What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

[Mrs. Readsalot]

Dh is currently watching serveral shows on Travel and food channels that center around eating strange...OK yucky , horrible , disgusting sounds food. So what is the strangest thing you have ever eaten on purpose?

For me it would have to be raw octopus. I had it while I was living in Hawaii and it was fantastic. Now a lot of people would say the steamed crabs we eat here in Maryland are disgusting, but we love them, I guess it is all in what you are accustomed too.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Rattlesnake. Before kids, I worked as a quality engineer in a small manufacturing facility. I was doing this training called 6 Sigma. One trip for the class was to go to Phoenix. The group went out to some western town thing and had dinner there. Someone ordered rattlesnake for the table to try. Kind of tasted like just fried something or other.

[Claire]

Frog legs. They were very good.

 

Moldy tempe (I think it was tempe, anyhow). I ate this when I was in Indonesia. It's some kind of soybean wafer that is allowed to mold for about a year. I loved it!

[5kidsforME]

Rattlesnake bites. Ewww gross. They were nasty.

[JESSICAinMD]

Frog legs here too.

Kim Chi in Korea

Dried Squid Chips also in Korea

Cricket Lickits (a lolly pop with a cricket in the center.) I was still a kid. I didn't realize it was real Cricket until after the fact.

Gator bites

[Jean in Newcastle]

My husband loves to eat Balut (sp? or is it Baloot?) It is an egg with duck (or chicken?) fetus still intact. He's Filipino so he can claim it as an ethnic delicacy. I have to turn my head and not watch if he's eating it! (They featured it on Survivor once.)

 

The weirdest thing I've eaten is sea urchin in Japan.

[Jennifer in MI]

Kim Chi in Korea

 

Yummmmmm.. I LOVE kim chi!

 

My husband loves to eat Balut (sp? or is it Baloot?) It is an egg with duck (or chicken?) fetus still intact. .

 

Okay - that is just, well, ewwwww . . . Call me chicken, but, well, ewwwww!

 

I guess I'm not that adventurous! I've eaten alligator and squid and tripe. Those are about the weirdest things I've ventured to try!

[Jodi-FL]

We were in Brazil when I was 7, and well, when you're in the Amazon jungle and told that it's what's for dinner (or breakfast, or lunch, or snack) you eat it. without questions. I just remember it was soft and you had to bite off the end and suck it out.

[Montana Peach]

A whole baby octopus that was in some soup we had at a Japanese restaurant. IT was about three inches long.

 

I grew up in the Deep South and frogs' legs were a normal thing (usually caught fresh) and I like them a lot. Kim Chee is a favorite here.

[Jenny in Atl]

Bugs, snails, haggis, blood sausage, monk fish (very ugly thing but tasted good), and more which at this time alludes me, so it must not have tasted good or was not weird enough for me to remember.

[Michelle in MO]

(I posted this previously under something else) I liked to bring a tin of sardines and a thermos of hot cocoa with me when I went sledding in Minnesota!

 

:eek:

[Wendi]

Fried alligator tail (back in FL)

escargot (well, I think eating snails is weird, anyway)

 

 

Wendi

[Tracey in TX]

Octopus--the suction cups had a strange texture

 

raw salmon (didn't know it was supposed to be smoked for lox and bagels!)

 

pasta w/ salsa (first dinner I ever cooked for DH...wonder we had another date)

 

rose petals

[KIN]

Yep, fried caterpillars. I was at summer camp and some missionaries brought fried caterpillars from Africa. They told us they ate them at ball games like we eat popcorn! They were...crunchy. :001_huh:

[Alice]

Water buffalo.

Jellyfish

[Amira]

Horses are prized meat in Central Asia. But not in my stomach.

[Tutor]

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food. To be honest, the first thing that popped into my head was asparagus. That is one weird lookin' veggie.

[Jane in NC]

Now a lot of people would say the steamed crabs we eat here in Maryland are disgusting, but we love them, I guess it is all in what you are accustomed too.

 

Crab, disgusting?? Getting all of the meat out of a steamed crab is an art form!

 

My story concerns something that I won't try but my husband and son did. A good friend of ours said that sea urchin is something that everyone should try--once. So my husband and son did try it at a sushi restaurant--once. My husband's comment was that it tasted like "velvet", the point being that the texture is so peculiar that one forgets the taste. They are braver souls than I.

 

Jane

[elegantlion]

Escargot and frog legs (does taste like chicken)

[Laura Corin]

I was in a social situation in Taiwan where I couldn't turn it down (we had been invited to share a neighbour's Chinese New Year meal). It was stuffed with pork and herbs and didn't actually taste too bad - just a bit rubbery. I couldn't get the idea of what it actually was out of my head though.

 

I also ate turtle 'paw'. It tasted like duck, but having the whole turtle lying on the serving dish was a bit too much for me.

 

Laura

[Jennifer in NH]

Kangaroo. I was an exchange student in High school. We lived on a farm and used to shoot them and then have "wallaby stew". We also ate rabbit. and I have had emu, but I've had it here in the States, not in Australia. I've had octopus once, didn't really like it...

 

As for baloot..I saw that episode of Survivor, and I wouldn't really want to be in the same room! eeewww!

[cin]

Dog meat in Vietnam. One bite. And I really can't tell you what it tastes like because of the mental anguish that accompanied it. :ack2:

[Cathy in TX]

Whenever my grandparents sent a beefer to the slaughter house, we would have scrambled brains and eggs for breakfast the next morning. I quit eating them when I realized the name meant actual brains.

 

Cathy

[nmoira]

I've also had sea urchin gonads (uni); it's quite good, but I don't recommend anything less than Grade A uni. I've also tried raw (but not living) shrimp, octopus, tripe, escargot, authentic haggis & vegan haggis (I only count the latter as "strange"), and frogs legs. An acquaintance of mine recently ate small live octopuses in Singapore. I couldn't bring myself to do that in a million years.

[Soph the vet]

Marmot in Mongolia. It's rather gamey tasting, not like chicken.

[RoughCollie]

I ate frog legs once, because in my Dad's family, people eat that. They did taste like chicken, not bad at all. But I don't think I'll be eating them again.

 

Asparagus was the first thing that popped in my mind too, Tutor. I tried it because it was served at a friend's house for breakfast, and I did not want to offend my friend by not eating it.

 

I love asparagus! It's my favorite vegetable.

[Liberty]

For me it'd be escargot (in France), fried squid, alligator bites and buffalo burgers.

[Elaine]

My husband loves to eat Balut (sp? or is it Baloot?) It is an egg with duck (or chicken?) fetus still intact. He's Filipino so he can claim it as an ethnic delicacy. I have to turn my head and not watch if he's eating it! (They featured it on Survivor once.)

 

The weirdest thing I've eaten is sea urchin in Japan.

 

Where's the barfing avatar when you need it!:D

[Elaine]

Dog meat in Vietnam. One bite. And I really can't tell you what it tastes like because of the mental anguish that accompanied it. :ack2:

 

Again I ask, where is the barfing avatar??;)

[Elaine]

Whenever my grandparents sent a beefer to the slaughter house, we would have scrambled brains and eggs for breakfast the next morning. I quit eating them when I realized the name meant actual brains.

 

Cathy

 

:ohmy: That made me laugh.:001_smile:

[TCoppock]

I was gagging as I read some of the responses here. I am not adventurous at all. Although I do eat gator all the time I never considered it strange. LOL I guess what one considers strange largely depends on where they are raised. I think I would have to pass on many of the dishes you women have tried. You all are WAY more brave than I am.

[lynn]

steamed clams. I am a yankee living in the south married to a southener and they think that is just sick.

 

I've eaten alligator in S. Fl. It's the everglades afterall.

 

My fil lives on the panhandle of FL and I kid you not we pass through this little town that is known as the possum capital of the world. One can actually purchase potted possum. I smelled it but sure as heck would not eat it. ewe ewe ewe.

[RoughCollie]

I am a Southerner living in the north, and I'd never heard of calamari, steamers, or fried clams that have their bellies still on them (or whatever you call that round, bloated sphere). I won't eat any of those.

 

steamed clams. I am a yankee living in the south married to a southener and they think that is just sick.

 

 

[Jenny in Atl]

If I could eat calamari on a daily basis, I would die a happy woman.

[chickenpatty]

Jellyfish, only seconds out of the bay.

 

Kimchee isn't a wierd food, we eat it all the time! (I can even make it!):hurray:

 

I remember enjoying pickled pig's feet with my great gramma when I was little. Ewww!

[Storm Bay]

Hmmm. I can't say for sure, since I used to eat at restaurants in Vancouver where they served things from the ocean I ate and I don't know what they were. These were in Chinese restaurants that served REAL Chinese food and didn't serve differently to "round eyes." My philosophy at that time was that if I didn't know what it was, it was fine. (I was young and adventurous.)

 

But I can say I've eaten a peacock egg (so far no one's mentioned that), rattlesnake, smoked moose, dirt (on purpose to be funny when I was in kindergarten), haggis, but hated it and didn't know what was in it until afterward, tongue (okay, weird to me), beef tripe (to help someone out who ordered the wrong thing at one of those Chinese restaurants I mentioned--another half-Icelandic person I know was adventurous as me about those things. No doubt other things I knew about but have forgotten.

 

Things I've eaten I don't think weird: frogs legs (boring, not as good as chicken), freshly caught and steamed clams, veranichi, escargot, meat cooked with fruit (in a Morroccan restaurant).

[Susan in IL]

In Chinatown in LA. A group of us went with a friend who is native of China and he insisted we try everything. They were having lobster wars that night and we ended up only paying about $100 for 8 of us to eat and that included 5 lobsters.

 

I probably ate more weird stuff the next morning when he took us to DimSum (sp?). The menu was in Chinese and he ordered everything.

[Antonia]

Gator tail, buffalo, chocolate-covered ants. Oh, and I used to eat a lot of birdseed as a kid.:tongue_smilie:

[Jennifer in NH]

If I could eat calamari on a daily basis, I would die a happy woman.

 

Me too! And why would steamed clams be weird??? Although I honestly haven't eaten one since a few years ago there was a intestinal worm in one and THAT made me gag! Yuck!

[chickenpatty]

Oh! That is so gross!!

[Amy in Orlando]

You guys are brave!!! I may never recover from the duck egg thing. :tongue_smilie:

 

I've eaten octopus and gator tail and I think that's about it. Does liver and onions count?

[CalicoKat]

Dh is currently watching serveral shows on Travel and food channels that center around eating strange...OK yucky , horrible , disgusting sounds food. So what is the strangest thing you have ever eaten on purpose?

For me it would have to be raw octopus. I had it while I was living in Hawaii and it was fantastic. Now a lot of people would say the steamed crabs we eat here in Maryland are disgusting, but we love them, I guess it is all in what you are accustomed too.

 

Seriously ground hippopotamus meat made into sloppy joes. :) I actually didn't know that's what I was eating until after the dinner.

 

Other strange foods I've eating include monkey, and flying ants.

[Musical Belle]

When I lived in Alaska, we ate reindeer quite a bit (it's a herd animal like cattle). If you were lucky you could get a moose and it would feed your family and everyone you knew for a long time. We had moose chili, moose pizza . . . . should I stop?

[Michelle T]

What can I say, apparently I suffered from pica as a kid. I was always eating holes in my pillowcases, I gnawed the ends off my own hair all the time, and loved eating paper.

 

But I don't do any of that anymore! :tongue_smilie:

[Mabelen]

I am from Spain, so a lot of the things already mentioned are/have been part of my normal diet: frog legs (crunchy), snails (in a spicy tomato sauce, I love those-better than the French style garlic and butter snails!), tripes (yum!), rabbit (with lots of garlic and white wine, delicious!), brains (those were when I was young and camouflaged in by mom), calamari (to die for, one of my cravings when pregnant!), raw octopus (a delicacy from Galicia), blood sausage (both Spanish and Scottish varieties), haggis, buffalo curd (creamy), horse meat...

 

I think though the best one is probably bulls' testicles (sliced thin and cooked as a thin steak). They actually taste great and are thought of a delicacy for the sick.

 

I can't think of anything else, does venison count as strange?

[Peek a Boo]

not gonna tell......not gonna tell....not gonna tell........

 

my mind is SO not *here* tonight!

 

:eek:

[*anj*]

If I could eat calamari on a daily basis, I would die a happy woman.

 

Same here. And I love it cooked any number of ways!

But that's not the strangest food I've eaten.

I just wanted to chime in and say I love calamari too!

[Fourmother]

--Pig ears cooked by my mother. She ate a lot of "odd pig parts" when she was a kid. I drew the line at the ears and refused to try chit'lins, mountain oysters, hog maws, or head cheese.

 

--Sliced eel cooked in broth. It was served at a formal dinner I attended in Beijing which meant I had to eat it so as not to be impolite. It was very bony, but it tasted pretty good.

[JennW in SoCal]

Chicken feet! (Chinese style) Didn't like them very much.

 

I like ahi sashimi (raw tuna), but not other types of sashimi. Calimari is ok, as long as there is a good dipping sauce!

 

My dh loves dried cuttlefish, a taste he developed growing up in Hawaii. I ban the stuff from the house because of the smell!

[Rachel]

Everyone in my family thinks I"m crazy but I love

 

Tuna and rice. Since I was a kid I would make up a batch of rice and dump a can of tuna in it........

 

My family says Ewwwww