Strange Foodstuffs

[phineus]

Please, everyone, take 10-20 minutes to respond to this, I'd really appreciate it! It's a little survey about "weird food." I've left this post public, and I encourage anyone and everyone who stumbles across it to respond (or to pass on the link!). I've left anonymous commenting open as well

Comments

[phineus]

1a. I do not eat pork products, and I am working on completely eliminating corn syrup from my diet (as of now, I make a few exceptions here and there for corn syrup, but I avoid the high fructose entirely). Both emerged as challenges to myself, and I've kept them. Corn syrup I don't particularly care for, and I find that abstaining from it makes me slightly ill when I consume it now. Pork I've never much cared for (except bacon & prosciutto), and it also makes me a bit ill -- but now it's more of a moral/religious thing, as I consider boars a totem animal.
I also will not consume any product from any species of shark, also for moral & religious reasons. I'm not sure if skates & rays are included under "any species of shark," but I've never eaten them either.
I am not sure if I could eat cat or dog, but I don't diss on folks that do.

1b. There is no food that I consider taboo to myself, even though I feel I probably should. I try to consume animal products that are sustainable and killed humanely, but I'll be the first to admit I don't pull this off admirably.

2. Rotten meats, insects, capers, and kidney or liver. Yes, all are commonly "gross" for my culture & social group; except for capers, which I think are kind of a 'fine dining' thing for white folks of European descent. I like fermented foods, but I am not sure about rotten meat. Insects I am a bit squeamish about (though also curious). Capers for some reason are repulsive to me. Kidney & liver I simply dislike both the taste and smell.

3. I've eaten tons of things that are gross or unusual- a few off the top of my head:
Sea urchin gonads (raw), various raw fish meat, raw shrimp, shrimp heads (raw & fried), raw scallop, raw crab, live oysters, beef tripe & tongue, various hearts (chicken, tuna, beef, turkey), raw clams, squid (raw, grilled, fried -- also squid glands), fish eyeballs, whole small sardines (dried), whole softshell crab, venison, buffalo meat, buffalo cheese, goat meat, elk meat, reindeer meat, raw birds' eggs, various fish's eggs, ackee, durian, mangosteen, cherimoya/custard apple, lychee, rambutan, ube, fresh lotus root, weevils, moth larvae...
I knew what most all of this was before eating. I may have thought some was gross, but in almost all cases I changed my mind.
I was tricked into eating beef tripe; I would've tried it anyway. I liked it.
The weevils & larvae were surprises in my cereal. I stopped eating when I discovered the insects.

[phineus]

-Let me add "boiled peanuts" and "raw abalone" to the list of odd food in #3!

4. Whoops; as I said above, I was tricked into eating tripe. I did like it; not sure I'd order it, but I'd eat it again if it was put in front of me.
I was really unsure of raw shrimp or oysters the first time I ordered them. Oysters were "meh," though no longer gross to me; raw sweet shrimp (amaebi) is one of my favourite foods.

5a. I suppose organs - tongue or heart, or ackee (as it is poisonous before cooking). Heart is my favourite cut of meat, I was curious before I ate and I love it. Tongue was wonderfully surprising, excellently soft and marbled. Ackee, to me, is still pretty unusual; but I'd certainly eat it again, it reminded me of sweetish scrambled eggs.

5b. Insects in general. I am curious to try bugs, but still working up courage to do so. I imagine most insects would be really bitter, but folks say otherwise? (I would think that big arthropods like tarantulas would taste good though!) I'd really rather eat a bug cooked in some form, or at least dead, rather than still wriggling.
The idea of eating things wiggling is something that squicks me a bit; I was served abalone partially alive and I had to wait for it to stop twitching before I could eat it. I would probably still eat at least dancing shrimp though.

6a. Heart (of any animal I've tried yet), raw seafood in general (I am particularly fond of kihada tuna, scallops, sweet shrimp and all molluscs) and heads, raw or rare lean red meat, ginger, citrus fruits, pomegranates, sweet pears, squash & melons, kombucha, beer, whisky or scotch, pickled plum (umeboshi) and grass/algae flavour.

6b. Capers - words cannot describe how much I loathe capers. To me they're like Twilight for the mouth; the smell triggers my gag reflex. I don't know why. I also dislike strongly anise flavoured things like orzo or black liquorice candy (but it is fine in smaller doses, as in Jaegermeister or pho). I think liver and kidney are gross, but I can understand the appeal.
Also most heavily processed foods to me are pretty disgusting - commercial hot dogs, processed potted meat, artificial-flavour laden sodas or junk foods. This probably rules out 80% of American food products.

[xlagartixax]

DOWN WITH #2 CORN =D =D =D