I’m very timid about trying new food.
Here is what I’ve dared to taste tonight: Breyers Banana Fudge Chunk ice cream. It seemed like a good bet. Separately, I like bananas, fudge, assorted types of chunky food, and ice cream.
All fears of newness aside, it’s pretty damn good! Since this has worked out so well, I may try some other new food in a few months.
I tried some dragonfruit just the other day - first successful crop grown in the US, I was told. Very tasty. The meat of the fruit is white with black specks, and it has a taste and consistency very similar to kiwi fruit, only not as tart.
Soy milk.
Since I’ve been nursing, I’ve had a great desire for dairy products. I was drinking milk sometimes, but didn’t want to drink too much of it, because I was already consuming lots of dairy in the form of ice cream, yogurt, and cheese. I felt that my diet was becoming somewhat unbalanced. So, I decided to try soy milk, and I really like it.
I find that the refrigerated varieties are much better than the brands that are packaged in aseptic containers (like juice boxes). The ones in aseptic containers have a rather strong flavor. I’m trying different brands at this point, but so far I like 8th Continent and Trader Joe’s house brand the best.
Another nouveau soy milkuser.I love cereal but hadn’t eaten any in a long time,trying to pare fat from the diet (not the cereal-the milk).
I try to get Silk brand at the supermarket.It has carragean (I’m a label reader) in it,which accounts for the thicker consistency, about like half and half.Perfect for fruit and cereal.
Don’t know about straight up drinking it,I haven’t done that since I was a grammar school kid.
One more new prouct I’ve started using-dried chiles.I make a lot of stir fries and the dried chilies sauteed in the oil before adding soy or other flavoring,heat up the whole dish,without resorting to the jarred sauces which have a too high sodium content-not to mention some lingering vinegar offtastes in some.
We had rosemary and minted lamb burgers last night for dinner. Have only had lamb twice in curries here in the UK, so the true meat flavour was lost in the sauce. I thought these were rather tasty. Lamb was never served at home in the US so this is new to me.
I love trying new foods. Though a bit squeamish with sushi and shashimi - preferring sushi to shashimi - I’m willing to try most anything at least once. It’s fun and you never know when you may discover a new favourite. The hubby tries to introduce me to new foods all the time - English food certainly does not deserve the bad press it has had over the years. I love it!
Soy milk isn’t too bad. Milk has never worked well for me - gives me kidney stones quickly if I drink more than a few ounces a day - so the soy milk was an option. I find many of them sweet and are very nice with cereal or mashed potato. Not keen on drinking it on its own though.
Oh, I love dragonfruit. I had it first in Vietnam. I’ve had it here and in Taiwan, but it wasn’t quite as good. It’s a brilliant purple on the outside and the inside looks like a cross between coconut and kiwifruit.
I’ve recently tried biltong - South African spiced dried beef (/venison/ antelope). It looks alarming and is poisonously expensive, but it’s very addictive. Dried boerewors are also good.
Hawthorne I’ve heard biltong is absolutely brilliant.
I grew up hunting deer, elk and other large North American game. Part of using as much of the meat as possible was making jerky from the small bits and such. Two of my UK co-workers who lived in South Africa a while said that jerky is very similar.
I have a marinade for most any kind of meat and then smoke it for about 24 hours. Quite tasty. My Hubby, on the other hand, could not get the jerky out of his gob fast enough when I got him to try some. His response… Why the hell do Americans eat dog chews??? I laughed so hard I had to pull over!
Anyone have any idea where biltong can be purchased here in the UK, or if it can be imported? I’d love to try some.
I had real sushi* and sashimi for the first time two weeks ago. Which is terrible to me, being Japanese and from a state where seemingly everyone’s some flavor of Asian and eats sushi or sashimi every two days. Had I not finally tried it… god, they would have revoked my membership for sure. 
Anyway, I stuck with the nigiri, and left the wasabi alone.
I love just dipping my chopstick in the wasabi and licking it… Or if being really piggish, sneakingly using my finger. Love that stuff!!!
My most recent “new food” would be hummus. Someone had brought some to a party I was at, along with pita bread for scooping. I had been adding chickpeas (or garbonzos) to salads for years, but had never tried hummus before. It’s been added to my list of things I occasionally pick up to snack on around the house. In fact, I just picked up a tub of “hummus with forty spices” which, unfortunately, is a little too hot for my taste. I haven’t decided if I should pick up another tub of plain hummus and mix them to cut the spiciness, or look up some recipes I can use it in.
I’ve just tried Boca burgers over the weekend. They are good as a burger, but I had some last night plain and they were not as good. I’ll probably mix them with some pasta for something different. At least they are better for me then normal burgers.
Another timid eater here… I had bubble tea for the first time before a movie on the weekend. Interresting. I could even get used to the tapioca. Next time I’m gonna get a different flavour though; artificial coconut flavour sucks.
Marinated grilled portobello mushrooms. Oh my gosh they were so good. (For you non-vegetarian people, it tasted like a well-cooked steak.) My only problem with it was that it was apparently marinated in balsalmic viniagrette, which of course, caused a reaction. That’s part of the reason why I am so scared to try new foods. (The first time I had feta cheese, I spent all night in the hospital.) But, I plan on trying to find other stuff to marinate them in, because they were delicious.
(Oh, the other reason I hadn’t tried them before was because I associate mushrooms with fungus and cow dung, and had no desire to try something that made me think of that combination!)
I don’t eat out often. A few years ago I tried the Bourbon chicken you get at the Cajun stall in malls’ food courts. I know it’s probably not authentic or very good on an absolute scale, but I love it. It goes great with the boiled cabbage they serve.
Scallops and shrimp, prepared in front of the table by a Japanese cook. Tasty!
phouka, what a coincidence, I just tried dragonfruit for the first time, too! Our Singapore office sent it as a gift. Not bad.
I had my first taste of creme fraiche about a week ago. Loved it, but I made it myself and I’m not sure I got it right. I say that because I made a second batch, and it turned out different (but also good).
I tried a couple of Chinese dishes last winter. So-so; I’ll stick with steak and hot dogs.
Asian pears–they have a delicate, nice flavor and are softer than regular pears.
Thai iced coffee–just had a sip. I don’t know if I could get used to that sweet milk. Haven’t tried the Thai iced tea yet, because I assume it would be similar.
Fish eggs. Weekend before last I was in Portland and some friends and I went out and did a sushi smorgasbord. We got some rolls that were sprinkled with little tiny fisheggs. Quite good, but I’m not sure I’m ready for the larger, squishier ones yet.
I also ate the scallops, which were OK, but I’d rather have the unagi, sake, or yellowfin.