"You're gonna eat that?!?" Raw, aged or otherwise 'extreme' foods others consider 'gross'

Cafe Society
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I’ve described it as being more like meatloaf. I haven’t had authentic Scottish haggis, but I’ve been to a Burns Supper in Seattle a few times at a James Beard-winning restaurant where the chef slaughters the lamb and makes the haggis himself.

I’ve had black pudding and white pudding (its bloodless cousin) a few times and enjoyed it.

I tried durian. I thought it tasted fine, just kinda sweet and custardy, and the smell wasn’t nearly as bad as advertised. I’d describe it as “onions that are just starting to go bad”. The smell DOES linger for quite some time, which is probably part of why it has its reputation.

I ordered a can off eBay once out of morbid curiosity. I took it to a public park so as not to offend my roommate and did everything the way Youtube told me to - open the can underwater to minimize the spray, slice a few filets off of the herring, and eat it rolled up on a piece of lefse with some boiled potato, chopped red onion, sour cream, and dill.

I took two bites and swallowed them, and decided “That’s not as bad as I was expecting it to be, I’m glad I tried it, and now I never have to try it again,” then threw out the rest of the can, dumped the water down a storm drain, and never went to that park again.

My fifth-grade teacher had an annual tradition with his class where he and another fifth-grade teacher would load up their RVs and take both their classes together for an overnight campout in the Colorado Desert (which, despite the name, is located in southern California). For dinner he served us his own special recipe chili, that he only admitted after serving it, had rattlesnake meat mixed in with the beef and pork. I recall the chili tasted pretty good.

I remember when Rubio’s got in legal trouble for selling a “lobster burrito” that was actually made from langoustine. Big whoops on their part.

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread yet is Jeppson’s Malört, the wormwood liqueur that’s considered an infamous Chicago classic, almost the evil twin of the rest of its iconic food culture. Both times I’ve been to Chicago I made a point of ordering a shot just to say I did it. That stuff DESERVES its reputation - it tastes like drinking a tire that just ran over a grapefruit tree.

162

I tried a Malort-infused cake, about a year ago. That’s incredibly disgusting, and i won’t do that again.

Also, people’s reaction to the cake was bimodal. A lot of us thought it tasted absolutely horrible, and a lot of other people said their impression was, “eh, a mildly unpleasant flavor in an otherwise tasty cake”. We suspected it was like cilantro, and just tastes different to different people.

163

In Detroit’s Downriver neighborhood, there’s a long tradition of eating muskrat-- Catholics were even given a dispensation to be able to eat it on Fridays.

The muskrat is a semiaquatic rodent only distantly related to the common rat. There used to be a restaurant Downriver that served muskrat, and back in the 80s I wanted to go there and try it, but never got around to it. I don’t think there’s a public, commercially available way to try muskrat these days, at least not at any Downriver restaurant anymore.

(Emphasis in quote mine). Here’s what that park looks like now :laughing:

164

Speaking of sushi, I grew up in Alabama and sushi was referred to as “bait” or that would taste good fried. I love it myself. However, one of my friends recently got sick from eating sushi packaged at a local grocery store (chain) and took him a few weeks to recover. Don’t think he has eaten it since…me once a week.

165

My first trip to Scotland, I told my host I wanted some authentic Scottish food. His reply “haggis”. I told him I ate boudin so it couldn’t be that different. I had cornish hen stuffed with haggis. It was quite pleasant. Had haggis many time since. I also like black pudding for breakfast.

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Welcome to our community, @RickK !

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Growing up in Alabama, stuff that many ate that I don’t really care for, but have tried at least once included racoon, opossum, and squirrel. When it comes to squirrel, my grandfather love it. For me, since it is often considered to be rat with a fluffy tail and personality (Yes, squirrels are closely related to rats. Both belong to the order Rodentia and share key physical characteristics, such as continuously growing incisors designed for gnawing).

After moving to Texas, I starting eating lots of other things others consider disguting such as sushi and barbacoa. Real barbacoa is what I prefer but not found in commercial establishments. Spending time down on the border, it was easy to find and get. Our ranch caretaker would make it for us. The whole head of a cow, prepared in hole in rock cooked over coals. Everything from the head is mixed together and served. Great for breakfast and barbacoa tacos.

168

Considering all of the sushi I’ve eaten over the years, including grocery store sushi at times, I feel lucky I’ve never had any ‘bad sushi’ that got me sick.

Once when we went to a local Thai place within the past year, they had added sushi to the menu. So I got some. And it was clear that the sushi there did not move very quickly-- the sushi rice had clearly been sitting around for awhile-- it was kind of dried out, almost to the point of being crunchy. The fish had a bit of an ‘off’ flavor; not so obviously bad that I didn’t eat most of it, but afterward I was afraid I was going to get sick from it. Fortunately I didn’t, but I learned my lesson-- only get sushi from a dedicated sushi restaurant. Not a ‘Something else…and sushi’ restaurant.

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“Bad sushi” is usually from the filthy hands forming the rice ball, and has nothing to do with the raw fish.

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I once worked with a Fur Trade reenactor who had tried woodchuck at a gathering of Native Americans. He said he would have sworn he was eating pork chops instead.

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We call them groundhogs around here, but they are delicious. They have a vegetarian diet and the meat is pretty lean. I would compare them with pork loin.

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If muskrat isn’t available, you can always try hamster. :grin:

173

I recently had the opportunity to try gamalost, a dry moldy Norwegian cheese with a pungent smell. Not to be confused with brunost, which is soft and tastes like caramel.

174

I have actually eaten squirrel - I was no older than 6, and the neighbors served some that the husband had hunted himself. The wife could make anything taste good.

I don’t know if I’d eat it today though. I’ve gotten a bit more squeamish as I’ve gotten older.

175

Hehe, I kind of wanted to try squirrel at one point. But I was told that any consumption of squirrel was going to mean D-I-V-O-R-C-E. It didn’t matter if I prepared it and ate it in someone else’s kitchen, and the fact that she owned the book that contained the recipe also had no bearing on the matter. She’s from Kentucky, and wasn’t going to stay married to the kind of man who’d eat squirrel.

More for the cats, I suppose.

176

Squirrel is ok. I have a good recipe for squirrel etouffe. The key thing with squirrel is getting out the very small scent glands. I find the meat to be on the sweet side, so it’s not a favorite, but I’ll eat it.

177

Just stay away from the brains…

178

Did you mean Andrew Zimmern?

179

One of the first videos ever to go viral on YouTube was two young women, probably either Kazakh or Mongolian, milking a horse. The women were dressed in Western clothing (t-shirts, jeans, and athletic shoes) and as they took the bucket away, the colt trotted up and started nursing.

180

I first saw that in my grandmother’s backyard garden when I was a kid. We had no idea that was edible.