Not an Aussie - lived there for a while - (but that’s not how I know) - “Sago Starch made from the sago palm used to make puddings.”
Bleuchh.
Weird things I have eaten, but tasty nonetheless: crocodile, emu, alligator, ostrich, wallaby, kangaroo, bugs (marine crustaceans, not insects. Taste like prawns).
All in all I’m not keen on crocodile because I’ve only had it served rubbery, bland and tasteless. And I didn’t like emu much, it was to dark red/purple. Ostrich is great though, just like steak. Ditto roo.
I believe I’ve eaten camel too, but I was very young, and can’t remember.
Hey, don’t knock Vegimite - it’s great
And so is that Dutch sprinkle stuff - great for breakfast, especially if you’re trying to put on weight!
Finally, jellyfish is yum too! although it certainly does take some time to get into!
One of my mates went to the US, and says you guys have white gravy. Yeeeeeeuch!
And don’t forget balachan. When I first encountered it, my friend’s wife (from Borneo) was crumbling it into curry. When I asked what it was, there was a long pause and she just “Um, cheese. Go away.”
Comes in blocks, smells…fragrant, black. Fermented shrimp paste. Yikes.
- The only okra I’ve ever seen is the pods (about 5 to 8 cm long), but these are definitely the fruits - are you saying that the unopened flower buds are eaten in some places?
I am convinced that my ancestors were raping and robbing their way along the coasts because they were in search of something to eat. Some restaurants in my part of the country, preferably the out of the way restaurants, make lutefisk, which is lye-drenched cod.
Lutefisk is like the Dallas Cowboys. You either love it or hate it. I fall into the latter category on both.
Whoa! I always assumed that, if anything, my great-uncle was pulling my leg about it and passing on some urban-legend type of thing. Too bad he’s not alive for me to pass this on to him, poor guy. I’m sure the rest of the family will enjoy this, as we all heard the tale hundreds of times.
It is the longest section in “Ray’s List” (see above). Some of the comments he collected concerning it were quite amusing.
(BTW, I believe that list is something he circulated on USENET after collecting comments many years ago. It has surfaced a couple of places on the web.)
The comment I like on durian is “like eating custard in an outhouse”. I haven’t had the pleasure? myself, so I can’t make any first hand assessments.
I ate durian once. It isn’t at all like eating custard in an outhouse. It’s like eating vanilla pudding, into which some evil bastard has mixed a generous amount of earwax.
Ooh, this is the perfect time to ask you about your screen name, Mangetout. Are you in fact named after a sugar pea or merely a rather well traveled gourmand? (Enquiring minds want to know!)
As to the okra. While most fruits typically are the fleshly result of a previously flowering plant, okra are the unopened flower pod of Abelmoschus esculentus. Along with capers (Capparis spinosa), these are some of the only flower buds eaten on a regular basis. Please look for okra that are only 1-2 cm or ~1" in length. Remove the fiberous stem without opening the interior of the pod. Steam or boil just long enough for them to become tender and serve with melted butter. You will experience none of the mucilaginous texture and all of the wonderful yummy okra goodness that this delicious plant is justly known for.
I have never been brave enough to get past that horribly smell. I actually got sick from the smell alone.
Dried salty fish (Indonesia), when being fried also makes me vomit. How anyone can actually eat that stuff is beyond me.
Not to hijack my own topic, but this is the second post that has said something like this. Without even thinking too hard about it: What about artichokes? Broccoli? Cauliflower? Asparagas? Brussel sprouts?
Seems to me there are lots of flower buds eaten on a regular basis.
I have to admit I never got up the courage to eat it when I lived in Singapore. It wasn’t until decades later when it had become a popular import in Taiwan that I learned to like it after my Chinese wife’s family had discovered it.
Excellent question. Without being able to research this right now, I would venture that the artichoke and Brussels sprouts are not buds per se. They have an open structure that indeed conceals the flower but may not necessarily count as a “bud” due to their unsealed nature.
As to asparagus, it is not a flower pod at all but the shoot of a fern related type frond (IIRC). Cauliflower and brocolli are large aggregate flowers that could be construed as a giant cluster of micro-buds but are somewhat different than the structures of capers or okra.
Don’t remind me. That stuff is terrible. Sure, it LOOKS normal, but that is only a ‘marketing gimmick’. Sort of like Circus Peanuts (the orange things. okay, bad example.) It is truly awful.
Here are a couple weird, though not disgusting Chinese things: watermelon seeds (actually a special kind of particularly large seed that’s nearly as big as a sunflower seed) and bitter melon (it’s really bitter, but maybe Americans could take in raw in a salad). I’ve heard Chinese people in the market dismiss it saying “that’s for southern Chinese.”
- The only okra I’ve ever seen is the pods (about 5 to 8 cm long), but these are definitely the fruits - are you saying that the unopened flower buds are eaten in some places?