What's the most exotic or unusual food you've ever eaten?

[Librarygirl]

I thought this might be fun and interesting.

I'll start. While it may not seem unusual to many people, I have tried escargot (snails) and they were delicious! I was in Spain and I was 20 yo...have not had them since.

This might be a bit different: I tried raccoon once as well. Not the greatest memory.

Emu: delicious!!

Squirrel, when I was small but I don't remember how it tasted.

[KeirasMom]

I've had ostrich--loved it.
Escargot--it's okay.
Alligator jerky--just okay.
Bison--maybe not weird. Loved it.
I love almost any kind of sushi or sashimi. Some people think that's weird.
For some reason, I can't bring myself to try frog legs. DH loves them.
Basque cow's tongue was good.
I've had lots of kinds of tacos: brain, tongue, tripas.
I like cracking open a cooked chicken bone and sucking the marrow out.

[fozzie99]

Raw Crab,fish, Sea Urchin eggs,chicken embryos,poi candy,candied ginger.

[KeirasMom]

oooh, I candied ginger!

I love strong flavors.
I like the burnt juices at the bottom of the roasting pan.
I eat wasabi straight too.
As a kid, I would pour tobasco into a spoon and eat it plain.
I'm beginning to think I have weird food issues.

[Librarygirl]

Originally Posted by KeirasMom

oooh, I candied ginger!

I love strong flavors.
I like the burnt juices at the bottom of the roasting pan.
I eat wasabi straight too.
As a kid, I would pour tobasco into a spoon and eat it plain.
I'm beginning to think I have weird food issues.

This reminds me of a funny story. One night I accompanied my bf at a Japanese restaurant where she was treating some business people to dinner. One of the guests was from Canada and apparently was new to Japanese cuisine (although I imagine Canada has as many as the US). We had sushi as an appetizer and he thought the wasabi was a dish of it's own...You should have seen the shades of red he turned while trying to maintain a straight face.

[Carly]

I guess the most unusual is alligator- It was fried and it really did taste like chicken.
I never met sushi I didn't like.
I've had octupus, squid, bison, buffalo, ostridge.
I love tamarind, but it's hard to find really good tamarind.

I'm not shy about trying new things... except... raw tomatos...

[Librarygirl]

Lol @raw tomatos!! But you never met a raw cucumber you didn't like hey, Carly?

What is tamarind?

[Kissa]

cucumber

Eaten all mentioned so far. Strangest was bat pâté in the Seychelles. Delicious.

[Rayne_W]

Escargot - Oh how I adore "slugs on the half shell". Divine.

Blood sausage - Didn't mind the blood, but a bit too squidgy/fatty for me.

Calamari - Texture issues I can't get around. Got the distinct impression I was chewing on a dolphin's blow hole. Can't bring myself to eat the part with the suckers. DD loves it.

Peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches - I love them! But they hate me! Horrible reflux issues (but nothing an antacid can't fix).

Pickled pigs feet - Apparently I loved them as a small child.

Alligator - Local eatery makes gator gumbo, and it's amazing!

Buffalo - Very, very good.

Sushi (raw) - Only once, again it's a texture issue I can't get past.

Vegemite - Ah, salty beer jam...I love it (somewhat of an oddity if you're American). I discovered it early this year, after decades of curiosity, along with Marmite. Vegemite won. I've been known to eat it straight out of the jar.

All in all, nothing very exciting or odd.

[Librarygirl]

Cindy, you've eaten raccoon? Or as they say in the south, coon?

[Librarygirl]

Originally Posted by Rayne_W

Escargot - Oh how I adore "slugs on the half shell". Divine.

Blood sausage - Didn't mind the blood, but a bit too squidgy/fatty for me.

Calamari - Texture issues I can't get around. Got the distinct impression I was chewing on a dolphin's blow hole. Can't bring myself to eat the part with the suckers. DD loves it.

Pickled pigs feet - Apparently I loved them as a small child.

Alligator - Local eatery makes gator gumbo, and it's amazing!

Buffalo - Very, very good.

Sushi (raw) - Only once, again it's a texture issue I can't get past.

Vegemite - Ah, salty beer jam...I love it (somewhat of an oddity if you're American). I discovered it early this year, after decades of curiosity, along with Marmite. Vegemite won. I've been known to eat it straight out of the jar.

All in all, nothing very exciting or odd.

I love calamari, but once exH and I ordered it and the smell was soooo bad, we lost our appetite for anything on the table. We did get a refund, btw.

[Rayne_W]

Originally Posted by Librarygirl

I love calamari, but once exH and I ordered it and the smell was soooo bad, we lost our appetite for anything on the table. We did get a refund, btw.

I made the grave mistake of prepping squid for someone else while I was in the first trimester of pregnancy. Between the smell, the ink, and the gelatinous concoction that was adhered to the inner cartilage, I was soon racing for the porcelain god.

Soooo not right.

[KeirasMom]

Ha! I worked as an EMT at a chicken processing plant when I was pregnant with Keira. Between chicken parts, sick people, unwashed workers, and the occassional gruesome injury, I spent a good part of that pregnancy worshipping the porcelain god!

[Rayne_W]

Originally Posted by KeirasMom

Ha! I worked as an EMT at a chicken processing plant when I was pregnant with Keira. Between chicken parts, sick people, unwashed workers, and the occassional gruesome injury, I spent a good part of that pregnancy worshipping the porcelain god!

^^That would have spelled the end for me, too!

[ouizoid]

Most of the above and I am sad to say, elephant

[adillenal]

I don't eat many odd things but I did have raccoon once although I was not sure what it was while I was trying to eat the greasy stuff. Thought it was a roast until I noticed the little bones. Then thought maybe squirrel. Hostess asked how we liked the coon while I was trying to swallow a bite. SO glad I did not gag on it. I never ate the tamales that she brought my brother after that. I told him she used road kill to make them. I still am not sure she didn't.

[Kismet311]

I've eaten both alligator and frogs legs. My mom said that my grandma used to give me cows brains when I was little (my grandma was a strange bird LOL). Thank goodness I was too young to know what it was!

[Librarygirl]

Coon hunting (raccoon) is a big sport in the south. I have never been involved, but some of the people I work with have husbands who are into it. "Coon" dogs, or Blue Tick Hounds are in the 1000's of dollars (to own one), so I guess it's a popular sport. I thought of raccoon as 'road kill' too, lol, but it's a popular holiday food for many, and not exactly cheap.

I'll pass though. The small piece I tried was chewy like jerky, tough and greasy.

[Mssarge]

I've eaten most of above...and hate to think of some of the things I might have eaten off street food carts in Seoul and other smaller towns in Korea. I'd have to say some of strangest was in a ryoken (farm-house style resort) in Japan. Ate bits off a live fish and popped a shrimp in my mouth that was still kickin'. Sorry if that affects you, but both were extremely tasty.

Never told my DH he was eating frog legs when he thought he was have some strange sort of chicken...thought it was the better of two evils.

[WantToBeSlim]

Probably frogs legs and snails. I tried these at school during a food technology lesson, too long ago so I cannot remember how they tasted. For some reason seem to think the snails probably tasted a bit like whelks

[adillenal]

Originally Posted by Librarygirl

Coon hunting (raccoon) is a big sport in the south. I have never been involved, but some of the people I work with have husbands who are into it. "Coon" dogs, or Blue Tick Hounds are in the 1000's of dollars (to own one), so I guess it's a popular sport. I thought of raccoon as 'road kill' too, lol, but it's a popular holiday food for many, and not exactly cheap.

I'll pass though. The small piece I tried was chewy like jerky, tough and greasy.

Yes coon hunting is popular in East Texas which is where I am from. And it is cheap as it comes if you shoot it out back. We have coons that get into our feed or did until we started locking it in a metal building. I am not going to cook one. No matter how many we kill trying to eat the goat feed or kill our chickens. Sorry not into coon. GREASY. Once was enough. And they are mean little varmints too.

[Librarygirl]

Don't get me started on possum. Or, that delicacy, chitterlings. Chitlins!

[piratejenny]

Originally Posted by Librarygirl

Lol @raw tomatos!! But you never met a raw cucumber you didn't like hey, Carly?

What is tamarind?

Originally Posted by Kissa

cucumber

Did I miss a cucumber joke or discussion?!
I'm actually allergic to them...of all things!!!

Tamarind is a very tart fruit that grows in a pod with lots of seeds. I lived in Costa Rica when I was little, and we would get blocks of tamarind paste (with the seeds still in it). We used it to make a lemonade-like drink. In India it is used in chutneys, soups, & many other dishes. It's dark brown, like dates.

It's in Worcestershire sauce and some steak sauces.

Tamarind candy is really yummy!

[adillenal]

Originally Posted by Librarygirl

Don't get me started on possum. Or, that delicacy, chitterlings. Chitlins!

Oh the stink. No let's not go there.

[Zib]

I'd have to say Ludefisk. It's dried cod, preserved with lye, then I think it's rinsed/soaked in water a few times before cooking.

We'd gone with neighbors to a Swedish restaurant for New Year's Eve buffet dinner. I had asked my friend what he thought one of the dishes on the buffet was (it was candle light only) and he said it looked like some type of potato dish, so I put a bit on my plate.

I can't say I actually ate it. It's the only time in my life I put food in my mouth and my body refused it. It literally came back out of my mouth the second I put it in, no effort on my part, totally involuntary reaction.

Clearly, I wasn't going to like it and my body was protecting me.

Have had snails, calamari, haggis, sweetbreads, buffalo, and like them all. It was just that ludefisk.

[jaymar]

Zib,..I love my coffee too...that's one item that I splurge on...usually make the Starbuck Columbia...I have always wanted to try haggis, but never had the opportunity...maybe if I get to go to Scotland in the future, I can find some.

[LoCarbGal]

I guess I'm not that adventurous, and I'm going to have to change that. For me it's been:

Calamari - the tentacles part
Alligator, fried
Javalina jerky - it's a wild pig in the desert SW. It wasn't good.

I have to say, of all the things mentioned, for me, Cindy's bat pâté wins first prize for weirdness!

[GrannyPants]

Remember the joke...

What is worse than finding a worm in your apple???



I have eaten alot of strangish foods, I do like to try new things... it's kind of strange how some things weird you out and are fine for others...

One of the things I can't get out of my mind is when I was given a tamale with the bottom of the chicken claw and leg in it...I already ate part of it before I got to the claw.

Another is eel...Way to ugly and scary...When I was in Japan we ordered food at a small street vendor...They had pictures of all the menu items, which was great since we couldn't read the menu...of course, guess what I ordered...
It looked really good, but when my friend told me what it was (she recognized it because her father liked it) I couldn't bring myself to eat it no matter what and I was strarving...I ate plain white rice that evening...
I hate to even see eels on TV programs...it really creeps me out.

My next conquest will be those crickets or grasshoppers they toast...Just hope they don't show up in any tamales I get this year...

[GrannyPants]

Originally Posted by LoCarbGal

Calamari - the tentacles part

YEP THAT TOO!! Especially when it is hanging out of someones mouth or the edge of a pot or plate...
.

[Librarygirl]

Very common in Europe, but squid sandwiches look like worm sandwiches.