What is the weirdest food you ever had?

evilelf

Good protein... sweet meats too

sushanna1

Sauteed silk warm larvae (at least that's what I think they were) from a vendor near a temple in a rural part of South Korea.  I convinced someone else to buy a small amount.  I had hoped they would be crunchy but they tasted sort of like canned smoked oysters.  The Koreans on our bus liked them better than the westerners. 

christineK

Great Thread Deb!

Being in the food biz all of my life, I have eaten most of the things you have mentioned. UNfortunately liking most everything. One thing I haven't done is insects and I don't like tongue if I can see it before it is cooked and sliced.

In our Italian restaurant we make a dish called Bollita Misto, we is just a bunch of bizarre boiled meats with some great sauces.

Oh and being part Lebanese I grew up eating that raw kibbeh, it was wierd until every one else I knew was eating Steak Tartare. Now, it' s mostly illegal to serve raw meats in restaurants. I guess it is much safer.

AnnNYC

ChristineK, I agree about not liking tongue until it's cooked and sliced!

Speaking of "growing up" and "Lebanese" -- when I was growing up in small town in mid-Wisconsin in the early 60s, my mother's back surgeon was Lebanese (came to U.S. as an adult) -- whenever he came to dinner or a party at our house, he would bring a huge bowl of tabouleh for us.  Incredibly delicious -- and of course, really "weird" for that time and place.

But the most wonderful time was when he had performed a laminectomy on my mother (fusing two vertebrae that had had a slipped and then ruptured disc between them -- made her feel good for the first time in about 6 years -- after that she learned to ski!!!) -- so anyway, he performed this miraculous, exacting surgery -- then went to his house and made a huge bowl of tabouleh, and brought it to our house to feed the 8 children whose mother he had sent to the hospital!  What an amazing man!

takingcare

Deb,

Thought of you today while waiting for DH at the doctors office. Emeril Live was on and he was preparing, no doubt...Grits.  He said the main problem with grits is the tendency to undercook.  I live in Southern California where grits are not a staple, however he prepared them with cheese (as Txgrl101 suggested) and the audience went nuts.   Might be worth trying again...for us all.  

christineK

Hey Ann-

Trader Joe's has a great packaged Tabouleh. They have another with whole chick peas in that is awesome. So glad that m.d. from my grandparents's ol' country could help your mom.

SuzCA

What a great thread.  Hope it is OK to add a few

Horsemeat ( not illegal in Europe)

Haggis (Scottish dish, stomach, lungs and other innards of sheep)

Raw recently alive shrimp and later the fried shell; head, feelers and all 

frogs legs, turtle soup, snails, chicken feet, raw quail eggs, lobster tamale(liver - green stuff)

Tripe, sweet meats (brains), blood sausage, pickled eggs, Buffalo, scrapple, cactus salad, octopus ceviche on the beach in Puerta Vallarta, poi (purple root - tastes more like elmers glue than chicken)  in Hawaii,  and grappa - an Italian alchoholic drink made from grape seeds.

My dh and dd think anchovies right out of the tin or jar are delicious.  My daughter asked for them for breakfast one day instead of cheerios.   

gsg

My son lives in China and not too long ago ate a silkworm.  He said he didn't go back for seconds.

footprintsangel

When I was little, My family was stationed in Japan and they had alot of chocolate candy that mom would never let us eat (they had insects in it)

leaf

Lutefisk.  (fish treated with lye.)  Its not so much it tastes awful, but its like stringy, flavorless jello.

footprintsangel

goat cheese very different to me

konakat

Sea cucumber and jellyfish in Hong Kong.  The sea cucumber was OK -- slid down quickly.  The jellyfish, well, I had to keep saying to myself "pretend it's candy, pretend it's candy" to be able to swallow it.  It was a business lunch and I couldn't refuse! 

dee1961

choc covered grasshopper

footprintsangel

Not real hamburger meat Yuk!

footprintsangel

fish on Thankgiving