The Strange Foods Thread

[Inigo Montoya]

So I am sure a few of us out there have had some non typical fare in our day.

This is your time to brag about that weird/exotic dish (well weird when compared to normal americanized cuisine) that you actually ate.

For me off the top of my head:

Grilled sweetbreads with 3 types of dipping sauce (sweetbreads= thyroid gland of a cow/calf). Creamy and tasty, I would eat these again if prepared correctly, and I did help prepare them in the first place.

Recently, A Vietnamese pho that included both tripe and tendon in it. more of a textural thing than anything else. The tripe (stomach) was almost like chewy velcro and the tendon was like beef jello in it's consistance. Probably will not visit this one again.

Also have done truffles,foie gras, alligator, rattlesnake and buffalo but those have been becoming more common place these days.

[coxx]

IBRCsaysfoiegrasisbannedinchicago

[rc0032]

IBRCsaysfoiegrasisbannedinchicago
:lol::lol:


The strangest thing this month was at a sushi place I had pickled baby octopus. They tasted like crap :spin:

[coxx]

I like tripe in red sauce. Haven't had it in a long time though

[Jimbizzle]

Recently, A Vietnamese pho that included both tripe and tendon in it. more of a textural thing than anything else. The tripe (stomach) was almost like chewy velcro and the tendon was like beef jello in it's consistance. Probably will not visit this one again.

Did you enjoy the Pho though? Pho Tai (rare beef cooked by the broth) is pretty typical.

I love balut. It's duck fetus in a shell.

[Inigo Montoya]

Pho is one of my favorites, I consider it a comfort food. Usually I do get the Tai version. My wife have the chicken one that night and it was great. I have a Pho place I usually go to but they were closed so we tried a new one.

[Inigo Montoya]

I have heard of balut but never see it to try it. I think my wife would not kiss me for a month if I did eat it though. I will usually give anything a try at least once (foodwise)

[sactojesse]

I love all sorts of weird stuff: sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, tripe, head cheese. I'm Chinese and we're human garbage disposals. It grosses my white wife out though. :lol:

[Inigo Montoya]

I'm Chinese and we're human garbage disposals.

Title? :lol:

[Avishar]

Recently at a dim-sum restaurant I consumed congealed blood; the owner was shocked enough to give it to me for free. Other things I've eaten on my trip to China was cockroach on a stick, silkworm on a stick, scorpion on a stick, the infamous 1000 year old eggs, and the even more infamous duck eggs (you open it up, and there is a baby duck, feathers and soft cartilage included), duck heart, some sort of animal's testicles, brain cutlets, tiger's milk, sea urchin ovaries, pig ear, fish entrails kebabs, assorted animal eyes, and so forth... *I did not enjoy any of these, I was just taught by mom to try anything...twice

[heightsgtltd]

How did I miss this? great idea for a thread..

I don't take it too out there with foods. Sweetbreads is about as exotic as I go :lol:

[Gire]

Recently, A Vietnamese pho that included both tripe and tendon in it. more of a textural thing than anything else. The tripe (stomach) was almost like chewy velcro...


This is the best description of tripe I've heard. The fuzzy side is really like velcro.
I haven't had tripe in about 20 years and if I do again, it'll be too soon.:lol:



My personal weird food experience has to be when I was out with some Japanese mates in Osaka and they played a little game of 'what will the Gaijin eat?'

Live octopus that has the legs whacked off at the table. When you put one in your mouth, the suckers will latch on to the inside of your cheek or tongue. You basically have to fight it as you eat it.:lol:

Another experience I don't need to repeat.

[Gire]

japanese Natto actually has to be the sickest thing around. Looks like snot. Tastes awful, and the smell is repulsive.


Aussie Vegemite has nothing on this stuff:eek:

[eVoMotion]

What do you do to travel to places where this is available?

Recently at a dim-sum restaurant I consumed congealed blood; the owner was shocked enough to give it to me for free. Other things I've eaten on my trip to China was cockroach on a stick, silkworm on a stick, scorpion on a stick, the infamous 1000 year old eggs, and the even more infamous duck eggs (you open it up, and there is a baby duck, feathers and soft cartilage included), duck heart, some sort of animal's testicles, brain cutlets, tiger's milk, sea urchin ovaries, pig ear, fish entrails kebabs, assorted animal eyes, and so forth... *I did not enjoy any of these, I was just taught by mom to try anything...twice

[Jimbizzle]

and the even more infamous duck eggs (you open it up, and there is a baby duck, feathers and soft cartilage included)

that's balut!!

[heightsgtltd]

okay, ewww.. :lol:

[SeattleLegacy]

I've been to China and Thailand and have has some strange stuff, but not as strange as some of the stuff already posted.

China: duck tongues, some kind of pork thing where the glycerine gells on the top, shrimp clutching what looked like little eggs that were "caught out back" in a brown water swamp (of course they told me this after I tried it), some kind of fish with teeth (i almost lost it when our hosts started digging at the eyeballs and meat in the head), traditional chicken (the skin was yellow and the food seemed like it was at room temperature).

Thailand: lobster sushimi (our host suggested it, so I couldn't refuse it. it was good going down with some wasabi and soy sauce, but damned if it didn't turn my GI tract into a slip and slide)

[deimos]

Did you enjoy the Pho though? Pho Tai (rare beef cooked by the broth) is pretty typical.

I love balut. It's duck fetus in a shell.


Mmmmmm Pho.. I eat it like 3 days a week, my fav is with the rare & well-done beef, altho ive tried most options: tripe, tendon, beef balls (no not what you think, etc...)

I had balut in vietnam, while doing shots of homemade ricewine sitting at a small table on the street, a bunch of them, not the best drunk food... :spin:

Ive also eaten all sorts of different animals, and strange food from other cultures.

I figure everything is worth a try, eventually you can learn to like it and then its +1 things to enjoy....balut gets a -1 tho ;)

[laz]

I have pho in Vietnamese restaurants when I am in the mood.

There is also this South American dish made with tripe in a peanut sauce, it is great!

Also had cow brains in a Argentinian meat joint. When I was small they use to give me a spoonful of Cod's liver oil every day to supposedly boost my immune system. That shit is nasty, and the after taste is crap!

Also had cow kidney, and a soup made of blood sausages. And of course fish ceviche, river crabs, and other sea foods.

X

[tito_b0y]

LOL balut. Bizarre Foods anyone? Am Filipino but haven't tried it, don't know if I want to.

[myUsername]

LOL balut. Bizarre Foods anyone? Am Filipino but haven't tried it, don't know if I want to.

Haha...I have an uncle I call Tito Boy.

I'm also Filipino, but I haven't had balut since I was 10. I don't know if I'd like it. Do frog legs count as strange food? I just had it about a month ago.

I work with a couple of Vietnamese guys and we go to Pho all the time. They get mad when I call it FO - like Fo' Sho!

[ur a bus]

I work with a couple of Vietnamese guys and we go to Pho all the time. They get mad when I call it FO - like Fo' Sho!

A Vietnamese girl I know told me to pronounce it like the first part of "f*ck". :eek:

-- Steve

[Avishar]

What do you do to travel to places where this is available?

I get a plane ticket and occasionally a visa/passport endorsement for the country ;)

Actually recently I had fried intestines and rectum. It didn't taste too bad when it was scorchingly hot and crispy, but when I took the leftovers home and opened up the container the next day I was repulsed. It smelled exactly like barnyard mixed in a mortar and pestle with fecal matter and dead animal, I promptly threw it away, threw the trash out, sanitized my fridge, then showered.

[kienai]

I'm Chinese and we're human garbage disposal
Chicken feet, fish heads, pig ears, pork fat, intestines ... etc. :wub: Those are some great drinking dishes. I'm getting hungry.

[Inigo Montoya]

Waffle House hash browns with chili cheese and onions!!!!

Strange because my stomach doesn't reject it after drinking.

[SubLGTaru]

Have you guys ever mixed apple cider vinegar with water and drank it? It's actually something that's really good for you.

[biggggant]

Ox Tails Ftw

[coxx]

Ox Tails Ftw
+1 love em

[biggggant]

+1 love em

Filipinos have ox tails in a peanut butter based sauce (doesn't taste like peanut butter) and you can add a brine shrimp paste to it while you eat it mmmmmmmmmmm....

oh yeah how did i forget blood pudding

[XLeezardx]

LOL balut. Bizarre Foods anyone? Am Filipino but haven't tried it, don't know if I want to.

Thats totally repulsive, who the hell would eat Balut?!

[biggggant]

Thats totally repulsive, who the hell would eat Balut?!
NOT ME!!!! I'm Filipino also but keep the balut away from me

[tito_b0y]

Filipinos have ox tails in a peanut butter based sauce (doesn't taste like peanut butter) and you can add a brine shrimp paste to it while you eat it mmmmmmmmmmm....

oh yeah how did i forget blood pudding

LOL it's called 'kare-kare' (kuh-REH)

Oh man, I want some now..

[tito_b0y]

NOT ME!!!! I'm Filipino also but keep the balut away from me


Me neither, but my parents and family would, except some of my cousins and the Puerto Rican side of the fam.

Then again, I've been developing a taste for foods that years ago I wouldn't eat, so maybe in the next decade or so..

[biggggant]

kare kare is the bomb hahahahaha of course the guy that knows that would be named tito boy... Go listen to rex navarette on youtube he does some good Filipino jokes and talks about everyone having a tito boy