Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I'm trying to decide whether this reassures (everything is an illusion, so whatever) or horrifies (what are we "eating"??). I'm going with brain wipe. Kindly do not illuminate my existence, jacob! A well-crafted fantasy is a useful tool.

FWIW, I'm not gonna terminate this thread for being off topic or irreedimable. I'm looking forward to seeing just how deep this rabbit hole goes. A well-crafted fantasy is practically indistinguishable from religion. Since we're now thoroughly derailed from the OP but in an entertaining way, lets concentrate on eating. What else have some of you guys stuffed into your mouths?

Blowfish? Bark? Grass? Fried ants? .. or ... even lentil soup? The latter is the worst known to FIRE!

PS: Sorry OP, you're gonna have to start over on this one ... maybe pick a better title

Some of the more exotic things that come to mind for me: I've had puffin, kangaroo, crickets, ptarmigan, bear, rattlesnake, tripe, tongue, natto.

The only thing I've purchased but been unable to eat was hakarl. It smelled so foul I just couldn't do it.

Well, we could discuss the horse meat in Uzbekistan or the inordinately large shrimp with heads and eyes looking at you in Indonesia. I once also ate an entire intact duck's liver in France. Simply marinated and broiled. If you go to Segovia in Spain, you can go to Europe's oldest restaurant, the Meson de Candido. The specialty there is suckling pig. Complete with the face and the hair on the knuckles.

In 2015 I went to the Russian Embassy for the 70th anniversary of VE day. They had a number of historical tables set up, one of which was the "typical ration of the Russian soldier in World War II." It was basically some brown mushy rice-like porridge and a small skewer with an olive, cheese and a mystery meat. And a shot of vodka. I got a sense of why the movie "Enemy at the Gates" was a pretty accurate depiction of the Eastern Front in that war.

South American cuisine my parents made me eat: cow tongue (taste good if done right); tripe in peanut sauce which takes forever to chew and not particularly appetizing; rice mixed with blood stuffed into pork intestine and boiled and served in a blood rice soup - it's extremely bitter and I hated it.

I made a comment in the garden log thread about wanting to eat my compost worms/pill-bugs but it didn't get any bites From youtube, the pill-bugs will either taste like piss or prawns. If I still lived in the South I would probably be devising a way to harvest fire ants..

I haven't met many foods I disagree with.. the worst ones usually just have foul odors that I connect with a lack of freshness. This is why I won't order tripe unless it is vouched for (once I got a menudo that tasted like a public restroom.. switched to birria since then). Similarly, once I had some papaya salad that was pretty rank, bitter

I confirm I would not like/try hakarl. I'll try balut, next time it is offered..

Blood as an ingredient is pretty great in all of my experiences (sausages, puddings, dinuguan, a version of laap, diced curdled blood chunks in noodle soups..).

One thing that I've wondered is why don't Americans cure more meat (in the style of the Spanish)?

And one more strange food related thought.. the first time I went to a Piggly Wiggly in the black neighbourhood (as a kid) was a big WTF moment. Before my eyes were all the parts of animals that were not even stocked at the "normal" Pig: cheeks, tongue, ears, nose, feet, tail, intestines, etc.

black_son_of_gray wrote:The only thing I've purchased but been unable to eat was hakarl. It smelled so foul I just couldn't do it.

I had to look this up. Aside from the overwhelming ammonia smell (yum!), I'm not tempted by things that are innately poisonous to humans. It's odd, because shark meat in general is delicious. DH used to eat pork kidneys, which had a nauseating ammonia odor. I'm guessing that had to do with urine. Another of my fussy American values: stay away from animal parts that served as toxin or waste filters in the original owner.

Dragline wrote: The specialty there is suckling pig. Complete with the face and the hair on the knuckles.

Those whole-body pigs can be found in Seattle's Chinatown (probably every city), hanging in the windows of restaurants that barbecue them. You could bring one to your next ERE meet-up! Very festive, with the eyes and all.

Our local small grocery store sells all sorts of insects (crickets, worms, etc.) in little boxes at the checkout stand next to the Cadbury eggs. They come with a variety of spices sprinkled on top and look either dried or fried; I'm not sure, because so far I've resisted trying them.

Tripe and tongue are good!
And, I'm pretty sure that eating a whole animal (instead of only its muscles) makes it unnescessary to eat anythnig else.

Jean wrote:Tripe and tongue are good!

No argument with tongue (tripe imho is like tofu: tolerable dependent on sauce). Tongue has a soft, moist texture that we love in tacos and burritos. My mother used to cook it like pot roast, but for whatever reason she left the tastebud-pebbled skin on. It looked like a huge, grayish...tongue. Didn't keep me from eating it, but still.

Eating the whole animal is a great idea, but I question whether that makes it unnecessary to eat anything else.

On an unrelated note: one of the less appealing animals I've eaten is woodchuck. DH had a strict code for his son to discourage wanton sniping at things: 'You kill it, you eat it.' We went on a camping trip early in our life together, and DS shot a woodchuck. Per the code, we promptly made camp and cooked the woodchuck. I prefer tripe.

I would have guessed woodchuck was OK. Good thing we don't have them here.

I ate a stink bug once. If given the opportunity, don't do it. Even with the mouthful of raspberries that accompanied it it was horrible.

I think about the weirdest thing I ever ate was sheep's intestines at a motorway service station in southern France. No I didn't know what it was when I pointed to it at the deli counter, and yes, it tasted like excrement. Never again.

I know we should be closing our loops, but Pig's anus, tripe, brains? Isn't this what dogs are for?

I've never eaten a dog. I imagine it tastes something like a woodchuck, though.

I want to eat a gold finch. I bet they taste lemony. I would ask my cat but he won't say.