go aaah in a British animal loving
hypocritical sort of way (hey lets remember those animal
rights!)
Blow off the marmots head with a large gun, after calling it
from its burrow with a marmot call ("Oi big guinea pig, over
here son")
Pull out the intestines through the neck. Burn off all the
fur with a blow torch (helps with the whole bubonic plague
thing), stuff with hot rocks and cook from the inside out.
Leave the feet on as they make an attractive feature as
carried to the table.
Enjoy!! (Guests: this doesn't include you)
For anyone who is bothered, marmot tastes like gone off
gamey goose run over by a truck.......another story there I
think)
Taste in food probably does not reflect human rights; I was
on a human rights official delegation and furry animals are
not on he indicator list for abuses. Marmots, well thats
another thing!
You're absolutely right--I'll make a new post so that John and I can shoot at each other in private!
L-o-v-e the new food yarns guys--bring on the marmots! Ha!
By the way...it's no lie that you can find disgusting grub while trudging around your own country--ever try chitlins in the States? Talk about nasty tasting..J-e-e-z-u-s!
John: If you have to make spelling mistakes, don't put them
in capitals, there's a good lad. And not in a sentence where
you are gloating about your superior intelligence/command of
English. It makes you look silly.
Check the message above that one, sleepy-head. John is much
too clever to make spelling errors. He's SO cool
not as gross as some others, but weird for an airline snack
on the flight from Chengdu to Beijing: squid-flavored crispy
green peas
they should do this on the u.s. carriers, too--so tired of
honey-roasted peanuts...
we were in a market in Seoul, and started playing menu-
roulette (ie. pointing to an unknown word on the menu,
gritting one's teeth, and hoping for the best), and struck
out hard...they whipped out the sea cucumber, chopped it
into slices with a cleaver, and left the pieces for us on a
plate, moving ever so slightly. sort of like living jello,
only with a bad taste.
oh, and i have to second the mention of natto as well.
Old man's testicles???? That MUST be the winner!
I have only a small contribution (bought it, but didn't try
it): 1) instant jelly fish (I suppose you just add hot water
to the suspecious content of the bag and - voilß - you get a
jelly fish); 2) dried yak penis
Both items purchased in Lhasa, Tibet (Chinese stuff).
My #1 disgusting food --- I go along with brussel sprouts. Next is lutefisk (Norway) When traveling in Asia, I've learned -- don't ask.
WHILST `ON THE TOWN` IN LIMASSOL CYPRUS, A FRIEND AND I GOT
PALLY WHITH THE CYPRIOT BARMAN, FROM BEHIND A LARGE AMOUNT
OF DUSTY BOTTLES HE BROUGHT FORTH A BOTTLE OF SOUTH KOREAN
ADDER WHISKEY, SO CALLED AS IT CONTAINED A LARGE, DECAYING
ADDER IN IT.
HE POURED AN EXTREMELY LARGE MEASURE INTO A GLASS AND
CHALLANGED ONE OF US TO DRINK IT....... WE PLAYED DARTS,
LOSER DRINKS..... I LOST.
BEFORE EVEN TASTING IT THE SMELL ALMOST FINISHED ME OFF, I
WIMPED OUT!, WITH GUSTO, MY PAL DOWNED IT IN ONE.....
WHAT FOLLOWED WAS WILDLY AMUSING, HE DANCED, SWORE, CHANGED
COLOUR, BEFORE SLUMPING INTO A CHAIR.... I JUST HAD TO TRY
IT!
I DRANK. THE LIQUID (REMEMBERING THAT IT DID SAY WHISKEY ON
THE BOTTLE) BURNED AS IT WENT DOWN THE THROAT AND INTO THE
STOMACH, IT SMELLED, I DANCED, SWORE, CHANGED COLOUR, BEFORE
SLUMPING ALSO INTO A CHAIR. WORSE WAS TO FOLLOW....
FOR THE NEXT THREE OR FOUR DAYS, BURPING WAS A NO-NO, WHILST
ALONE, LET ALONE IN COMPANY, JEEZ, IT STANK!, AND ALL THIS
FROM ONE LITTLE GLASS!
does anyone know if cod tongues are really cod tongues? i
asked my relatives, but they were couldn't bring themselves
to give the mainlander a straight answer.
i'm in korea too, and after wandering through an open market
in my first week here (i was so exhausted i nearly fell into
the tub of eels i was grossing out over), i will never do
restaurant roulette.
my vote for disgusting food?
canned moose meat. tastes great, but don't look at it
first.
april: (#70) most koreans don't eat their pet dogs, they
ahve a special breed for the purpose (as they will tell you,
very virtuously).
one student did admit that during a period of poverty, he
came home from middle school to find his dog missing and
stew on the table. he was a vegetarian until the seoul '88
olympics, when, sickened by western condemnation of dog soup
and the korean gov'ts reaction, he began to eat meat as a
form of national pride.
the human mind is truly an amazing peice of work.
Don't FOREIGNERS eat some crap!
Have you ever had cow cock soup, goat head soup? Apparently
it is good for men who want to have lots of kids. It is
suppose to make you good in bed.
You can find this concucsion on the beautiful island of
Jamaica.
Hello! Have you tasted the delicacy of the cooked tender jak
fruit, a tropical fruit ? Tender jak fruit, first you need
its throny green skin to be peeled off with a sharpened
knife. Then boil it untill the pulp of the fruit get
softend. Then chop it to small pieces, add spices chile or
peper and cococnut cream or coconut juice a litle salt and
then cook the dish in moderate temperature for an half an
hour. Temper the stuff with a little vegetable oil adding
spicy leaves. Let the dish to set and serve it to the dinner
table.
If you visit Sri Lankan country side you may be able to
taste this delicious dish. The dish is good for stomach
soothing and as a digestive meal.
Thanks. Your commenta are mostly welcome.
Samanlatha.
The menu was a dodgy english translation classic; "fish
cream", "Inside of cow soup" and the like, but when i saw
that you could order "Deep fried come with honey" a whole
new horizon in erotic food was revealed to me.
My girlfriend and I were staying with the Phrang-wao tribe
in the hills of the Thai-Cambodia border. On a special
festival day, after much food and drink, the village
chieftain introduced us to a wonderful ceremony. My
girlfriend has always been a bit reluctant, but I pointed
out to her that this wasn't in the Lonely Planet, and was
hence worth doing as a desperate means of doing something
original to outdo hordes of fools we had met 'on the
road'.
We both received ceremonial semen from the elder's member,
termed 'Phong tat gab', or 'the root of ages'.
It tasted bloody terrible!
Had this brown spicy, medicinal tasting soft drink in
several countries in SE Asia. Def. an acquired taste. I
think it originates in the USA. Called Coca-Cola I beleive.
Strange stuff.
Not SE Asian, but Poi from Hawaii is an odd taste. The
Hawaiins like it "Day Old" as it spoils a bit. I think it
tastes like grade-school paste used to smell. My neighbor,
a Hawaiin native, loves the stuff. I brought her some back
from a recent trip and she darn near jumped my bones! BTW,
Poi is bolied mashed tarot root. Purple in color.
Supposedly vert nutritious.
Actually I do not had them, but they were available on
table on the street in Hangzhou. It was some 40 small dried
"things" and it was too much for me that day - on the end I
had there some frogs for diner. Some snakes - in on
restaurant personal was playing with snake in front of us
before he cutes had by scissors. On other hand some French
cheeses are something, that I do not need to eat at all.
Sometimes is possible find in the night markets some fried
beatles (every night in the night market in Bangkok near
National Library near Sri Aythuaia road). Worse drink in my
life was probably in China some that bottle, that look like
vodka or gin, but taste like turpentine.
I hope it isn't considered rude to post such a long entry,
but this is copied from my journal:
NOTES ABOUT MANADO, November 23, 1994
"WeÆd like an order of rat, please."
"Sudah habis. Already finished."
"Oh à rats. OK, how about some RW (pronounced æairwayÆ)?"
"You mean anjing? Dog? Tidak ada. There isnÆt any."
"Well then, how about some paniki?"
"Sure. How much would you like?"
"Sedikit saja. Just a little bit." à Of bat.
We came to Manado, a city of 250,000 inhabitants on the
northeastern tip of the orchid-shaped island of Sulawesi
(formerly Celebes), to do some scuba diving. Bunaken Island
Marine Reserve, a half-hour boat trip from the coast, is
considered to offer some of the best diving in Indonesia,
which is to say, in the world. Perusing the guidebook, we
made special note of the food and restaurant section. The
local Minahasa cuisine is renowned for its reliance on the
aforementioned delicacies.
We had discussed the ethics and desirability of eating manÆs
best friend with some of our Balinese acquaintances. We were
told "they eat dog in Denpasar sometimes", but our friend
was not willing to do so himself because the local dogs
might be able to hear it barking in his stomach and would be
angry with him. Dog meat is considered a "hot" food which
gives lots of energy and is good for people with asthma.
We thought that a diet of fruit with perhaps a few insects
ought to give a nice flavor to the flesh of the fruit bat.
People in Nyuhkuning (near Ubud) used to hunt for fruit
bats. They would congregate in the fig trees when the fruit
was ripe. But no more. Our friend thought they had all gone
away, maybe to North Bali. Maybe. Or maybe they were just
gone. We all agreed that rat didnÆt seem very enticing. Who
knows what kind of garbage they might eat. But in Sulawesi,
when we wrinkled our noses at the suggestion of rat, our
Manadonese driver hastened to assure us that they ate forest
rats, not house rats, and that they were considered the most
delicious of all.
We hired a car and driver for a day trip among the coconut
palms, rice fields, clove trees and volcanoes of the
Minahasa region, in the highlands south of Manado. On the
way out of town we passed the Five Heroes, ten-foot-high
painted concrete busts of Manadonese military heroes,
arranged in a semi-circle at the entrance to the military
cemetery. The people of the area are 90% Christian, and
white-painted churches are in evidence everywhere. The most
impressive has intricate castle-like steeples and iridescent
opal tiles glistening in the sun. There is a cemetery near
Airmadidi where stone sarcophagi called warugas from the 9th
to 18th century have been collected. Tradition says that the
inhabitants of these stones carved and carried them up to
their gravesites while possessed of superhuman strength just
before their deaths. Each is carved with a likeness
depicting something about the life or cause of death of the
occupant. Many show men dressed in Portuguese-style
clothing, and there are a few graphically-clear carvings of
women who apparently died in childbirth.
Many people spend the hot part of the day doing handwork and
conversing in the shade under their handsome wooden houses,
which are supported on posts ten or twelve feet above the
ground. Animals, and these days cars, can take shelter
underneath too. In this humid, often-rainy climate, the
elevated houses are the most practical way to combat
moisture and vermin. In Lake Tondano, a large lake set among
the volcanoes, there are several similar houses as well as
large fishing platforms resting on stilts over the water. We
were quite surprised to drive through a village where, along
the road, large numbers of traditional-style houses are
being fabricated, sort of like Lindahl Cedar Homes, to be
reconstructed on other sites. For about $10,000 you can
purchase a beautiful new 4- or 5-room house of about 900
square feet.
Gardens are well-tended, and a great fondness for brightly-
colored flowers and foliage is evident. Red-orange cannas,
red-green cordyline, golden sunflowers, and mottled crotons
line the road. Bright pink and red attire is popular too,
and the umbrellas are absolute fantasies of color. Even the
old farmers and their wives, trundling down the road in
wooden-wheeled carts drawn by pairs of humped white oxen,
wear conical straw hats painted with red, blue, and yellow
designs. These flashes of color contrast sharply with the
lushly verdant countryside.
Monsoon season was just beginning and our timing was perfect
when we pulled into one of several restaurants that line the
road in Kasuang, a town near Lake Tondano that is famed as a
center for Minahasa cuisine. The proverbial buckets-ful of
rain thundered onto the corrugated-metal roof of the large
open-air establishment. We shouted our order to the
waitress, and included an order for pig cooked
traditionally, spiced and packed into a bamboo tube and
grilled over hot coals. This was a winneràlarge chunks of
tender delicious meat. The bat, on the other hand, was
rather daunting. I suppose I expected shreds of meat in some
sort of stew, but what arrived at the table was a plate
bearing a bat entiere, black and shiny, swimming in a
bright-yellow oil. The skin looked like patent leather, and
appeared to be as tough. The fruit bats I had seen before
were rather large, about the size of a skinny chicken, but
this apparently was a smaller species, which made it
difficult to find a piece of meat large enough to take a
bite from, once the (very stretchy) skin was removed. I
accused Christopher of snagging the breasts, but he fared no
better. The driver pointed to something sort of like a
drumstick, but it was so rubbery I couldnÆt pull a piece
off. I finally found a piece to nibble on and found that the
resemblance to rubber didnÆt apply only to the texture. In
addition to having been cooked in an exceedingly spicy
sauce, there was an underlying earthy flavor, with nuances
of tar. Rather like road kill. Or maybe part of a blowout
found by the side of the road. The driver, at least, partook
with gusto, carefully removing one slender white bone at a
time from the outstretched wings and happily masticating the
resultant limp, glistening mass. Later, as we approached the
hot springs on the side of the volcano, the clouds of
sulfurous smoke brought the taste of the bat right back.
Just as well we didnÆt develop a taste for bat, as two
American researchers we met the next day told us that, as we
suspected, they have been over-hunted and are disappearing
from the area. It is now becoming necessary to go quite far
afield to find them, and they are even being imported from
other islands. While generally agreeing with our opinion of
bat, the researchers thought that rat was rather more tasty.
Dog, they said, was generally presented in such a spicy
preparation that it was difficult to distinguish it from
other kinds of meat. Their own particular subject of
investigation was the black macaque, a small, cuddly-looking
woolly black monkey with a lot of personality that is found
only in Sulawesi. We had seen several tied up in yards and
under houses. They said the reason there were so many
captive at this particular time of year was that these
unfortunate monkeys serve as substitute Christmas turkeys in
this (largely Christian) region. We had been wondering what
an Indonesian Christmas would be like, but intend to avoid
this particular holiday treat.
Yes, i'm glad you managed to save this post from SOMEONE'S
psycho rants (I've vowed to avoid nor instigate any www
slander. And James, thanks for the support! sometimes it
ain't easy rising above the bile.).
I do have two more cents to contribute:
1)McDonald's, oscar meyer weiners, and twinkies are far
more disgusting than anything mentioned yet. Can anyone
list (and decipher) the ingredients of any of those items?
It'd make a great posting...
2) squeeming at these things only shows your own
cultural... (i'm trying to be nice) inhibitions. remember,
some people have to eat these things daily!
keep up the good work...
Get of your high hourse and enjoy just having a bit of a
laugh.
It's easier to just have fun that to keep up the "coolness"
that you're trying so have to adopt.
You are cool and we are not. OK?
Go hang somewhere else!
(I mean that in a semi-fun way, not like some of the mean
people out there on the Tree of late!)
Dog stew, chicken feet and silk worms (although not all at
the same sitting)
Thank god they were small. VERY bitter. A gulp of sake and they went down easily.
Tried a lot of the stuff from Japan listed above, most of it is great...but don't much care for whale. Natto is great! Very healthy! Give it a sceond try. First time I had raw chicken, I have to admit, it was scary! But abolutely delish! Of ANY culture in the world, I definitely put Japan at the top of the list for food 'safety'. No worries here!
I once had a meal out of desperation and immediately felt
ill. Must have been the weather, could't have been the big
mac
We were treated to a small bowl fresh placenta soup in
Lishan, Taiwan. It is a tonic for a woman's post-partum
recovery...we got to share a few spoons. A bit salty. The
poisonous Tiger-Head Bee Wine the next day was equally
interesting, my girlfriend who is a Hakka, had a light
epileptic fit. The host told her that the poison was
"fighting a poison" in her system, and restoring her "chi".
I thought it was similar to Ketamine.
I've traveled to about 30 countries and 48 US states (yes
I'm from the US) and I realize that some unusual things can
be eaten in the US: rattlesnake, frog legs, brains of damn
near anything, testicles, goat guts barbecued on a stick,
whole cow or goat heads barbecued in a pit in the ground
(barbacoa), smoked/pickled tongue, chitlins (deep fried hog
guts), and I grew up eating everything we happened to hunt
down: squirrels, possum, coon, woodchuck, crow, porcupine
(in addition to less "shocking" things like deer, bear,
turkey, rabbits, etc). Now, you're not going to see many
of these things in restaurants, but in homes and an
occasional restaurant outside of major population areas
many of us folks still eat "traditional" foods. BTW - I'm
only 32 years old and I'm from Michigan.
Sure:
Asia's got some funky foods. But try Rocky Mountain Oysters
once in your lifetime. I've eaten many an oyster in Asia &
America. But there ain't no sea in the Rockies, and that
wasn't no oyster I was chomping on (take a guess what it
was, think bovine genitalia).
Walk down the streets of a Chinatown (Boston, NYC, San
Francisco) and check out the menus in the windows of the
more ethnic resturants (usually formica-and-tile places
frequented by locals; dried animals in the front window is
a good sign).
I have seen the following (all are verbatim from menus):
"Stewed Pig Tendon with Duck Webs"
"Turnip with Jelly Fish"
"Pig Intestine w. Pickled Veg.& Pineapple"
"Salted Jerry [sic.] Fish"
"Malasya Delight w. Shrimp w. Ladies Finger"
I usually stick with the shark fin soup.
You bunch of sicko, I am totally enjoying reading this
thread :)
In Canton we eat this big cock-roach like bugs called Long-
shi (not cock-roach, mind you, every different stuff).
We also eat a kind of worms grown in the rice fields, fried
with scrambled eggs, it's delicious and very nutritious.
Of course snake and cat stewed soup is a delicacy (the name
is "Dragon fights the Tiger".
Small sparrows are great in the fall, and if you ever taste
fresh, rice-fed chicken in China, you start to wonder what
the American chicken is made off.
On the note of animal rights: I think louis says it all!
He's totally right-on.
Maybe I'm just a wuss, but I was very upset to be presented
with duck tongue in a restaurant in China. It comes with
all the tendons and stuff still attached, and sits there on
the plate, this sweet little pokey out tongue. I'm
hypocritical really, cos I don't have a problem eating duck
flesh normally.
Shrimps soaked in alcohol came live to the table, jumping
about in their dish as they died of alcohol poisoning.
Very tasty, but also distressing to watch. If they'd
finished them off in the kitchen, then told me they were
fresh, I'd have been happy enough believing them!
This is probably going to raise some opposition, but to me
it smells like shit and tastes like shit. Couldn't escape
from it in China. However they try to disguise it in
restaurants or on the street, on it's own or part of a
meal, squishy like custard, chewy like beef, plastic like
processed cheese, spicy on a kebab, or deep fried, it
always smells and tastes the same. One time I had some
brown tofu, and that really was hard to distinguish from
poo. I have to say I admire the versatility of the
substance though. Has anyone encountered it in more
interesting forms? I noted the eel version above. Glad I
didnt come across that one.
Has anyone tried eating homo sapien? I'd love to know what
it tastes like.
I haven't read all of the entries on this site but it
obviously attracts a large number of instinctively cruel
people. I totally concurr with mr/ms. no. 41. The gloating
over animal cruelty by many of the entries makes me want to
vomit. We don't condone female genital mutilation,
genocide, canabilism just because it's acceptable to some
cultures so why condone animal cruelty. I know many of these
animals die extremely cruel deaths. If different cultures or
travellers want to eat monkeys, cats, dogs etc. that fine,
but at least ensure that their death is humane. I hope that
some of you bunch come back as a Korean dog which is slowly
beaten to death in your next lives.
geko soup in central Vietnam.... At least, I guess that's
the name of this little creature (small, nocturnal,
yellowish lizard crawling over walls and eating mosquitoes)
I didnt even know fish had 'em
When I was teaching in Daqing NE China I had stir fried dog
at a banquet.It was good,and so long it was'nt my dog it was
OK!I think the Chinese can make anything taste goood.
Fish balls are meatballs made from crushed fish fillet, not
fish "balls"
God knows how many months and 110 replies. Now can someone
come and put this rotten post out of its misery?
Nope I couldn't pass this one by. Ever had sea cucumber or
beef tendons - very mushy and very chewy. Amazing what
some people eat, hey? And pickled jellyfish is yummy by
the way.
OK time to finish this post once and for all. Suffice to
say there are lots of weird foods out there, so get out
there and have a bite of whatever takes your fancy. Happy
chomping!
how about grasshopper, sea cucumber, raw horse-meat,
jellyfish, bee larvae, sea anemone, sea urchin, fish
intestine, and that's only japan.
and from mongolia there is dried horse milk curds (rock
hard) and my personal favourite: pure mutton fat! Yarghhh!
from tibet: yak jerky with skin and fur (adds taste and
texture, not to mention smell)
helmet crab (not so nice) and frogs and baked rat(very
tough!) and snakes and bull's balls (good!) and oh, mustn't
forget the dog hot pot(really very tasty, no kidding,
definately recommended)!
so-called beefsteak (pure gristle, yum!)accompanied by raw,
oily potatoes masquerading as chips on the transsiberian
railway
plus the most exotic drink to wash all this down:
Σppelwoi from frankfurt, germany (you can't really call this
stuff applewine)
Kunio: i love even bad tasting strange food, as an
experience!
karin: so what, i've actually eaten in a london wimpy's and
survived!
kunio: and the brain of sheep, is it popular?
karin: you bet!
how about grasshopper, sea cucumber, raw horse-meat,
jellyfish, bee larvae, sea anemone, sea urchin, fish
intestine, and that's only japan.
and from mongolia there is dried horse milk curds (rock
hard) and my personal favourite: pure mutton fat! Yarghhh!
from tibet: yak jerky with skin and fur (adds taste and
texture, not to mention smell)
helmet crab (not so nice) and frogs and baked rat(very
tough!) and snakes and bull's balls (good!) and oh, mustn't
forget the dog hot pot(really very tasty, no kidding,
definately recommended)!
so-called beefsteak (pure gristle, yum!)accompanied by raw,
oily potatoes masquerading as chips on the transsiberian
railway
plus the most exotic drink to wash all this down:
Σppelwoi from frankfurt, germany (you can't really call this
stuff applewine)
Kunio: i love even bad tasting strange food, as an
experience!
karin: so what, i've actually eaten in a london wimpy's and
survived!
kunio: and the brain of sheep, is it popular?
karin: you bet!
Can anyone tell me the colour of yak's milk, please?
but, that was in Canada...
In my fathers village in central Sumatra, once a year after
harvest the village elders masturbate the dogs and drink the
semen as a part of the celebrations. The taste is not as
bad as I expected but the quantity was too much.
Armien, your story truly made me gulp. I have heard
something which I believe is stranger. My brother was
working for a Islamic school in the Sudan and told me of the
practice of frying and eating the external sexual organs of
young girls who had suffered thathorific practice of
circumcision. As a circumcised male, I cannot believe in
that nightmare. does anyone else know more of this
practice/ delicacy?