# New/Exotic Foods You Thought Would Be Bad, And Were Awful **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756 "2006-03-24T18:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/61 "2006-03-28T20:12:52Z")
Mine was slightly reversed. My partner and I were vacationing in Germany, and wanted an “authentic” German dining experience. We were referred to this low-beamed, dimly lit place that overall had decent food - except for one thing. The server brought over a big basket of fresh bread and what I \*thought \* was butter. Being hungry (well, and a huge butter hog), I slathered up my bread and took a great big bite. I was told that the look on my face was priceless as I very quickly figured out it was NOT butter at all. It was pork “leavings”. Congealed pork fat with little pork bits. Essentially, used Crisco smeared on a piece of bread. (shuddering at the thought) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/62 "2006-03-29T00:21:16Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slip](#): > > It was pork “leavings”. Congealed pork fat with little pork bits. Essentially, used Crisco smeared on a piece of bread. > > (shuddering at the thought) Sorry **Anne Neville** but that sounds rather nice (if excessively lethal in the cholesterol values). Then again, I’m a fan of a bit of Porc Scratchings myself (even the hairy variety). ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/63 "2006-03-29T00:23:37Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > And the corollary of Soviet cuisne, which I shouldn’t include here because it’s one of the few things I’ve ever entirely refused to eat: [Herring in a Fur Coat.](http://web.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/Recipe/recipe108.htm) I like most of the components just fine, but there are some great tastes that just don’t taste great together. Sorry for the repeat post, but the link provided above has a wonderful typo > [@](#): > > The Russians like herrings preserved in a special salty marinade with lots of **species** but without vinegar. We serve it as hors-d’oeuvre (we hope we write it down from the dictionary correctly), in salad (as above) and in some other ways. Besides the beetroot is often used in Russian salads. bolding added by yours truely. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/64 "2006-03-29T00:25:15Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slip](#): > > Mine was slightly reversed. My partner and I were vacationing in Germany, and wanted an “authentic” German dining experience. > > We were referred to this low-beamed, dimly lit place that overall had decent food - except for one thing. > > The server brought over a big basket of fresh bread and what I \*thought \* was butter. Being hungry (well, and a huge butter hog), I slathered up my bread and took a great big bite. I was told that the look on my face was priceless as I very quickly figured out it was NOT butter at all. > > It was pork “leavings”. Congealed pork fat with little pork bits. Essentially, used Crisco smeared on a piece of bread. > > (shuddering at the thought) Oooooh! I love that stuff! Especially with freshly ground black pepper on it and washed down with some good beer. No finer lunch exists. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/65 "2006-03-29T01:29:42Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Sorry **Anne Neville** but that sounds rather nice (if excessively lethal in the cholesterol values). Then again, I’m a fan of a bit of Porc Scratchings myself (even the hairy variety). That’s fine. You and **Scumpup** can split my share of pork leavings. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/66 "2006-03-29T02:07:10Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > **species** It’s a false cognate sort of misspelling from the Russian word for “spices,” _spetsii._ ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/67 "2006-03-29T16:48:08Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > It’s a false cognate sort of misspelling from the Russian word for “spices,” _spetsii._ Still I love the image of a pot roast arriving. “Tasty pot roast made with mixed species.” Hey, darling, you’ve got some tarantulla caught in your teeth, the penguin is a bit rubbery today but the Ossolot is devine. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/68 "2006-03-29T19:17:48Z")
1. Natto. Fermented (rotten, really) soybeans. It’s repulsive. It looks like puke, it stinks of rot and decay, and it tastes like something that should have gone down a garbage disposal at least a few months before it was served. Ecch, ecch, ecch. 2. Aswa. This is a fermented manioc juice (sometimes more like a slushie) that’s a pretty standard drink in the western Amazon. It’s kind of like a fetid, skunk beer smoothie, only with slimy chunks of rotten manioc. And, what’s worse–Amazonian hospitality means people greeting you with bowls of aswa. And guests have to drink it. If a host doesn’t offer you aswa within a few minutes of your arrival, there’s something very wrong going on, and you should leave ASAP. If you refuse to drink your hosts’ aswa, that’s a serious slap in the face. You can’t expect to have even semi-decent relations with the people putting you up after that. ---
**Author:** ![False\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee7513/32.png) [@False\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/False_God)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756/69 "2006-03-29T20:01:04Z")
The beef penis soup from the hawker market in Malaysia wasn’t all that bad; they stew the penis until it’s tender and the broth is spicy enough that you don’t really taste anything else. The medicinal restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, however, was another sack of cats. They have a set lunch where you get a Chinese medicinal soup, chicken, rice, a vegetable and tea and cookies for one price. Okay, fine, says I, ever adventurous culinarily. The process of choosing your soup was interesting, as you could choose from the offerings on the menu, like 'to increase vitality and blood circulation", "to improve liver function and tiredness,"or the men’s and women’s soup. Alternatively, you could ask the pharmacist to come up with something based on your symptoms. I chose the men’s soup, which was supposed to help with “vigor”, decrease sweating and stimulate hair growth; my wife got something that lessened cramps and strengthened bones. I was figuring the soups would arrive in small bowls, so I was unprepared when a small tureen was placed in front of us. It smelled… interesting. Lots of ginseng root, black mushroom, red dates, etc and VERY aromatic and earthy. Okay, fine, I have a cold beer and I’m going to get chicken later, how bad can it be? Unbelievably, woefully, flavorful, as Tony Bourdain said about “mountain potato.” The overwhelming taste was of chicken stock brewed through a compost heap, like leaf litter with ginger and white pepper, the dates adding their own sweetness, the snow fungus adding a fibrous texture. I actually lucked out by burning my tongue on the first sip, so couldn’t taste the full bouquet of flavors. I think there was seahorse in there, there was definitely some sort of insect and lots of leafy brown things. And did I mention it was HOT? And that there was what looked like a GALLON of it for each of us? The random Chinese dudes peeking out through the kitchen door didn’t add to the experience, as we figured they were saying something like: “Dude, he’s never going to eat that!” “Shut up, dude, he thinks it’s medicine!”“Shutup shutup shutup, you guys, he’s eating it!” “Dude, where did we even GET that stuff from?” So yeah, probably the worst thing I’ve tried. That or the Russian carbonated sea water I picked up thinking it was mineral water. It’ll get you over your hangover in a hurry, but it’s definitely the nuclear option. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-exotic-foods-you-thought-would-be-bad-and-were-awful/349756.md?page=3)