Odd Culinary Indulgences

In spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would mention some of the bizarre foods I've tried since being here and a few of the foods I avoided. The rating system accompanying my descriptions are arbitrary.More...
1) Grasshopper: Fried with red chili powder and served whole, the first step is to twist off the head and pull out the spinal cord. This part, I'm told, "tastes like shit." Fortunately, shit is still something I haven't tried.

What It Tastes Like: An overcooked french fry flavored with chicken broth. Before trying, I refused profusely. My friend and coworker insisted I try, claiming it tasted like chicken.

"P'Boom, if I wanted to eat something that tastes like chicken, I can eat chicken!"

Why I Ate It: I became immersed in a 7 cup pool of vodka tonics and remembered that my mom told me to try everything once.

Rating: 3

2) Dragon Fruit: Have you ever seen this? Google it. It looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. It is oval and the outer part is pink with green leaf like things growing off of it. The meat of the fruit has the feeling of kiwi and is white with black seeds throughout.

How It Tastes: It is very starchy and mildly sweet. I was expecting something puckering, but received a pleasantly mellow experience. It is high in fiber, which is good for my butt. You can never be too kind to your butt.

Why I Ate It: Because it was new fruit and not meat. All the weird things tend to be meat or bugs.

Rating: MMM

3) Pig's Liver, Blood, and Heart: Thai cuisine throws hardly anything away. Eating internal organs is very common. The liver excluded, these items are typically served with noodles in a delicious beef or chicken based broth. In my opinion, that is where the deliciousness stops.

What They Taste Like:

Liver: I've never tried it because eating the organ responsible for removing toxins from the body just seems odd. Would you eat animal rectum? No, I didn't think so.

It has the consistency of creamy sand and tastes like meatloaf that soaked in rancid orange juice.

Rating: 2

Blood: It is prepared and looks very much like tofu. It is a gleaming burgundy cube, gelatinously dancing to the sway of the server's saunter. The taste is mild and almost bland, but my mind ran a muck when I tried it, pulling up images of slaughter and the hit Showtime series Dexter.

Rating: AB-

Heart: Actually, this was surprisingly tasty. Then I bit into an artery and gagged. Tasty yes, but texture plays a huge part in food for me. I can't handle chewy things that don't change in composition after chewing them.

Rating: <3

Why I tried them: The liver was peer pressure. I was at dinner with a large group of coworkers and they found out that I have never had liver. Now I know why many are not fans. The blood was absolute curiosity. I might try it again if I've had a few. The heart was in a meal bought for me and I wanted to show that I will be appreciative and try it.

Fish Stomach: Yes, fish stomach. It was served in a thick, non-cream based soup with mushrooms and unidentifiable greens. If you didn't know, you might assume that it was just a vegetable. It is translucent and doesn't look like what it is.

What It Tastes Like: The soup itself was delicious, but the stomach tasted like netting. That was the first word that came to mind when I tried it. The flavor of the savory soup overpowered the stomach and the tongue, and all I got was texture.

Why I Ate It: I was at a wedding for a coworker and again succumbed to peer pressure. People were really jazzed to try it, and so I followed suit.

Rating: meh

Fried Duck's Bill:
There's a point when repulsion is dominated by curiosity. For me, this was that point. How the hell do you eat a duck's bill? Why? It's all bone! Well, I gave it a whirl and found it to be alright, but not worth the effort of massive masticating.

What It Tastes Like: Because it is composed of several small bones, it's like eating sticks covered with deep fried chicken skin. Crunchy doesn't begin to describe the sensation of the jaw crunching and breaking an animals tiny mouth bones. Not worth the effort, really. Again, if I have been drinking, I can see myself indulging in what is put in front of me.

Why I Ate It: P'Boom, my Thai sister, loves getting me to eat new weird things. She was the one responsible for the grasshopper feast.

Rating: daffy

6 comments:

Unknown said...

hehe. ab-. i like it.

Anonymous said...

One of the best things I ate was a fish stomach salad. It was so good. I can't remember where I had it, though. It was the flavor, not the texture, that made it so wonderful.

Raili said...

Chalan, you are amazing.  Keep that adventurous spirit alive.  :)  There is TONS of fruit that we don't have over hear in asia, and it's so yummy!  Mmmmm, lychee....Anyway, I'm proud of you and your willingness to try out the new stuff.  Happy Thanksgiving.  I'll eat my tofurkey with you in mind.

KK said...

That was quite an interesting read! It was funny, but not condescending.

Now, it appears you intend to do good things with your life... but it would be much better for the Internet if you just stopped that and focused on writing blogs about eating "weird" food.

Samantha McCann said...

rarrrrrrrrr. yesssss. can't wait to eat the....uh..........fruit stuff. see you soon chambinator...

ernie c said...

The strangest thing I've ever eaten was in Germany when I had a local dish known as Sauermagen. It was a pig stomach stuffed with a sausage based meatloaf concoction. I loved it, sliced thin and covered in a gravy of the sort I've not had since. When in Rome....Keep trying everything!