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

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Jul 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

wavebreaker	22 Jul 2002
Ok, this one is inspired by kayne mentioning "Thai Chilli Crocodile on a bed of Jasmine rice" in another thread... ;) What's the most unusual food you've ever eaten? For me: snake. I was travelling around in Vietnam and we were taken to a restaurant that served all sorts of unusual food, such as snake and lizard. All of it fresh, meaning that the animals were in cages at the front of the restaurant, still alive, ready to be slaughtered whenever someone ordered them. Being a vegetarian I wasn't too pleased about that... :( However, since that snake was dead now anyway ;) and my table companions seemed to like it, I couldn't resist trying just one bite. It wasn't very special, it tasted a bit like chicken. Fortunately, this was the only unusual restaurant we were taken to on that trip; we skipped the dog restaurants...

Diana	22 Jul 2002
My most unusual foods were when I lived in Nigeria. My neighbours gave a gift of a bag of grilled flying ants. Absolutely delicious. You eat them as a kind of aperitif and they are far superior to peanuts, for instance. Kind of salty and crisp. I recommend them to anyone, but they are a rare delicacy because they need to fly through your locality in order to catch them, and this is not so often. Then I ate bush-rat (it's not really a rat - it's a cousin - brown and HUGE). I do not recommend it to anyone. It is practically impossible to chew and is kind of hairy to eat. But when one is hungry.... And once I had just made myself a tomato-sandwich and sat down at the table to eat it. Right then the lights went out (it was unusual for the electricity to work, so this did not surprise me.) Instead of lighting a candle, I decided to eat my sandwich in the dark. Trouble was, and this I could not know, when the lights went out, it had startled an enormous cockroach (hmm, will this come out in asteriks!!!) (African cockroaches are not small like in Europe, they are very very big) who fell out of the numerous cracks in my ceiling. It fell on my sandwich. I didn't know and I bit it in two! It was SOOO disgusting, I didn't swallow obviously, but spat out immediately what was in my mouth, lit a candle and nearly puked when I saw what I had just had in my mouth. Crocodile is okay to eat, but it's neither chicken nor fish, so you are not quite sure of what you're eating. Crocodile, I suppose.

wavebreaker	22 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Diana And once I had just made myself a tomato-sandwich and sat down at the table to eat it. Right then the lights went out (it was unusual for the electricity to work, so this did not surprise me.) Instead of lighting a candle, I decided to eat my sandwich in the dark. Trouble was, and this I could not know, when the lights went out, it had startled an enormous cockroach (hmm, will this come out in asteriks!!!) (African cockroaches are not small like in Europe, they are very very big) who fell out of the numerous cracks in my ceiling. It fell on my sandwich. I didn't know and I bit it in two! It was SOOO disgusting, I didn't swallow obviously, but spat out immediately what was in my mouth, lit a candle and nearly puked when I saw what I had just had in my mouth. Oh no, that must have been disgusting!!! I know what kind of cockroaches you mean, I've seen them in Tunisia and Egypt. Just the idea of biting on one of those is nauseating...

Starfish	22 Jul 2002
Well, that would have to be the lamb testicles I ate while on holiday in Greece. They were delicious ;) and when the waiter described what they were, I thought I was going to be sick! Now bear in mind, I was 9 years old at the time.... My mother being Greek, cooked a variety of unusual foods that most of my friends had never heard of, let alone eaten. I remember the time she tried to pass over tripe soup as chicken soup.... :TLOVE Starfish

Sam	22 Jul 2002
hmmmmmmmmmm.............escargo...........wait no, yes! I remember now! the weirdest thing i've EVER eaten is Jelly fish!

amyel	22 Jul 2002
Well, I don't think *any* of us can top Diana's food "experiences", but here's my merger offering: On a bush trip in Northern Australia, I ate witchy grub. Which tastes about as good as it sounds. (have you ever noticed that anything that is unusual is described as tasting "like chicken"????) On that same trip, but down near Uluru, I was staying in the hostel and eating at the little hamburger hut they had there. I ordered my 'burg and opened wide to have a bite - and a fly buzzed in my mouth at the same time I was biting into the 'burg and swallowing...I could feel it buzz all down my throat! But I survived and seemed no worse for it. Come to think of it, it was after I'd swallowed the fly [sings..."i don't know why she swallowed the fly - perhaps she'll die"...] that I tried the grub. I suppose in the unusual food category, you could include kanagroo, croc, and buffalo.....which were all tried in western Canada. Western Canada also has something called "beefalo" which is supposedly a mix of buffalo & beef. It's not bad, if you like meat. Very gamey tasting....

jade	22 Jul 2002
my most exotic taste was frogs legs which totally grossed me out. i was very drunk, very young and couldn't eat them cause my girlfriends and i were dancing then across the table (doin the can can) then i asked for a froggie bag and took them home. never ate them though. just couldn't. yuck. diana, you are a whole new person to me now. :P love jade

jema	22 Jul 2002
*LOL* i think Diana "wins" this one. eww. i relish in strange combinations though. like day old toast, carrot marmelade and cheese you have to keep in another town (i like stinky cheese) oh and a speciality up here where i live is "surströmming" which is a fermented fish, eaten with a special bread, potatoes and onions. it smells like **** (it really does - no other word can describe it) but it tastes divine. but as for unusual - hmmm. i do eat my flowers:) does that count? (bee balm is yummy)

lunar_rabbit	22 Jul 2002
I don't know if this is terribly exotic, but when we were in Key West, Florida, on our honeymoon I ate conch. That's the shellfish that comes in those huge shells that people in movies blow horns with. LOL. Come to think of it, I have eaten quite a few odd things (and enjoyed most of them). Such as escargot, raw oysters, beef tongue (yuk!), alligator, frog legs.... um.... Oh... and buffalo. There is a restaurant somewhere around here that serves buffalo burgers. Ah yes, and can't forget my mom's favorite sandwich -- pickles and peanut butter!

Starfish	22 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by lunar_rabbit Ah yes, and can't forget my mom's favorite sandwich -- pickles and peanut butter! Lunar, I know of someone that eats peanut butter, mayonnaise and crushed potato chip sandwiches! :TLOVE Starfish

Red raven	22 Jul 2002
creamed corn.;) but no, being serious now, I haven't ate that much odd stuff. Sushi, once. was great but it made me sick. I tried blue cheese once. Never again. I could taste it in my nose. :P

Laurel	22 Jul 2002
The oddest thing I ever ate was fried Carribou heart, which was extremely purplish. Tasted good, though.

tabbycat	22 Jul 2002
I ate whale once, in Norway. They wouldn't tell us what it was until we'd eaten it, or I wouldn't have. It tasted a bit like liver, not very exciting really. I like oysters, although I do feel a bit guilty about eating them alive, and I tried soft-shelled crabs last year in the US, which are really weird, as you fry them until they're crispy and eat them whole, legs, claws and all! They taste really good! Jilly

mermaiden	22 Jul 2002
I've had some unusual things (well, they might seem unusual to some people) like squid, fried octupus, sushi, curried goat, escargot and goose eggs (I hated those)! I've heard of way weirder thoug. NOTE: The following things I HAVEN'T eaten. For example, some cultures eat things alive (anyone watch Survivor?) like octupus. The grossest thing I've heard of as a delcacy has to be fried human fetus in Taiwan. <---This is why I put that note above.

mazzadazaba	22 Jul 2002
to Diana -- hey i'm new here in case anyone was wondering.... i know the feeling of an african cockroach - ive lived out here in uganda for the past 4 years.... you poor thing!! i've tried crocodile, flying ants, fried termites, as well as grasshoppers.... all the east african delicacies.... didnt like the insects much though....

lunalafey	22 Jul 2002
well I don't know if it's really unusual any more, but perhaps something that not many have had, Ostrich Burgers. Kinda like turkey(definatly, not chicken), more dense, made a good burger!! I have had eel too. toungue, bear, venecin(deer), abalone(FOOD OF THE GODS), and um does a banana split made with strawberry, chocolate/peanut butter and chocolate chip ice creams topped with marshmellow, carmel and strawberry topping lots of nuts and whip cream no cherry count?

floracove	22 Jul 2002
I've eaten octopus and squid. Was suppose to eat rattle snake once, but the smells from thier cooking of it put my sweet self in the bed and very sick so I did not eat it... The nastiest thing I ever had in my mouth...SPAM...YUCK! Patooie! I have choked it down when there was nothing else, gagging the whole time...YUCK!

destinyawaitsme	22 Jul 2002
Well, being from Arkansas and having a family of avid hunters I haven't been subjected to anything exotic or fancy, but I have ate various forms of wildlife. Duck, quail, dove, deer, squirrell, rabbitt, and yes...frog legs Also my grandma would always make me fried eggplant..for some reason not a lot of people have eaten this that I know of.

Umbrae	22 Jul 2002
fried grasshoppers...and they are MUCH better than eggplant.

debins	22 Jul 2002
You DO take the proverbial cake! And you have lived quite an interesting life too!

divinerguy	22 Jul 2002
Various pieces of raw fish on multi-day deep sea fishing trips. Warm sun, hot fishing and cold drinks. Life is good.

Sam	22 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by meramaiden I've had some unusual things (well, they might seem unusual to some people) like squid, fried octupus, sushi, curried goat, escargot and goose eggs (I hated those)! I've heard of way weirder thoug. NOTE: The following things I HAVEN'T eaten. For example, some cultures eat things alive (anyone watch Survivor?) like octupus. The grossest thing I've heard of as a delcacy has to be fried human fetus in Taiwan. <---This is why I put that note above. the tiawan thing is an urban legend!

Violet Gargoyle	22 Jul 2002
My List: Stuffed Squid that we had dissected the day before in our biology class. This was back in the late 80's and my bio teacher was.....interesting. Gave me a new view on Crock Pots. Frog Legs- it was actually my mom who ate them, but here's the story: My mother was sick of me watching the Muppets show back when it was on in the late 70's/early 80s, so she told me that she had ordered Kermit and that there was going to be no more Muppet Show. She was even hitting the table underneath the plate to make the legs jump and doing her (dead-on) Kermit voice "Helllllp MEEeeeeeee" Crunch. Joke was on her when the Muppet show was on TV again the next week.......and of course his whole story was explained in the Muppet Movie a year later.....

RedWood	22 Jul 2002
I am not very exotic either...The weirdest things I have eatin is roasted goat..side note-never eat a goat that has his male genitail area intact..what you do (i have done this) is take the baby goat..but a little rubber band around it ...it cuts off circulation and eventually drys up and becomes an it goat..My dad said if it had its genital on it would of had a very, very bad after taste..I trusted him on that one... Also..I was at my dad's one summer going to pick a few dew berries...Well i picked the berry, there was a stink bug on it..I flicked the bug off then ate the berry..Only I didn't bother to check to make sure I got the bug off and ended up eating it..It does taste like a how it smells..I definately think I would eat stink bug over cockroach any day...

jade	23 Jul 2002
my tummy isn't liking this thread..................... *queasy jade*

Diana	23 Jul 2002
What I find really interesting about this thread (apart from it just being fun) is that it's really informative as to our different cultures. What is exotic or not. I'm thinking of things like frog's legs, escargots, which in France and it's surrounding countries are just so normal (like escargots - one finds them in any decent-sized grocer store - I have some in my freezer right now.) Like for instance, I didn't know one ate squirrel. And quail is something I thought only nobles ate in historical books. Squid: the Portuguese eat this all the time. My Portuguese friends cook it at least once a week, it's part of their diet. This is all very ethnographic. It's great.

lunalafey	23 Jul 2002
I FORGOT!!! I have had quail too. Small thing. My ex cooked up and brought it to me in a bowl, I ate it and then he came around wanting to know where his half was.....oops...*burp*

Violet Gargoyle	23 Jul 2002
I always mixed up Quail, Duck, and Grouse. I have had squirrel. It tastes like rabbit, but much much smaller. I told my daughter one time that she was eating Cadburry Chicken Stew (We were camping and one of our friends bought rabbit) she loved the stuff......

Emily	23 Jul 2002
I'm not really travelled enough to have eaten unusual foods but one thing I have tried is snail lol - It was a lot like shellfish, cockles, mussels, and the seasnail whelk (i love all these lol) so snail wasn't really that much different. I ate horse once in Belgium but wasn't told until after or I wouldn't have eaten it. Also beefs heart, pigs trotters, oxtail (on the bone), pigs tails - all local foods where I live lol

Kismet	23 Jul 2002
Destinyawaitsme, I've had friend eggplant, YUM! But then I live in TN, so am into frying lots of things, hehe. :) I've had fried tomatos, crawdads in Louisianna, frog legs, alligator, rabbit, deer. My son swallowed a fly, does that count? :P A family dish my Granny used to fix was rice and tomatos. It is GREAT! My daughter would have it everyday if she could.

jade	23 Jul 2002
i didn't think that quail and duck would be on this list.....that is just sooo normal here! excellent point diana :D what is normal in one place is exotic elsewhere. hmmmmmmm jade

wavebreaker	23 Jul 2002
Yes, very interesting to read what's considered exotic by some and normal by others. I was just wondering what's so exotic about rice and tomatoes... :D I suppose the double salted liquorice we have here in the Netherlands is considered very exotic (and disgusting!) by most non-Dutchies... ;)

jade	23 Jul 2002
mmmm, kaz sent my kids some and i ate it all!!!!!!!! they hated it and i love love love it :D jade

destinyawaitsme	23 Jul 2002
Squirrel isn't that good...They don't have a lot of fat on them so if you don't cook them right, they are incredibly tough. Kismet, you know that if you live in the south you have to fry everything you eat. (oh, i miss grandma's cooking!) I also ate a stink bug when i was little. My brother's claimed it was while watching Superman 3. I don't remember it so I must have been young. But I couldn't imagine. I despise bugs.

jakyle	24 Jul 2002
Whe I was 2, I heard I was a big fan of MUD. My mom said she used to find me covered in it, as well as eating it. Don't remember if I actually enjoyed it,but from what she said,I think I did. LOL :D That explains everything!! I've since outgrown that phase:D, but I do drink the occasional" Mudslide". If you like chocolate fluffy drinks,this one is yummy.....

VGimlet	24 Jul 2002
Wow, a lot of adventurous eaters out there! I will try anything - once. I like pretty much anything that lives in the water, although, except for oysters, I prefer them cooked and not in their original form. I used to make escargot all the time, it was my sister's favorite, and she requested it any chance she got, LOL. Diana, I think you are the winner, and champion, though. :D My wierdest; probably bear meat , it was utterly disgusting - my dad's best friend was a hunter who felt what he killed should be eaten. So when I was a kid we tasted larger game including moose (also horrible, like a really stringy pot-roast slightly gone bad) elk, mountain goat (not too tasty) and of course venison. Also tried a fried earthworm once. Not much flavor.

catlin	24 Jul 2002
Last year I was invited to a Christmas party in a hotel. The hotel manager was Greek so there was plenty of Greek food and there were things among which were delicious but I had no inkling what I was eating LOL. Anyway, it was great!

mermaiden	24 Jul 2002
No, honestly, it isn't. There was an article about it in either the Toronto Star or the Toronto Sun (the pic grossed out my friend completely). I was also on an Asian Avenue.com forum similar to this thread and someone admitted to it. Then another person called them a cannibal...but that's beside the point. :) Quote: Originally posted by Sam the tiawan thing is an urban legend!

Liliana	24 Jul 2002
Read How to Eat Fried Worms one too many times when you were littleVGImlet? hehe I never answered this thread because I didnt feel anything Ive ever eaten was exotic enough Ive eaten Call of the Wild burgers at the Bow and Arrow Pub in Toronto, they have like venison and buffolo and Juniper Berries and I forget what all in them, I adore them Also eat chicken hearts and noodles. My husband loves the tastes but it bothers him that each bite sized heart is froma whole chicken. I tell him the chickens were slaugtered and eaten anyway, so we might as well eat a part that would of been chucked otherwise. I ate squirrel pot pie when litle, but I barely remember it. Ive also had conch, in the Bahamas Dominos has it as a pizza topping so we had to get one :) Then theres weird combos, while pregnant i ate an aple and butter sandwich, and a restraunt here serves a sandwich i love that grillled chicken breast and apples with blue cheese dressing on a croisant. Had escargot many times, I love it. First time i ever had it in France, nothing compares to how good it was, but when I ordered it the waiter asked "Do you mean the snails?" Like I didnt know what i was ordering as a stupid teenage american lol. Wen I go out I always order the strangest thing on the menu, i love to try new things, but I cant think that I could bring myself to eat an insect for some strange reason. :THP

Sam	24 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by mermaiden No, honestly, it isn't. There was an article about it in either the Toronto Star or the Toronto Sun (the pic grossed out my friend completely). I was also on an Asian Avenue.com forum similar to this thread and someone admitted to it. Then another person called them a cannibal...but that's beside the point. :) IS TOO AN URBAN LEGEND! HERE'S AN ANDRESS TO PROVE MY STATEMENT! GO TO WWW.SNOPES2.COM. THEN GO TO THE HORRORS SECTION. THEN SCROLL DOWN TO THE LAST LEGEND AND THERE IT'LL BE!

RedWood	24 Jul 2002
...Yes there is a page..but you never know it could be or couldn't be...

cricket	24 Jul 2002
Late getting here, I know, but boy are there strange foods out there.... My list is long. *L* Buffalo, frog, turtle, rattlesnake, fried grasshoppers, pine needles, mud soup, roasted grubs... actually a whole assortment of different insects prepared in many ways... squirrel, groundhog, prairie dog, rat, an assortment of wild birds... Need I go on?

wavebreaker	25 Jul 2002
Pine needles? How do you eat those? Don't they get stuck in your throat? Sounds pretty painful to me... ;)

kayne	25 Jul 2002
I get believe it took me all this time to reply to this thread... Thanks TarotLady for being inspired by my Crocodile experience - it is all in the way it is cooked! I had Honey Soy Kangaroo at the same restaurant and it was delish! I have actually made Kangaroo Stew in my classroom but the best is when it has been marinated for ages. Kangaroo can be very tough and 'traditionally caught' kangaroo is very strong, not nice at all... I have eaten Emu steaks too... Yum!!! :D And witchety grubs, traditionally cooked in the embers of a fire. Tasted like the marrow. I have not eaten them raw like the Western Desert Aboriginal kids though... they run around with them dangling and wriggling in their mouths! :)

vision	25 Jul 2002
When I was a child.... Frog legs in a Chinese restaurant. My parents told me they were chicken and told me what they were after I ate them :......( Also, horse meat argggh. Can't stand the thought now!! I will not touch one of those French snails eitherrrrrrr. Vision

cricket	25 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by tarotlady Pine needles? How do you eat those? Don't they get stuck in your throat? Sounds pretty painful to me... ;) *LOL* Not the mature ones. That would just be... um... uncomfortable. *nods* When the needles are just starting out and are still covered by the little brown thing on the tips (forgot what it's called, sorry) you take the brown thing off and eat just the lighter green part of the needles. They taste slightly earthy with a nice tang to them.

wavebreaker	25 Jul 2002
Ok, that sounds a lot better... ;)

mermaiden	25 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Sam IS TOO AN URBAN LEGEND! HERE'S AN ANDRESS TO PROVE MY STATEMENT! GO TO WWW.SNOPES2.COM. THEN GO TO THE HORRORS SECTION. THEN SCROLL DOWN TO THE LAST LEGEND AND THERE IT'LL BE! Hmmm...I find it very piculiar that a big newspaper in Toronto would write about such a lie. I wonder if they ever appologized? Lesson of today: never assume everything in the news is always accurate (in this case, new assume somethings are true). I'm still wondering about that forum I was on though, you think the person said they did that to get a response? People on Asian Avenue are generally nice people so I really don't know why a person would say they did this?

mermaiden	25 Jul 2002
I called up my friend (lucky I did because she is going on a trip soon) to find out where she got this info and she said she got it from a Punjabi newspaper called "Nagad" so that explains the reason why the there was an article about it (I was wondering how a big Toronto newspaper could make such a big goof up) so that explains that. However, as for the chat, I still don't know what happened there.

Sam	25 Jul 2002
see.........maybe the ppl on asian ave. are just making up rumors beacuase they are racist and/or prejudice. oh well, nobody will, ever know. ps-sorry that my last post sounded "a little" harsh. :)

DarkElectric	25 Jul 2002
Ants. The little red kind. I was four, and at the stage where I put everything into my mouth. I saw the little red ants running on th sidewalk, and decided to lick up a few. Yummm! They were crunchy, and weirdly spicy. I liked the taste of the earth that came with them, so I went into the backyard and tried to find more ants, and ate more dirt. My gramma came out, saw what I was doing, and yelled at me long and loud. She proceeded to take me in the house and rinsed my mouth out, repeating, "No, no. Dirty. Don't eat dirt. Don't eat ants!" I actually liked the ants, but, I stopped for my gramma's sake. The dirt tasted pretty good too, but, what goes in eventually comes out. My mom was really suprised at the resulting "earthworks"! But NOTHING tops Diana!

The What's the most unusual food you've ever eaten? thread was originally posted on 22 Jul 2002 in the Chat board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Chat, or read more archived threads.