# What uncommon food items have you had? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058 "2016-08-07T18:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/1 "2016-08-07T18:04:36Z")
This is a companion thread to [What common food items have you never had?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=800322) “Uncommon” is a relative term. Things that are unusual in one place or time might by common in another. That being said, the uncommon foods I’ve eaten include: [ul] [li]fried grasshopper[/li][li][langsat fruit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansium_parasiticum)[/li][li]fish float bladders[/li][/ul] I often eat other things that some might consider uncommon, like nopales (cactus leaves) and bitter melon. These aren’t so unusual where I live, though. How about the rest of you? ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/2 "2016-08-07T18:19:19Z")
Never been that hungry. I stick with the common stuff, I know what I like and like what I know. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/3 "2016-08-07T18:26:58Z")
I once made a list of mammals I’ve eaten. It included whale, seal, moose, caribou, camel, guinea pig, squirrel, bear, bison. Animal parts including cow brains and placenta, sheep eyes, hog penis. Cod tongues and cheeks, and many kinds of vaguely- or unidentified raw seafoods, like barnacles and sea urchins. Cooked potato leaves, green wheat bulgur, raw green almonds. Unknown insects and larva. I eat banana peels at home all the time, and apple cores. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/4 "2016-08-07T18:41:34Z")
Chocolate covered ants in 6th grade. Rattlesnake and alligator at a party. Emu and ostrich at restaurants (not sure if they qualify as uncommon or not - both are really good.) And yummy pig’s stomach which is part of my wife’s tradition. Can’t make it here since no one sells the stomach intact. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/5 "2016-08-07T18:42:05Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > . . . Cooked potato leaves . . . I’d think that potato leaves are poisonous. It’s common knowledge that potatoes that have turned green can be toxic, and I would think the leaves would be even worse. What makes them edible? Does something in the preparation destroy solanine (the alkaloid common to members of the nightshade family)? ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/6 "2016-08-07T19:32:46Z")
I’ve eaten squirrel, chocolate covered bumblebees, geoduck clams, and fish head stew (although to be fair, I ate the stuff around the fish heads, not the heads themselves) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/7 "2016-08-07T20:09:56Z")
Escargot. Once. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/8 "2016-08-07T20:38:15Z")
It’s not super uncommon now, but it was new/rare when I had bison steak. Twice. At Top of the World. After its **ahem** ratings fell, I was unable to order it for years. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/9 "2016-08-07T22:06:28Z")
_Cozido_: it’s a traditional Portuguese peasant dish, made mostly with parts of the pig that you wouldn’t normally eat. I nibbled at it a bit, but it was making me queasy. A mixed seafood plate in Greece that had octopus the consistency of rubber and fish that was bony to the point of being inedible. _Bacalhau con natas_ (salted cod with cream). Another Portuguese dish that, to me, is inedible. ---
**Author:** ![pythonzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@pythonzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pythonzzz)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/10 "2016-08-07T22:07:43Z")
I wasn’t there, but friends served deep-fried cougar (yes, mountain lion) at a family get together. It was described as sweet-flavored and tender. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/11 "2016-08-07T22:26:46Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I’d think that potato leaves are poisonous. It’s common knowledge that potatoes that have turned green can be toxic, and I would think the leaves would be even worse. What makes them edible? Does something in the preparation destroy solanine (the alkaloid common to members of the nightshade family)? I was told (in French) they were potato leaves, but since it was in Benin, I strongly suspect they were sweet potato leaves, which are in a whole different family. Sorry to have misled you, my bad. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/12 "2016-08-07T22:38:00Z")
Ones that are often pop up in these threads that I’ve eaten: durian, ants, Guinea pig, and rombutan. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/13 "2016-08-07T22:58:06Z")
Guinea pig paca Polynesian rat muskrat squirrel peccary currasow guan ostrich quail vicuna kangaroo tails whale (a long time ago) bison elk venison alligator crocodile ants grasshoppers fried beetle grubs abalone escargot rock snails sea urchin roe (in sushi) Rocky Mountain oysters (calf testicles) armored catfish ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/14 "2016-08-07T23:05:43Z")
Fried crickets. If a prawn screwed a deer, the offspring would taste like fried crickets. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/15 "2016-08-07T23:28:46Z")
Damnit, **Colibri** , you’re supposed to _curate_ them, not _eat_ them! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/16 "2016-08-07T23:30:50Z")
“Mountain Oysters,” e.g. bull’s balls. Prickly-pear cactus apples, right off the cactus, and prickly-pear cactus leaves, breaded and fried. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/17 "2016-08-07T23:40:22Z")
Moose. ---
**Author:** ![appleaday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@appleaday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleaday)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/18 "2016-08-08T01:04:37Z")
My father was a hunter, so we ate a lot of wild game. Elk heart was probably the most uncommon item; it was actually quite good. He bagged a mountain goat once, which wasn’t so great. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/19 "2016-08-08T01:08:52Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > Moose. > [@jtur88](#): > > . . . squirrel . . . > [@Colibri](#): > > . . . squirrel . . . > [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > . . . squirrel . . . You four should get together. You can decide among you who has to wear the black dress. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058/20 "2016-08-08T14:16:59Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > Moose. Where I grew up, that wasn’t uncommon. Nor was caribou. It’s funny that those didn’t occur to me as being uncommon, but I guess they are to most people. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-uncommon-food-items-have-you-had/762058.md?page=2)