Are there any food items that you would think taste disgusting (e.g., bugs, organ meat) but in fact are so bland you would wonder why you were grossed out?
I surprised to find that sea cucumber tastes just like a shitake mushroom. Kind of bland and not gross at all. Seems like the kind of thing that would just taste like whatever you put it in.
After my first experience with tofu, I’ve never understood the aversion to it. It tastes like whatever you season and cook it with, and the texture is about like scrambled eggs. I don’t want faux Thanksgiving turkey made of tofu, but as a protein source in its own right, it’s as harmless as they come.
Poi.
Jellyfish. You buy it dried, soak it overnight, and put it in a cucumber/sesame oil salad. Doesn’t have any taste at all.
Locusts. I tried dry-roasted locust and it might as well have been dry-roasted peanut.
Bugs [mealworms or something] Not that I was grossed out to begin with, but the ones I had were disappointingly flavorless – or at least flavorless enough to be overwhelmed by the seasonings.
Tripe.
Same with cicadas. I boiled and ate one for curiosity’s sake, and it tasted kinda like a cross between almonds, grass, and perhaps canned asparagus.
Goat eyeballs are also surprisingly mild in flavor, with perhaps just a hint of organ-ness to them. That said, they’re not going to be the next hot flavor sensation anytime soon.
Fried Alligator tail-nasty, nasty! It doesn’t have much flavor (except a mild hint of fishiness), but it is as tough as apiece of rubber. You can cheaw it all day! (Must make good jerkey). I’d also add’ conch: I’m told it is good (if prepared properly)-but antime I’ve tried it, it was like alligator.
Rattlesnake.
Tastes like… Chicken (duh!)
I ate emu once. Thought it tasted a bit like turkey.
Probably wouldn’t eat it again if given the chance, no.
I just, for the first time, tried salty licorice. Which, as I understand it, is a fairly common treat in Europe but quite rare here in the US. Was making a separate purchase at the candy store the other day, and they had something labeled salty licorice so I added 2 pieces to the bag.
First chew: meh. Not bad, not anything I’d go out of my way for. Didn’t really taste salty, just not as sweet as the stuff I’m used to. By the time I finished the second piece I’d mostly changed my mind. It was a combination of licorice, a little sweetness, no really discernable SALT flavor, and just the teensiest hint of swampwater / old fish / “gone bad” that made me realize I wouldn’t bother with the stuff again. In other words, not repulsive but not likely to be added to my top 10 candy list.
I came in here to post about that. I had rattlesnake in the stuffing of some stuffed mushrooms. Had someone told me it was crabmeat or shredded chicken, I would have believed it.
Not terribly exotic, but I was disappointed to find that buffalo tastes exactly the same as beef.
Ostrich actually has a nice taste (although it isn’t easy to describe, it has a unique taste). I always thought they weren’t eaten because they tasted like shit.
I found sweetbreads to be underwhelming.
Ohhhh… I lurve sweetbreads, but they’re more of a platform for delicious breading and capers.
Haggis has a bad reputation, but many people who try it are surprised to find that it tastes more like a peppery meatloaf than the stunt food of popular legend.