The usual suspects - veal, foie gras, rabbit and horse. Rabbit was rather common growing up, and on the weekly menu in the cafeteria when I was working in Brussels. Horse was a one-off at scout camp as a kid, probably would have been forbidden if anyone found out. Also, a few years back there was a movement to market Ostrich meat around these parts, so I had a few Ostrich burgers. But, looking back, it seems these were all rather conventional, compared to others.
I’ve eaten iguana in St Martin. It was a wild iguana; caught, dressed, and stewed at a beach bar in St Martin (Friar’s Bay Beach- Kali’s). It was not all that great. Bits and pieces of meat clinging to bone. Tasted like chicken.
Live octopus. They pull it out of the tank, chop it up, and put it on a plate still wriggling. Make sure you chew well because you don’t want the suction cups to grab your throat on the way down.
Moderately transgressive because octopus are pretty intelligent. Also some because a plate of wriggling tentacles will put some people off.
Years ago I was on a photo safari in east Africa. At one lodge we were told that dinner (and the leftovers packed as a field lunch for us the next day) was zebra. I don’t know what their conservation status was back then (this was in the 1980s), but it seemed plausible at the time. It was tasty, but didn’t taste like beef.
Anthony Bourdain was once asked about the worst meal he ever ate. He said it was the “unwashed warthog anus” he had in Namibia. I thought he was joking, until I watched the Namibia episode of “No Reservations” a couple of weeks ago. He was spending time with a tribe of San bushmen, and sure enough, they bagged a warthog, carved out the final ten inches of the animal’s colon, squeezed out (most of) the fecal material, and tossed it on the coals. Bourdain felt compelled to partake, lest he be seen as rude. There’s absolutely no way I could have done what he did without blowing chunks.
I had dog soup in Nanjing about 15 years ago. It was alright.
Was that in Korea? IIRC they do like to eat live octopus.
How about a transgressive drink?
Spending the evening at our friends, J and C, we got around to drinking whisky. J doesn’t drink and C is purely a social drinker, so doesn’t drink much at home; as a result they don’t get through whisky fast, but they have a fair few bottles in the cupboard. I was handed an unopened bottle of Haig and tasked with opening it.
First off, there was a heavy foil overcap, which was unusual; and underneath that a style of cap I had never seen before, which I had to guess my way to opening. Turns out this is a “spring cap”, which was something Haig used in the middle years of the last century. The bottle - which J later worked out must have originally been her father’s - was not only a historical artifact, it was virtually an heirloom. To make matters more intimidating, these are collectors’ items that change hands for hundreds of dollars
Thankfully we didn’t find out about the true extent of transgression until some time afterwards, when Mrs T’s research placed it in the 1960’s. For those who are interested, 60 years ago Haig went for a very grainy taste with virtually no peaty notes and no hint of smokiness.
As for rabbit - I eat it any time I can find it - yum! In Malta it’s a very common dish. I once ate jugged hare in Parma, Italy. It was very nice, but the “porridge” that it was served with (the restaurant’s translation of the Italian) gave me awful indigestion.
j
How is rabbit shocking or transgressive? You can pick it up at most common grocery stores.
I’ve had it by the way, several times. Gamey, soapy taste, but I’d eat it again. Preferably with a fruit sauce.
Other strange meats I’ve eaten: alligator, kangaroo, most of the various venison breeds available in the USA. I’ve eaten veal and foie gras without guilt.
I plan to eat blood sausage soon, now that I’ve gone totally atheist.
Not in my supermarkets. I’m NYC/NJ, we don’t get Bunny or Bambi here.
Nanjing is in China. And yes, SOME Korean’s eat live octopus. On Running Man fresh caught octopus while fishing was eaten raw.
I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten dog or more probably goat in in dinaguan (pork blood stew). The meat was stringy and had an odd taste. When I asked what it was, dinaguan is usually made with pork, I was just told “meat” with a smile.
I suspect Ike_Witt knows that. He was addressing iamthewalrus_3, not Sitnam.
Not much that would shock people’s political-ecological consciousnesses. Some folks have expressed squeamish dismay that I’ve shot, cooked, and eaten squirrels. They’re nice.
Ahhh…I see the reply. My apologies.
Growing up in Japan I used to love iriko, whole dried baby sardines until one day I looked at the eyes and realized what I was eating. I think there’s a difference between the ones you eat out of the bag and the ones you use for making broth.
I would try it now, but I’m probably allergic to it like I suddenly became allergic to tiny dried shrimp.
I have eaten whale and seal on a Norway trip a few years ago. Both were supposedly sustainable from non endangered species. But I would not rush to repeat either one: the whale tasted like rather gamey beef, and the seal was a bit fishy. Rabbit is fairly uncontroversial, I think: it’s common in Malta where they do a nice spicy casserole with it.
Fried tiny whole anchovies are a popular ingredient in Indonesian food.
For a few years while I was working in Jakarta, I ate a sublime meal of rice, beansprouts, chili, and tiny anchovies almost every day for lunch, prepared by a nearby vendor who was a helluva cook.
The dish had all these little black specks through it, which if you looked closely enough you could tell were the fish eyes that had popped out during the cooking process. The first time I realized that, I spent maybe 10 seconds feeling squeamish, then went back to scarfing up the food. It was sooooooo gooooood.
I really don’t know if my examples count for this thread, but back before I became a vegetarian 24 years ago, common foods were:
Beef tongue. My mother, from time to time, used to boil a whole beef tongue. It was served with gravy and potatoes and was quite delicious. Beef tongue also was/is a common cold cut for sandwiches. And then there’s Zungenwurst, basically a blood sausage with pieces of tongue. I liked it.
Is oxtail soup controversial? I have a friend who’s a cook, and at his birthdays he used to cook a BIG pot of oxtail soup that was the food of the gods. I also very often ate pig tails, my mother cooked them as an ingredient in pea soup.
ETA: I was surprised by the frequent mention of rabbit. Isn’t controversial at all in Germany, as long as you don’t slaughter and serve your children’s pet bunnies…
Vegetarian now, but apart from some of the dishes already mentioned, I had camel burger once. Kind of a mix of lamb and beef.
Pretty much all of mine are “game” species to a certain extent or at least traditional fur bearers. Some unusual ones are; bobcat, sand hill crane, rattlesnake, beaver, dall sheep, muskox, black and brown bear, mountain goat.
Drinks are meant to be drunk, unless it had aged so poorly it wasn’t worth drinking. I thought this story was going to end with “…and then we used it as a mixer…” 