Thanksgiving reminds me of common foods I’ve never tried, and then there’s Christmas for a beverage most people I know seem to enjoy. Most of them just seem like they’d be gross. Others are because of ethical objections. So, how about you?
Just food that’s commonly eaten by people in your area. I mean, I don’t think sushi and Indian food rises to that level in most of the US, but I guess if you live where it’s dirt common you can add stuff like that to your list.
I’ve never tried:
clam chowder
corn chowder
sweet potatoes
green bean casserole
eggnog
lobster (I have ethical objections)
venison (ditto)
Eggnog is regional? Besides large parts of US/Canada, with European versions?
On the west coast, there are few regional foods. I’ve never had a Picon Punch I guess? I made Kalimotxo once with wine that was on its way out, not as bad as you’d think. Both Basque imports of a sort. Nor a local burger. I can’t think of any Northern California foods, culture gets absorbed and changed around here. San Francisco burritos (=giant), yes. Uhhh… Rice-a-Roni and It’s-It? Yes. California roll? Yes, but really doubt that counts.
Re ethical: is this just vegetarian/pescetarian objections (I see clam is okay)? Meaning nothing specific about those foods except that they fall into an animal category? IMHO lobster is overrated, you’re not missing much (though up there I bet it has less of a expensive cachet), but venison is great.
I’ve lived in Cayman for more than a decade and never tried the national dish - turtle stew made from green sea turtles. I won’t eat an endangered species, even if it is farm raised.
My Mom’s family is Norwegian, and she remembers when she was a kid in the 40s, all her older relatives would be eating it all the time around the holidays. I don’t think she’s ever tried it, either.
I’ve never tried the Cockney Classic; jellied eels. I’m not inclined to either since hearing someone refer to them as “like chewing on a dead man’s knuckle”.
I like that description. I once tried jellied eels – never again. The dish struck me as extremely bony, with very little flesh to be found: I considered it to be like trying to eat numerous bits of hard, white plastic, in a mess of glutionous gelatine.
I was just on a two week road trip in Europe (Germany/Belgium/France region) and had my first experience of Christmas markets (which I didn’t know existed until we saw our first one in Frankfurt and then another in almost every city we visited).
So that introduced me to the existence of glühwein. Since I don’t drink wine I never had any, though I did have a non-alcoholic glühwein in Nuremberg but that was just warm apple juice with cinnamon.
I know it is just a version of mulled wine (which I’ve never seen being sold in the States) but a month ago I had no idea how pervasive it was in that part of Europe, at least this time of year.
Otherwise, since I grew up reasonably poor where our meat eating was within a pretty narrow band and then gave up red meat as a freshman in college and have stayed with that for 20+ years, there are many very common beef and pork dishes I’ve never had.
From the OP, if you have ethical issues with lobster, why not with clam chowder? Clams are usually cooked while still alive as well (I assume that is the ethical issue, though not sure the ethical issue with venison assuming you eat other meat).
Yeah, I consider myself an omnivore, but the look of them sitting in that oozy jelly gives me the willies.
That other East End favourite; pie, mash and parsley liqour, followed by a dish of spotted dick and custard on a cold winter’s day is another matter though.
I had alligator–at a hospital cafeteria, in fact. They were endangered once but have bounced back so well that controlled hunting is allowed. Although the gators sold commercially are probably farm-raised…
Never had pig brains, but they aren’t often on the menu. There are some taco trucks with bold options!
What are your ethical objections to venison? In many parts of the country there’s a strong need for hunters to actually cull the herds due to excellent wildlife management, and the possibility of mass starvation.
It’s hardly like there are hordes of mad-eyed rednecks shooting deer to extinction; in reality it’s quite the opposite.
I grew up in Green Bay, where “chicken booyah” (a sort of chicken stew, traditionally made with a lot of the chicken parts that wouldn’t normally be eaten) is a huge tradition, particularly at church picnics. I’ve never had it – it always looked really nasty.
I now live in Chicago, where a Lent tradition (based on abstaining from meat on Fridays) is the “pepper and egg sandwich”. Have never had it, as I’m no fan of green peppers.
I grew up in a heavily Greek neighborhood, Astoria (Queens), New York, and yet I never ate any of the common Greek dishes. I’ve never had souvlaki, baklava, moussaka… none of it. I passed by places that served Greek food every day for half my life, but it never appealed to me in the least.
Here in Texas, there are all kinds of common Mexican dishes I’ve never tried, from cabrito (goat) to menudo (soup made from tripe).
… Huh, I think I’ve just realized that I may never have actually eaten egg salad. (But I have eaten other mayonnaise-based salads and hard-boiled eggs on occasion, and I think they are both gross, so I don’t think I really need to try a food that combines the two to know that I won’t like it.)
Ooh, here’s one I’ve missed. A Jewish/Mexican bakery/restaurant in town has Guacamole Bobe on the menu–a mix of egg salad & guacamole. Need to make it by to try it! (A Houston food writer approximated the recipe.)
Local foods? I’ve only had a few bites of menudo–not a favorite. Haven’t had chitlins, although they’re rare even at our soul food establishments. Otherwise, I’ve sampled most of our common specialties. Boudain? Dirty rice? Great stuff…
I’ve never tried a couple of Mexican specialties that are popular here in San Diego. First there’s menudo, which is apparently tripe soup and which is featured on weekends as a hangover cure. The other is the California burrito, which contains carne asada and french fries. I’m not a big fan of carbs on carbs.