# What's the "weirdest" thing you've ever eaten? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620 "2013-05-06T14:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/82 "2013-05-09T15:08:43Z")
Let us speak of the humble boiled peanut, beloved across the Deep South. šŸ†’ I didnā€™t do this but I was an eyewitness. An aunt by marriage, from Maine, was visiting and we had gotten some boiled peanuts. She had gotten somewhat tiddly, and we were sitting around talking when she remarked that the boiled peanuts were good, but awful chewy. Thatā€™s when we noticed that she didnā€™t have any shells. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/83 "2013-05-09T17:04:51Z")
Durian, fried baby squid, chicken intestines, and a Filipino dish called ā€œChocolate Meatā€. Not all at the same time, mind youā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Anduril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Anduril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduril)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/84 "2013-05-09T19:59:54Z")
Durian, Balut, Chicken Intestines, Pork Intestines, Pork Mesentery, Grilled Pork Blood (Solidified), Blood Stew, Grilled Chicken Head, Snake Meat - all of which, save the last one tasted good. (Snake Meat is just too gamey for me). The weirdest thing I ate was banana peel made into a thick sweet paste-like dessert. ---
**Author:** ![RickRick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@RickRick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickRick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/85 "2013-05-09T21:31:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are you talking about unagi? Thatā€™s usually one of those things I usually find people who arenā€™t too keen on sushi enjoy. But I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever had it slimy and chewy, so I wonder if youā€™re talking about something else. She told me it was smoked eel. According to Google, thatā€™s unagi. Live and learn. Iā€™m extremely unadventurous with sushi. California rolls, vegetable rolls, spicy salmon are pretty much my range. ---
**Author:** ![RickRick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@RickRick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickRick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/86 "2013-05-09T21:35:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Iā€™ve had those, and also the hotter (depending on growing conditions) Trinidad Scorpion. The first time I had one was early in the morning on an empty stomach. The heat in the mouth wasnā€™t that bad (once you get to habanero-level heat and up, itā€™s all the same to me), but the stomach cramping, nausea, and subsequent vomiting an hour and change later was. Never had a pepper do that to me before. Then again, never was stupid enough to try ā€œthe worldā€™s hottest pepperā€ on an empty stomach before. Best thing in the world: Mango-habanero salsa. Bright, spicy, cold, sweet, crunchy with tortilla chipsā€¦ until you notice that your entire scalp is covered with sweat. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/87 "2013-05-09T21:48:31Z")
> [@RickRick](#): > > Best thing in the world: Mango-habanero salsa. Bright, spicy, cold, sweet, crunchy with tortilla chipsā€¦ until you notice that your entire scalp is covered with sweat. Thatā€™s stuff is great, but I also just love simple roasted habanero salsa. Take about 8-12 habaneros and roast them (either on a grill, under a broiler, or on a dry pan) along with about 2-3 garlic cloves. Add a couple tablespoons of lime juice or bitter orange juice and salt to taste. Wonderful stuff to drizzle on tacos, especially pork. I even like it straight with chips, although your mango one works better (or thereā€™s a Yucatecan pico de gallo-type salsa called xnipec thatā€™s made pretty much like a normal pico de gallo except with habaneros for the peppers and bitter orange for the lime/acid.) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/88 "2013-05-10T07:19:33Z")
Several PPs mention having eaten crocodile. Thatā€™s probably the most outlandish thing to eat, that has ever come my way. (Iā€™ve never tried alligator ā€“ havenā€™t been to the right places.) Had crocodile just once, in Zimbabwe. Maybe the method of cooking could have been better; but I was disappointed. Iā€™d compare it to codfish. only rather tough; and the same kind of taste, but rather faint. On another occasion in Zimbabwe, I tried the local maize porridge, called sadza. It was pure white, quite thick in consistency, and had absolutely no taste at all (itā€™s usually served with stew of some kind). I liked Zimbabwe ā€“ went there in 1991, when things were a good deal less awful than now ā€“ but concluded that itā€™s not a country to which one goes for the food. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/89 "2013-05-10T13:46:56Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > Oh God(dess) .. you did that too!? Separating organelles, right? :eek: > ā˜¹ Mitochondria. Those were the days! ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/90 "2013-05-10T14:22:56Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > On photo safari in Tanzania, 1987. At Seronera Lodge we were served zebra steaks - or at least thatā€™s what we were told it was. It was a long time ago now, but I recall it being pretty much like beef, except maybe slightly sweet. > > My mom wouldnā€™t touch hers. LOL! I ate zebra steaks at Seronera Lodge in 1982! ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/91 "2013-05-10T14:34:12Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > When I was stationed in Seoul, I would go out and try all the street food I could get my hands on, just because. I turned it into a news feature, so I got to eat all this weird stuff for free! > > The strangest was Bun-dae-gi, SIlkworm pupae that is kind of sweet/salty depending on the seasoning. Also, fried chicken feet, and dog a couple of times. > > In Subic Bay, PI, I had monkey on a stick, but only because I went to the wrong tent. I was looking for pork on a stick. I may have been drinking. > > I Sicily I had calamari that had been flash fired, and was still fresh enough to wrap around my tongue. It wansā€™t alive, but had been fried so quickly that the reflexes were still working. There is a picture of fried silkworm pupae here:[Iā€™m baaaackā€¦.Part III: fried bugs as a nutritious and tasty snack! | macrocritters](http://macrocritters.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/im-baaaack-part-iii-fried-bugs-as-a-nutritious-and-tasty-snack/) I bet you ate some of the other insects shown too! ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/92 "2013-05-11T00:46:56Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Objectively speaking, probably uni (raw sea urchin gonads). Same for me. Sea urchin roe on a pizza. It was one of the few off-putting foods I ate in Japan. I even found natto tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/93 "2013-05-11T01:21:31Z")
Crocodile and water buffalo. You might think the water buffalo was inside the crocodile, but it wasnā€™t. Croc is supremely tender and delicious. Water buffalo is tasty and not diluted like it sounds. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/94 "2013-05-11T04:07:41Z")
Iā€™ve apparently lead a very adventurous food life! So many things here would be normal for me. Alligator, goat, elk, snake, pretty much every single part of a chicken/cow/pig/duck/fish (meaning the regular meat and the organs). Jellyfish is a common Chinese dish, so is any kind of fish roe. I guess of the things that Iā€™ve only had once would be mealworm and scorpion, but they were dried and you couldnā€™t taste much. Iā€™ve deep fried rooster testicles once, it was good, like a very soft chicken nugget ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/95 "2013-05-11T14:47:39Z")
> [@bodangus](#): > > Balut. A food found in the Philippines and where Filipinos live in other parts of the world. Basically a fertile duck egg allowed to grow for 15 days, then hard boiled. The result is a little duckling with a yolk sack still attached and swimming in juice. You crack one end open and drink. Then consume the contents which are a little crunchy, etc. Puts hair on your ass. So they sayā€¦ I have eaten this. My (ex)boyfriendā€™s grandma wouldnā€™t let me eat the fetus. Perhaps she was helping me avoid a hairy ass. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/96 "2013-05-11T20:42:04Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Never have seen a skinny person working in a chichaneria. Slight nitpick, it is chicharronerĆ­a. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/97 "2013-05-11T21:20:54Z")
One of my favorite things to eat is breaded, fried eel. It isnā€™t slimey at all. For many years when I was growing up, I was forced to eat scrambled eggs and pig brains together. Itā€™s still on the breakfast menu at a back home eatery. Iā€™ve never eaten it since I was a kid. Wonā€™t eat SPAM either. Fried tongue is good. Tasty. I like to eat pickled herring in cream sauce right out of the jar. I tried fried calamari. It tasted good when I could finally eat it, but I didnā€™t like the way the little arms circled and clung to the plate they were served on. Anyone eat sliced grits (after refrigeration)? After the grits are fried, slab on some grape jelly. Anyone eat boiled eggs picked in vinegar? So good. Worst thing Iā€™ve eaten were kidneys. They taste just like you would think they would taste. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/98 "2013-05-11T21:38:50Z")
I had freshly caught backyard iguana in Honduras. It tastes like dry dark meat chicken. It has the added bonus of that the separated tail stays alive for about half an hour, giving the kids a fun toy to play with while they wait for their dinner. I worked with a lot of Chinese at one job and they dared me to eat a ā€˜stinky eggā€™ which is I believe a hard boiled egg buried in the ground until it ferments. I ate it but I donā€™t recall what it tasted like. It did smell pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/99 "2013-05-11T21:41:27Z")
An ex-girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/100 "2013-05-12T01:54:50Z")
Iā€™m guessing she was half baked. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620/101 "2013-05-12T16:48:24Z")
I ate a cow brain curry. It was early in my experience in curry houses and before the CJD scare, when I ordered something on the menu I didnā€™t recognise. I went to pay and was greeted by three Indian guys being rather jovial behind the counter. After they explained what my dish consisted of I understood why the consistency was so unusual to me (but familiar in a brain kind of way), paid and made a quick exit. At the next bathroom the meal did the same. Iā€™ve also eaten squid, silk worm, egg in all of its alliterations, alcohol with an infusion of scorpion, also meals consisting of rat, horse, rabbit and haggis. The only food I refused to eat was the duck egg that wouldā€™ve hatched two days later if it hadnā€™t have been for the grill it was cooked on. After looking at my plate of an egg filled with the head, several feathers and beak of a duckling inside thereā€™s no way Iā€™d consume that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-thing-youve-ever-eaten/657620.md?page=6)