# You're in France and they're serving you brains. Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2001, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228 "2001-01-22T05:57:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/1 "2001-01-22T05:57:29Z")
I’m applying to study abroad in either Lyon, Barcelona, or some random place in Mexico next year. I’m in the process of doing the essays, and my personal favorite is this one from the french program: Your host family enjoys eating brains and serves them regularly. How would you react? Well, I **could** do a spit take… So now I’ve been thinking about eating brains. Or at least what I would do. Yayfun. I know that they’re expecting something akin to “well, it’s part of the culture and experiencing France and blah blah blah braincakes, I’m not your typical ugly American!” That is so boring, though. I wonder if I would bring them brochures on mad cow disease. Something like that. Kind of a housewarming gift- here, I translated it myself! Oh, the bit where it says that your grandmother is a transgendered prostitute is a typo… um… that was really supposed to say that cows are funny. And yet something occurs to me: What if I like brains? What if they’re just as good as chicken? Mmm… brains is tasty? This forces me to consider seeking a summer internship as a zombie, or at least becoming very obsessed with staring at people’s foreheads. Or I could offer to make squirrel brains and scrambled eggs. I understand it’s a delicacy in parts of my home state. (I don’t know. I’m from there, but I’m not **from** there. This could even be the start of a whole new phase in dieting. The possibilities are simply endless. Now excuse me while I compose an inspiring word about blending into a culture to experience it fully. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/2 "2001-01-22T06:04:07Z")
I’ve spent six months trying to forget the ending of _Hannibal_, and now I’m back to square one. Thanks a lot. [HANNIBAL (sequal to Silence of the Lambs)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=20010) ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/3 "2001-01-22T06:35:05Z")
> [@](#): > > You’re in France and they’re serving you brains. Now what? I go to Brussels and they serve me sprouts? -fh ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/4 "2001-01-22T06:53:13Z")
You could don a pair of buck-teeth and funky horn-rimmed glasses, start flinging the brains around the dining room, and scream, “HEYYYYY, LADYYYYY!!!” They’ll think you’re a cinematic genius. Then run from the room and don’t come back until the ice cream is being served. Unless the ice cream is tripe-flavored, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/5 "2001-01-22T07:00:46Z")
Oh that’s classic, **andygirl**. I almost did a spit-take reading your OP myself, recalling when I went to France. We had “langue” for dinner one night… Tounge, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/6 "2001-01-22T07:24:31Z")
Lengua! I get that in my burritos at Taqueria Can-Cun. They serve Calf brains there too. cerebro de vaca. mmmmm… My personal favorite is infected duck liver and lobster brains… You can get that here too. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/7 "2001-01-22T07:28:35Z")
Mmmmm. [Pork brains.](http://www.stanford.edu/~cgale/photos/pork.html) It’s just not the same since I can’t embed the picture in my post… ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/8 "2001-01-22T07:28:45Z")
I am _so_ not kissing you ever again, scratchie. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/9 "2001-01-22T07:32:37Z")
Aw, there’s nothing wrong with brains. Quite nice scrambled with eggs, but very high in cholesterol. I would be a little nervous considering they’re finding cows with CJD in France now, too. Now… **oldie** , that infected duck liver is _good eats_ man! Mmmmmm… foie gras… ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/10 "2001-01-22T07:54:56Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by andygirl \* > \*\* > And yet something occurs to me: What if I like brains? What if they’re just as good as chicken? Mmm… brains is tasty? This forces me to consider seeking a summer internship as a zombie, or at least becoming very obsessed with staring at people’s foreheads_\* Don’t worry if you like eating brains and become a zombie. You can always order brains here [http://www.brains4zombies.com/](http://www.brains4zombies.com/) if you get hungry ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/11 "2001-01-22T12:56:30Z")
andygirl: When they serve you brains, tell them no thanks, you’re saving room for the monkey pus. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/12 "2001-01-22T13:25:52Z")
“Your host family enjoys eating brains and serves them regularly. How would you react?” Fill up on bread. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/13 "2001-01-22T14:08:29Z")
So I went to the home of my friend, whose parents were born in Europe. His mother serves up a mousse-like confection on scallop shells. “What is it?” I ask. “Just try it,” she replies. (Dangerous words, those.) It turned out, of course, that we had been served brains. By the time she told us this it was too late to spit it out – the meal had long been over. Sticking my finger down my throat seemed an extreme reaction at that point. So you CAN eat brains without ill effect, if you don’t know what you’re doing. The scallop shells were a cute touch – misdirection at its finest. Because, you see, brains have a somewhat fishy taste, and the scallop shells reinforced the notion that we were eating some kind of rarefied seafood. It doesn’t taste like chicken at all. Unless you marinade your chicken in fish oil. I find it hard to believe that they eat this “all the time”, though. I got the impression it was a delicacy. Thank God. I never had it there again. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/14 "2001-01-22T15:02:31Z")
Don’t fall for this andygirl. You know how when someone offers you a mint, they’re actually saying you have bad breath? Well, when someone offers you brains, they’re actually saying you’re stupid. So when those brains come to the table, throw the plate against the wall and yell, “To hell with you, you stinky cheese eating surrender monkeys! I’m an American dammit! Sure, we may be dumb but we can still kick your Frenchy butts!” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/15 "2001-01-22T15:04:16Z")
If you’re in a foreign country and feeling brave, find something on the menu you can’t identify and point to it and say “I’ll have that”. I tried this last year in Palermo, and got an **entire baked cuttlefish**. Cartilage and innards and all. In a nice ink sauce. A bit bland and chewy, and slightly alarming when it first arrived (and a great source of amusement for my dining companions), but otherwise not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/16 "2001-01-22T15:28:25Z")
Hey, I’ve eaten dog meat! Couldn’t get out of it without seriously insulting my host, his culture and country… My advice: suck it up, **andygirl** ONE TIME, and then claim to have an allergy… (so far, in my Korean adventure, I have managed to avoid “Moon-oh” which is _ **LIVE** _ baby octopi! From what I hear, you stuff this squirming little mass-o-tentacles in your mouth, where it promptly attaches itself to your mouth/throat lining with its suckers… you have to quickly take a shot of soju (a Korean liquor) to stun it into submission so that it slides down into your esophagus and doesn’t asphyxiate you! Friggin’ EEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!) Good luck!! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/17 "2001-01-22T15:31:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > It doesn’t taste like chicken at all. Unless you marinade your chicken in fish oil. Well, you could marinate the brains in chicken oil. But better still, when the cow is still alive, make it think about chickens. Slap on a VR headset, or just set up stereo speakers playing clucking sounds in the pasture. If this works, it could be just the beginning. We could have cows programmed from birth to think about entire meals. You’d have to place your order about eight years in advance, but still, imagine the possibilities. “Okay, first I want my cow to think about a shrimp cocktail…” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/18 "2001-01-22T15:45:32Z")
Having eaten hog brains a number of times (typically, scrambled with eggs, 'cause they’re kinda dry), it’s no big deal. I have had some small concern that maybe I might contract some kind of spongiform encephalopathy later in life–but I figure, by the time it’s progressed to the point that it can be diagnosed, I’ll be so out of it I won’t know what’s going on, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/19 "2001-01-22T15:59:59Z")
Just tell them: “NO THANKS-I DON’T WANT MAD COW DISEASE!” -serously: a major french supermarket chain is now buying only Argentine beef-signs of things to come? ---
**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:** [January 22, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228/20 "2001-01-22T17:06:35Z")
Don’t be rude. Just skoosh the brains around on your plate so it looks like you’ve eaten some. Brains actually deflate a bit when you skoosh them, so they’ll diminish in volume after a bit. **Kidneys** are much more of a problem than brains. There’s always some guy at the next restaurant table in France, usually a tall rangy guy with rimless glasses, eating an enormous plate of **kidneys.** The sauce smells SO good, and the guy is eating his **kidneys** with SUCH relish, and you always find yourself thinking “this time, maybe THIS time, everything will be different and I’ll scarf a whole dish of rich, succulent **kidneys** without batting an eyelash.” So you order the _rognons au moutarde_ and dig in, and after about the second **kidney** you feel as if you’ve been subsisting on nothing but **kidneys** for months. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-france-and-theyre-serving-you-brains-now-what/51228.md?page=2)