Exotic food
- Thread starter Janne
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Very few of the items mentioned so far would qualify as exotic then. True, I've never eaten reindeer brains but hog brains are a common item here. Especially scrambled with eggs. Roasted ants are common cinema snacks in parts of South America (that is indeed part of the Western world) Rattlesnake is extremely common in the Southwest (usually fried or in chili) Almost all wild game is common. Rheas and ostrich were the subject of farming for a while and the meat wasn't UN-common." Alligator is quite common here as well, as is all seafood. Crawfish season is just around the corner along the Gulf Coast.
After 10 + years in Asia I have eaten some weird things. Japan loves raw anything.
Thailand sells lots of insects.
The worst thing I ate (personally) was balut. For the unknowing. Balut is a boiled egg that was just about to hatch. Imagine eggy duck with the texture of shrimp with their shells.
Thailand sells lots of insects.
The worst thing I ate (personally) was balut. For the unknowing. Balut is a boiled egg that was just about to hatch. Imagine eggy duck with the texture of shrimp with their shells.
Had crocodile and gator which i enjoyed but too expensive compared to tastier meats to be a regular, crickets and meal-worms were not too bad left an after taste similar to pistachios, looking back on life the most disgusting things i have eaten have to have been the forecourt sandwiches when i worked in a 24hr petrol station in my youth and tins of corned beef from my childhood
I eat lots of weird stuff - have you seen my wife's cooking?
Seriously now, in the past I have tried
Snake,Fried insects, worms, spiders, woodlice etc but the worst was Durian fruit - it is said to be the best fruit in the world once you get past the smell - but to me it tasted of its smell!
Seriously now, in the past I have tried
Snake,Fried insects, worms, spiders, woodlice etc but the worst was Durian fruit - it is said to be the best fruit in the world once you get past the smell - but to me it tasted of its smell!
Yes, that would come high on the list.
But heres an exotic food story.
My mother was visited by one of her wealthy friends, who would always bring her a gift, small, seemingly humble, but one that she knew would have a lot of thought put into it, and be hard to find...A gift worth recieving.
Anyhow, this was a punnet of strawberries
In january, in the years before they were flown in. (this would have been about 30 odd years ago.)
But heres an exotic food story.
My mother was visited by one of her wealthy friends, who would always bring her a gift, small, seemingly humble, but one that she knew would have a lot of thought put into it, and be hard to find...A gift worth recieving.
Anyhow, this was a punnet of strawberries
In january, in the years before they were flown in. (this would have been about 30 odd years ago.)
My mum told the story of her dad coming home from The War with a banana. Fruit of any kind being rare at that time, she immediately started eating it.
Shame he hadn't told her to peel it first.
Shame he hadn't told her to peel it first.
Well, having read about how crubeens or pigs trotters were such a delicacy, a couple of years ago I asked my friendly local butcher if he could get some. He raised his eyebrows, and said yes. Two cost 38 pence.
So I soaked them in brine for a day.
Then splinted them with a wooden spoon and cooked them, left them to cool.
Split and rolled in breadcrumbs, grilled with a light allspice dressing.
Come dinner time my wife said "this is the most disgusting thing you have ever made, its bloody awful, dont ever do it again". And she was right !
Not so exotic I know, but funny.
So I soaked them in brine for a day.
Then splinted them with a wooden spoon and cooked them, left them to cool.
Split and rolled in breadcrumbs, grilled with a light allspice dressing.
Come dinner time my wife said "this is the most disgusting thing you have ever made, its bloody awful, dont ever do it again". And she was right !
Not so exotic I know, but funny.
Trotters would be one of the ingredients. Head Cheese is basically all of the unused pork trimmings chopped and made into a loaf with aspic.
I suppose with a bit of research we could find a "recipe" for the US version but I think it would be a bit off the norm. What I mean is that since our version uses the trimmings, it's unlikely that any two batches will be the same. Hope that makes sense.
I'm not overly fond of chitterlings either.
Chitterlings (usually frozen) hog brains (usually canned) pig's feet (usually pickle) head cheese (packed as deli meat) beef tongue (fresh or frozen) chicken livers, and many more are all found in our supermarkets. Even chicken feet (the actual claws) can be found in some supermarkets here (Piggly Wiggly www.pigglywiggly.com and others)
Many of the foods you consider normal can't be found here in supermarkets though. Lambs kidneys for example. So steak & kidney pie would be considered exotic here; as would haggis.
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