# What Mainstream Food Item have You Never Tasted? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463 "2018-08-29T12:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/181 "2018-09-02T01:50:35Z")
Couscous, barley, millet, sorghum. I dont recall ever eating rabbit or squirrel. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/182 "2018-09-02T01:55:53Z")
> [@blob](#): > > Apparently, it’s the name for the “hunks of meat” but the recipe itself is a type of stew, served with grits. [https://www.daringgourmet.com/new-orleans-grillades-and-grits/](https://www.daringgourmet.com/new-orleans-grillades-and-grits/) In the USSR (and I guess even today), if you were on a tour and they took you to a restaurant for dinner, the standard fare was a chunk of beef baked in a sour cream sauce inside a little clay pot. We referred to this dish as “Hunk-o-Meat.” ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/183 "2018-09-02T02:01:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > We referred to this dish as “Hunk-o-Meat.” sounds ok to me. Did they give you something to eat it with? Mashed potato? Noodles? rice? Something? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/184 "2018-09-02T02:05:44Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#): > > Couscous, barley, millet, sorghum. I dont recall ever eating rabbit or squirrel. I was served KFC-style fried rabbit (home grown and butchered!) for New Year’s brunch in Czechoslovakia. Everybody says rabbit tastes like chicken, but I didn’t think so. The flavor was very mild. In Scotland, I had braised hare. Very gamey. I imagine squirrel tastes the same. When I was doing living history in Minnesota, I knew a guy who was treated to a woodchuck (groundhog) dinner by an Indian (Sioux or Chippewa) family. He said if he hadn’t known better, he’d’ve sworn he was eating pork chops! ---
**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:** [September 2, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/185 "2018-09-02T02:07:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Interesting. I’m going to have to try that. There’s a grocery store by me that sells various types and/or brands of _kvass_ (I never looked really closely, but they have part of a shelf devoted to them.) Okhroshka is truly awesome on a stinking hot day. The first time I tried it, I had been unexpectedly hiking up the Altai Mountains with no proper gear. There was no path, and I kept slipping and trying to grab any nearby vegetation so I wouldn’t fall and break an ankle. That was also the day I learned the Russian word for “stinging nettles.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/186 "2018-09-02T02:17:08Z")
> [@blob](#): > > sounds ok to me. Did they give you something to eat it with? Mashed potato? Noodles? rice? Something? I think there were some chunks of potato inside the pot, but not very many. The sauce you ate with a spoon and sopped up with bread. That was basically it. It was okay, but definitely not _haute cuisine_. Two things missing from Russian cooking even today are (a) tender cuts of beef and (b) flavorful seasoning. Most Russian dishes (and Nordic ones, too) are pretty bland. The main seasoning seems to be dill. A friend of mine in Moscow (an American) was involved in a project to import some decent beef cattle a while back. They have packaged Angus beef in the supermarkets now, so I guess they’ve had some success. I still haven’t seen any other cuts with any appreciable marbling, though. The fresh cuts available at the meat counters are always very lean. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/187 "2018-09-02T02:29:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Interesting. I’m going to have to try that. There’s a grocery store by me that sells various types and/or brands of _kvass_ (I never looked really closely, but they have part of a shelf devoted to them.) There’s a supermarket near my apartment in Toronto that stocks kvass. I always treat myself to a cold bottle when I go shopping there, like I did today (85 degrees F and 80% humidity, yeccch!). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/188 "2018-09-02T02:48:16Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I’m with you. I’ve tasted it, but I don’t relish it. The white pudding is intense, but not alien if you like liver sausage. > > And with the rashers and pork sausage, egg and mushroom and tomato and toast, there’s more than enough to fill you up in a Full English without having to eat the black pudding. > > You can always ask the waiter to skip the black pudding and give you extra white, too. Hang on—I think you’re confusing white pudding with haggis. White pudding is basically oatmeal and animal fat mixed together and shaped into patties, then grilled. (Very Scottish, eh? ;)) I’ve had it and, unfortunately, did not care for it at all. Haggis, on the other hand, is divine! It tastes like warm, savory liverwurst. Black pudding is best when served with rashers of bacon (not the streaky kind). The first time I had it was when I was staying with a Scottish family in '76. I didn’t know what I was eating until I’d developed a real taste for it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/189 "2018-09-02T03:14:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > White pudding is basically oatmeal and animal fat mixed together and shaped into patties, then grilled. (Very Scottish, eh? ;)) I’ve had it and, unfortunately, did not care for it at all. Finely ground pork is not unusual in white pudding (all the Irish types I’ve had had pork, as far as I remember.) I do believe there is a kind made with liver, too. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/190 "2018-09-02T10:05:16Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Grits = cornmeal (maize) mush = polenta. Not exactly, no. Mush/polenta is just cornmeal, like you make cornbread from. It is dried and ground up corn, as is. Grits are _hominy grits_–they’ve been soaked in an alkali (the old timers used lye, I believe) until they swell, soften, lose their hulls and go through some other changes to become hominy. Like in pozole. This is then dried and ground up and sold as grits. A bowl of mush and a bowl of grits might look much the same, but taste and mouth feel are quite different. Grits are much tastier by my palate. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/191 "2018-09-02T10:35:21Z")
I’ve never had cornbread, either. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/192 "2018-09-02T12:24:47Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > (the old timers used lye, I believe) Lime, as far as I know, as in calcium hydroxide. I actually see it at some of the Mexican groceries around here sold in the herbs/spices section (for nixtamalizing corn), labeled as “cal.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/193 "2018-09-02T13:24:44Z")
We were in Amish country years ago having breakfast with a bunch of friends. One woman was severely hungover and just sipping coffee. Perusing the menu, someone asked the waitress what “puddin” was. She went into detail about what “puddin” entailed, how it was made, etc, suggesting that if you didn’t grow up eating it you wouldn’t like it. The hungover woman raced to the ladies room, barely making it there in time. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/194 "2018-09-02T23:30:13Z")
My mother’s Pennsylvania Dutch people eat most all the same stuff the Amish serve. I have always enjoyed those foods, even when hung-over. Your friend is unfortunate to be so fragile. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/195 "2018-09-02T23:53:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Finely ground pork is not unusual in white pudding (all the Irish types I’ve had had pork, as far as I remember.) I do believe there is a kind made with liver, too. I’ll have to try that sometime then. The stuff I had here in Toronto (store-bought) tasted like cardboard. Yeccch! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/196 "2018-09-03T00:04:05Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > My mother’s Pennsylvania Dutch people eat most all the same stuff the Amish serve. I have always enjoyed those foods, even when hung-over. Your friend is unfortunate to be so fragile. Fragile? She’s anything but. She was equal parts hungover and still drunk; the description of puddin just pushed her over the edge.😃 ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/197 "2018-09-03T01:20:34Z")
should we ask what “puddin” is? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/198 "2018-09-03T02:38:42Z")
Is “puddin” the stuff they call “hash” in Carolina barbecue joints? All the parts of the pig that didn’t go into the barbecue pit cooked up and mashed together into a gray mass with salt and pepper mixed in? I love “hash.” Mmmmmm…livery. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/199 "2018-09-03T12:01:03Z")
IIRC she described boiling bones and scrap, collecting and reserving the “scum” from the surface of the pot. That was the point where Jackie ran off to puke. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463/200 "2018-09-03T14:51:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > rashers of bacon (not the streaky kind). In the U.S., we would call that ham, right? I like to mix black pudding with runny egg yolks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mainstream-food-item-have-you-never-tasted/820463.md?page=11)