# Does anyone actually eat chitterlings (chitlins)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 6, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324 "2004-12-06T05:20:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/41 "2004-12-07T20:42:47Z")
How do chitterlings compare with tripe? I’m quite familiar with all sorts of preparations of tripe, and I quite like the stuff (if it’s done well. Tripe is one of those things that when prepared incorrectly is absolutely vomit-inducing.) Menudo is awesome. I’ve always wanted to try chitterlings, but I’m not about to buy a 5 lb bucket of the stuff, and I don’t really see them on the menus here. Even in soul food restaurants in predominantly black neighborhoods, I haven’t been able to find them. Maybe it’s one of them off-the-menu items…I dunno.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/42 "2004-12-08T00:49:07Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> I’ll eat most anything. But I think I’d rather die than enjoy this particular delicacy.
>
> So I gotta ask, what’s _belut_?
It’s an incubated duck’s egg that has a two and a half week old fetus in it that is then boiled and eaten.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/43 "2004-12-08T18:15:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> How do chitterlings compare with tripe?
Both have strong smells when being prepared, but the tastes/smells are different strong smells. If you’re OK with tripe, you should do fine with chitlins.
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I don’t really see them on the menus here. Even in soul food restaurants in predominantly black neighborhoods, I haven’t been able to find them.
:eek: What kind of place do you live in!?
[http://www.manalang.com/philippines/manila/balut.html](http://www.manalang.com/philippines/manila/balut.html)
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> So I gotta ask, what’s _belut_?
[Submitted for your approval](http://www.manalang.com/philippines/manila/balut.html)
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### Author:  [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/44 "2004-12-08T18:46:09Z")
Cooking chitlins takes foreever - well, actually, preparing them to be cooked takes forever. They have to be washed and rinsed many, many, many times. And the smell - as was pointed out, they smell just like you’d expect. I don’t eat them.
I do eat scrapple though. That’s everything leftover from the pig after all the good parts (including the chitlins) have been removed. Fried scrapple…mmmmmm.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/45 "2004-12-08T19:48:09Z")
The proper name for “snoodge” is _chyme_; in the small intestine, what you’ve basically got is food that’s been pulverized, hydrolyzed, and otherwise enzymed into a relatively smooth paste. The bacteria that give excrement its typical smell (and, I presume, taste) are not yet present (at least not in large quantities). It also hasn’t had its water extracted by the large intestine, so it’s not nearly as solid as feces.
I’ve never tasted chyme, but I imagine it’s sorta like baby food. Tangy baby food.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/46 "2004-12-09T05:30:00Z")
> [@Nametag](#):
>
> The proper name for “snoodge” is _chyme_; in the small intestine, what you’ve basically got is food that’s been pulverized, hydrolyzed, and otherwise enzymed into a relatively smooth paste. The bacteria that give excrement its typical smell (and, I presume, taste) are not yet present (at least not in large quantities). It also hasn’t had its water extracted by the large intestine, so it’s not nearly as solid as feces.
>
> I’ve never tasted chyme, but I imagine it’s sorta like baby food. Tangy baby food.
You know, I’m currently trying to lose about ten pounds or so. I think I’ll bookmark this thread and whenever I get tempted, come back and read all of this.
Excellent dieting aid.
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### Author:  [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-eat-chitterlings-chitlins/278324/47 "2004-12-09T07:47:47Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#):
>
> Is this a mythical food, or do some folks really eat pig intestines? I’m a resident of The South[sup]TM[/sup], and I’ve yet to meet anybody who’s ever seen them. You won’t find them on the menu at any restaurant that I’m aware of. Everything I’ve read about them would make them seem to be just about the nastiest thing you could put in your mouth. Have you ever seen them? Would you try them? Or has the generation of people who used to eat them disappeared? I’m curious to know, and this must be the right place to ask. I can’t even close by saying “yum” in sarcastic fashion, because, well, they’re pig intestines!
Have not ate them but I have smelled them cooking. Some of my relatives used to make them and they do not smell appetizing at all.
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