that was what?

[RICHARD]

o.k.,
now that we figured out that we make mistakes in OUR kitchens-
it's time to share your stories on the 'weirdest thing i have ever
eaten'

you remember that wonderful day on vacation, doing 'as the Romans do' when you stop for a bite to eat, order the local delicacy and find out that it's _________.


(you don't have to be on vacation.....it could have been that school friend that invited you over for some home cooking-that
dish that you couldn't pronounce- that you ate to be polite....)

[All Creatures Great And Small]

When I went to visit my sister in England, she invited my husband and I to come along with her to a semi-formal dinner at her college. The planned menu was some sort of chicken dish, and she assured us that these meals were usually really delicious and reasonably priced (which in England is a rarity). Well, about halfway through serving, the kitchen realizes they are running out of chicken, so they slapped together something at the last minute for the last of us to be served. This dish comes to the table filled with what looked like spaghetti sauce and these grayish black, rubbery things in the sauce. I asked the server what it was, and she said "cuttlefish". Well, I had to be brave and try it, but I could NOT gag down these pieces of "fish" - they tasted like old sea water and had the consistency of rubber tires. Turns out "cuttlefish" is their quaint term for SQUID. I am not a huge seafood lover in the first place, I'm a fairly picky eater,
so I went hungry that night - I was looking around the table to see if anybody had a dinner roll they didn't finish

I almost never find myself in weird food situations, because I am so picky and paranoid about food! I'm one of those who always has a contingency plan of backup food

[zippy-kat]

My first thought was school/caffeteria food!
I've ate shark before...don't like it but then again, I'm a pretty picky eater.

My number one 'food' pet-peeve is letting your fork/spoon/knife touch the table (at restuarants, etc). That is just soooo grossssss to me! They don't do anything but SWIPE the table with a cloth... now how many germs have you just exposed that fork too? *shudders* (can we say obsessive/compulsive? or maybe that just anal retentative! lol)

[Tanya&Fritz]

Goat's intestines

[Barbara]

Sliced raw sea cucumbers in Singapore.

Fishhead curry in Singapore.

Turtles in Singapore (I did not even go in the restaurant where they had only turtle dishes. And live turtles that would be killed for them.)

(BTW I love Singapore cuisine...for 99,9 percent of it I forget all other cuisines).

Cooked calf's foot (a wabbling mass of bone and jelly) in France.

Raw sundried fish in Indonesia.

[wolflady]

LOL LOL Interesting topic!

I'll admit, I'm a pretty adventureous eater. I'll try just about anything.
Shark is actually pretty good...it's not fishy and has a similar consistancy to pork chops. Swordfish is quite good, and yes, I've even had alligator. Of course it was fried...so that pretty much must deaden any taste it must have had! LOL LOL

OK, but who really likes haggis?? Really? Don't be shy! LOL Yuk!! LOL LOL

Here is a funny from when my sisters and I were little though...
Growing up with my 2 older sisters, we had a dog named Misty. Well, Misty would always go nuts for her jerky treats. I mean, they look like beef jerky that people eat, so my sisters and I thought it would be a good idea to try one. We tried the milkbones too...because Misty just went crazy for them and we wanted to know why! Yuk...it was mighty dry and really didn't have much taste! Has anyone else dared to try their dog/cat treats??
When my husband was in the air force, he was over at one of his buddy's places and they had beef jerky. They gave him a piece and he ate it...not really thinking much of it, other than it seemed a little more dry than normal. Turns out it was the dog's beef jerky! LOL He ate several pieces! LOL LOL

[TheAntiPam]

I'm not particularly adventurous either when it comes to food - but I always think "Who was the first brave person that ate this?" or "Who had the idea to cook this thing?"

I'm glad I wasn't around for the invention of lots of dishes!!!

[RICHARD]

turtle soup in mexico

cow tongue at a 'friend's house'- would you like to stay for dinner? yeah, let me call my mom....

the worst part was sitting down and having the tongue plated up in front of you.....i love the rule that says, 'the guest should get the first serving......"

Brain tacos.
dad come home from a party with tacos that taste pretty good.
the meat is a bit like liver, but tasty none the less..

the worst part is that the 'meat' was bad.....i would have never known that they were 'brains' for the simple fact that both my dad and i got totally sick from the experience-he went to the hospital, i went crazy. lol!

[Barbara]

Last year they published a cookbook here: All the recipes were on the basis of cat food and cat treats. And it was only semi-ironic. They said: Try it and your guests won't be aware.
I never tried. Filou would say: Now if you eat my food I absolutely must have yours!

[Logan]

Baked Rattlesnake!!! It was just a taste.....I was a camper and my counselor offered it to me. I was too young to know better!

This story is still being told to everybody in our family who plans a trip to the USA ! It really happened to us !!

In 1983 , my husband got the chance to come and work at the American devision of his work . He got the chance to come to the St.Louis - devision for almost 2 years ! ( he works at PriceWaterhouseCoopers , but in '83 , it was still Deloitte Haskins & Sells) .

So ,before we took of to St.Louis , we made a trip on the East coast of the USA . It started at Boston . After visiting Harvard University , we were really hungry . So we decided to eat a pizza . We went into a pizzeria and ordered two "large" pizza's . The man behind the corner looked at us as if we were nuts , but didn't tell us why . Then they brought us the pizza's ..
They were HUGE !! The diameter was at least 60 cm !! They almost didn't fit on our table !! At first we panicked , but then we noticed a bin just behing my hubby's chair . So we started eating ! The employees kept watching us and laughing about "how will those guys eat that much pizza ??" .
Ha ha , we really had them !! everytime we noticed that noweone was watching us , we threw a few pieces in the bin . After 20 minutes , all the pizza was gone !!
OH my , you should have seen the look on their faces when they noticed we had "eaten" it all !!!

[Edwina's Secretary]

I will try almost anything, I've had goat, fish cheeks, squid, eel, kidneys, even haggis. But the most....shall we say notable.... was last year in France.

It was late at night, we had had a long day, trouble finding our B&B, etc. We went to a restaurant in the neighborhood. I asked the waitress if she spoke English. She said "a little." It was pretty obvious those two words about covered her English vocabulary. Lamb was on the menu -- I adore lamb. So I ordered it even though I had no idea of the preparation.

She presented my plate and took off the dome. Oh my. The smell...the sight. After a long pause in the conversation there was discussion around the table -- brain or intestine??? All I knew was there was an anus on my plate.

The waitress came up with her other two words of English..."No like?" Well...no naive, unpolished American for me! With tears in my eyes I choked down a few bites of ....sheep tripe.

[Daisylover]

For some reason I can't remember now I tried blood sausage while on a trip in York, UK....... Now I wonder what the heck was I thinking?!?!?!?!!!!!!

[RICHARD]

Originally posted by Edwina's Secretary
All I knew was there was an anus on my plate.

The waitress came up with her other two words of English..."No like?" Well...no naive, unpolished American for me! With tears in my eyes I choked down a few bites of ....sheep tripe.

tripe is stomach, pretty 'close' to anus, but not quite.
then again, being in france is pretty close to being on FEAR FACTOR, so........

a fantastic Mexican soup, made from tripe, is menudo.

which is quite funny because the boy band named Menudo
was tripe...
go figure....

[Edwina's Secretary]

Lut...your story of large reminds me of when I was at college. I was very, very thin and didn't eat very often (too lazy!) but when I did....

Once in a while I would go to the Union for these donuts. Very like Krispy Cremes today. I would buy six donuts and two cartons of milk.

One day I realized these two men in suits were laughing at me and betting. They took a table by me and watched. One was sure I was meeting someone.

He lost as I proceeded to eat all six donuts and drink both cartons of milk!

Wish I could still do that today!