# Oddest thing you've ever tasted. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623 "2003-05-07T09:56:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/1 "2003-05-07T09:56:41Z")
Mine is [phenolphthalein](http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/P2015.htm), a chemical used as a pH indicator in my high school chem class. Anyone who’s worked around phenolphthalein knows its bitter chemical odor. They also know it as being rather messy and, for my clumsy hands, hard to work with without spilling. But hell, it does what it’s supposed to do, and when you’re titrating a solution, anything to make a touchy process more exact is welcome. Getting on with my story, I was working in the lab in full regalia, a setup that didn’t include gloves. I’m not sure how it entered my mouth, as a good scrub was SOP after any lab, but it might have been absorbed through the skin of my ungloved hands. I do know I didn’t get my hands near my mouth: Nobody could have paid me enough to even risk getting any of that vile stuff on my tongue. Of course, I didn’t notice anything odd until I got home. Then I began to taste in my mouth the bitter chemical smell associated with my Least Favored Indicator. Not lightly, mind you, but very strong. Overpowering. Enough to make me need to drink large amounts of water to attempt to remove the taste from my olfactory system. The taste is indescribable, but it can be approximated: Lick copper (but don’t eat it, as it’s a neurotoxin). Copper is bitter the same way as phenolphthalein is bitter, but it lacks the chemical tones that make the indicator’s taste that much worse. I know people who ate pennies when they were children, but _nobody_ would deliberately drink phenolphthalein. Aside from the taste, my extremities began to get cold. Icy cold, even as I lay in bed, wrapped in my covers. This also points to The Big P: As the MSDS linked to above indicates, phenolphthalein lowers your blood pressure. Of course, the MSDS recommends inducing vomiting. I didn’t. It recommends seeking medical attention. I didn’t. I survived, but it isn’t something I’d volunteer to undergo again. As a final note, phenolphthalein is carcinogenic. Did my teacher mention this? Nooo. So when I turn into a giant walking tumor with cold fingers and toes and a truly awful taste in my mouth, I’ll know who to terrorise. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/2 "2003-05-07T10:25:07Z")
I once ate [Mashonzha](http://www.questconnect.org/images/mopani_worms.jpg), a type of worm considered the National dish of Botswana. I think it tasted better than it looked, but that’s not saying much at all. I don’t remember it as vile, but it’s certainly up there in the odd stakes. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/3 "2003-05-07T10:33:26Z")
[Umeboshi](http://metropolis.japantoday.com/biginjapan/350/biginjapaninc.htm) - Japanese pickled plums, at a posh dinner party in Kyushu. They are the most unpleasantly intense, salty, bitter thing I’ve ever tasted. When I finally regained control of my facial muscles from my autonomous nervous system, I got the attention of the room, and turned to my girlfriend, making a big show of how delicious they were, and got her to eat one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen expressions as funny that, as her conscious necessity for politeness fought against her reflex facial scrunching. I am evil. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/4 "2003-05-07T12:43:22Z")
fried gluten from a can (flavor not bad, texture not good). Cuttlefish chips(actually quite good). Skate( at a french restaurant-excellent), canned fried dacea fish. Most of these were gag (no pun intended) gifts I gave to friends at Christmas. I picked up the most interesting stuff I could find at the local asian market. Little did I know I would need to share… ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/5 "2003-05-07T16:04:06Z")
**Derleth** , I’ve had the same stuff, only a couple drops, though. I was demonstrating how neutralization of a strong acid (in that case it was HCl) with a strong base (I can’t remember what one I used at the time…) results in a harmless solution of a salt and water (yes I checked to make sure the type of salt that was created was harmless). I drank the beaker after EXTENSIVE checks that it was 7 Ph. I thought that phenolphthalein would taste odd… It did. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/6 "2003-05-07T16:13:00Z")
A yellow Easter-egg dye tablet, when I was six. I thought it would taste like mustard. It tasted like…hard to explain, but it was bitter and chalky. And, to forestall any follow-up inquiries: what came in yellow, came out yellow. ---
**Author:** ![WhiteyFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@WhiteyFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhiteyFoo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/7 "2003-05-07T16:46:55Z")
Benzene. It doesn’t taste as sweet as it smells. I worked at a chemical plant for awhile and got the opportunity to inadvertently taste it more than once. I wouldn’t recommend it. Actually tastes rather bad. And I definatly know who to blame when I become a walking tumor. ---
**Author:** ![hebesphenomegacorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@hebesphenomegacorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hebesphenomegacorona)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/8 "2003-05-07T16:59:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aro \* > \*\*I once ate [Mashonzha](http://www.questconnect.org/images/mopani_worms.jpg), a type of worm considered the National dish of Botswana. > > I think it tasted better than it looked, but that’s not saying much at all. I don’t remember it as vile, but it’s certainly up there in the odd stakes. \*\* They look like cigars! Now, I haven’t ATE them, but I saw fried cuttlefish snacks in the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/9 "2003-05-07T17:01:58Z")
I was at a south Texas BBQ and ate some kind of a cow gland. Not that it tasted bad, I just usually don’t include a lot of glands in my diet. “Want some more glands?” “Let me thi…no.” ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/10 "2003-05-07T17:11:43Z")
A Coke with _something_ in it which I didn’t see because I drank from the bottle. Flakes of something with a horrible metallic taste. With the taste and the knowlege that Coke should not have solids in, I came _this_ close to throwing up. I’m just glad that I never figured out what was in there. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/11 "2003-05-07T17:21:30Z")
That would have to be musk flavored life savers candy. When I was a kid, my friend brought them back from Australia. Tasted like the smell of cheap hand soap. ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/12 "2003-05-07T18:07:45Z")
So this one time I was making chili and a guy came by and dumped in a couple of tablespoons of cinnamon. Bleck. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/13 "2003-05-07T18:26:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*I was at a south Texas BBQ and ate some kind of a cow gland. Not that it tasted bad, I just usually don’t include a lot of glands in my diet. “Want some more glands?” “Let me thi…no.” \*\* I wonder if you ate what I ate, **lieu**! When I was in Argentina, I got served fried adrenal glands (at least, that’s what they told me it was). I found the glands to be most unpleasant, particularly in texture. _shiver_ ---
**Author:** ![Rib\_Eye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Rib\_Eye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rib_Eye)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/14 "2003-05-07T20:14:24Z")
Ayran, a turkish yogurt drink. Imagine a very salty milkshake. Cold, it was tolerable. I shudder to think of what it would have been like warm. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/15 "2003-05-07T20:29:41Z")
Ayran sounds a lot like lhassi, which is served in India (and Indian restaurants - salty or sweet are available). Personally I love it. Other things, however, that I know by experience I don’t love include:[ul][_]Tibetan rancid yak-butter tea.[_]Chiu Chow delicacy comprising fertilised chicken eggs boiled in fish-head soup.Half a can of tepid beer laced with about 20 cigarette ends.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![tomyoung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tomyoung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomyoung)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/16 "2003-05-07T20:58:05Z")
**jjimm** : I actually really like umeboshi, and I was born and raised in Tennessee. Eating one whole is too intense, but eating a little at a time is pretty good, I think. The weirdest food I’ve ever tasted was natto (sp?), fermented sticky, gummy soybeans. Not great, not horrible, but very, very strange. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/17 "2003-05-07T21:21:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Half a can of tepid beer laced with about 20 cigarette ends. \*\* Ah yes, room-temperature wine also tastes lovely with those particular additions! I ate dog once. Don’t ask. And no, it did not taste like chicken. Or beef. It tasted OK but smelled really bad in this dish. Note to self- if it smells bad, _don’t try it anyway_. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@GorillaGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaGirl)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/18 "2003-05-07T22:15:31Z")
Second-worst thing: kumiss (Mongolian fermented mare’s milk). First-worst thing: kumiss with Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup added. Urk. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/19 "2003-05-07T23:09:19Z")
Maybe related to umeboshi, mine was Salty Plum Soda at the local Vietnamese cafe. I love that place, and had never had anything I didn’t love… until that fateful drink. I tried really hard to like it, but man. It was soda water poured over a mushed-up salty plum (which I had never heard of before). The flavor was just intensely odd. I couldn’t even decide if it was bad or not, because it was so foreign. I stick to the limeade sodas now. ---
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623/20 "2003-05-08T00:09:32Z")
tame, by these standards: Pickled Walnuts. Eugh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-thing-youve-ever-tasted/173623.md?page=2)