What are the three strangest things you've eaten in your lifetime?

[Armand]

Seems to be my turn to add another delicacy...

I just happen to return from my annual bike meeting from a motorcycle list I´m on. We`re a bunch of old men on bikes all over Europe (and a couple of guys from the other side of the pond) who meet once a year somewhere in Europe (new place / country each year). Our tradition asks for everyone to bring something interesting to eat or drink from around his home aerea, mostly some spirits, wines, cheeses (lovely pecorino and homegrown olives from our Italian attendees this year...yum!), and we do have a strong Scandinavian fraction. This year they brought surstromming (sp?), which is nothing less than canned rotten fish!

I couldn´t specify the fish, but they were about the size of small sardines. For preparation, the heads of the fish are cut off, the rest of the fish remains intact however. The put the fish in cans and add salt and leave the cans open for about a week to 10 days, according to temperature and the amount of sunshine (yes, they are fermenting outside the house). Only after that, the cans are closed and the fish is allowed to ripen for at least another eight weeks.

The whole thing smells like somewhat inbetween old overdone Limburger Cheese and salted herring, and it tastes quite similar, but worse. The smell is so intense, that the can that was brought to our meeting was not opened inside the hotel, but somewehere outside on the parking lot. Still it was intense enough you didn´z have to ask for directions but simply follow your nose to find the place they had opened it.

I tried two pieces of surstromming (oh yes, they do filets from the fish after taking them out of the can, so luckily you don´t eat the rotten intestines) and managed to swallow them - imagine eating fermented smelly old socks...

For my part after this experience I was happy there was still enough Grappa and Genever left to wash down the taste, but obviously it´s a delicacy in parts of Sweden.

Armand

[Mezzaluna]

Chacun a son gout, I guess!

I hear they eat similarly rotted shark in Iceland.

[Pepper-Passion]

In my travel to 65 countries I have been served some interesting delicacies. Ones that come to mind are as follows:

Shark and shark Fin Soup
Whale
Kangaroo
Horse
Birds nest soup (dried bird saliva)
Fish head soup
escargot
Iranian Beluga caviar
Kobe Beef ($120 for one steak!)
Alligator
Frogs Legs

These are not to high on the weirdness scale but they all were excellent.

Bruce

[Headless Chicken]

Gator after my trip from New Orleans

Bird's nest, I forgot what bird its from but its quite expensive. Used in chinese soups, suppose to be very good for you. Grandmother was looking for some and found it to be at cheapest $100(can). Its apparently very hard to come by, climbers must scale steep mountains to find and it can't be cultivated or farmed, must be wild.

Sea cucumber, agian, used in chinese soups.

Those are the top 3 but I do have more to add like sea horses, snakes, turtle, I don't know if you'd consider wild boar to be exotic, snails (escargot), a few insects (unknown to me, was snuck into a few things I ate, the complete edible kind of course or else I'd sue).

[sancyr]

What a fun thread! I just had to bring it back.

Oddest things I ate that seemed perfectly normal to everyone around me:

1. Casserole. I had never had one before, until I met my Mother-In-Law in Florence, Alabama (I'm Chinese brought up on Chinese/Vietnamese/Philipino/Chamorro/Japanese/Korean food). To me, it looked like browned puke (sorry) in a glass dish. When it was served, it kind of oozed onto my plate. But one taste and I was SOLD! Lesson learned: best not to judge Southern food by looks.

2. Green Jello Salad with nuts and cottage cheese. Someone else had mentioned its is called "Watergate Salad." Served by the same Mother-In-Law. Very ugly, slimy texture, no good! Lesson learned: Although I may like all the ingredients separately, they don't necessarily go well together. Also, Jello is not always wobbly.

3. A big rice ball. It was hand shaped by a Japanese friend, accompanied by an expansive Japanese dance and song that spanned the entire dining room with everyone clapping along. Each person in the room got their own ball (big enough that you have to hold it with two hands) with their own song and dance. There was a little spice tucked on the inside. Lesson learned: Rice is better with a song and dance.

All the other lists with Asian food are not odd to me at all. Jellyfish salad with julienned cucumbers and carrots are a personal favorite. I also love juk (congee) with thousand year old eggs - comfort food. Fried shrimp chips that get all puffy - YUM. My mother used to give my eldest sister chicken hearts to make her heart/spirit strong. I was content if given a gizzard or neck. Ox tail soup with the ox tails softened in a pressure cooker first... YUM YUM.

Sounds like surstromming is the Swedish answer to Asian fish sauce! Sounds like the same process but fish sauce is loaded with salt.

Sara

[redace1960]

the absolute weirdest thing was fresh, raw crab eggs-wonderful,
sweet, buttery and bright orange. this as i was hauling
up crab pots with a buddy-crack one,<slurp> toss one, save one, etc.
-salmon eggs preserved in borax...i was a kid, we were fishing, they were
pretty...........but not tasty.
-walter kendall fives dog biscuits. the red ones were particularly good, as
i recall.

[cssamerican]

I am not very adventuous when it comes to food; however, a lot of things I do eat have been mentioed here. Funny thing is that all these foods are considered common place where I live in southeastern Louisiana.

1.) Raw Oysters (Serve them on the halfshell over ice, eat them with cocktail sauce/hot sauce/lemon juice, pretty good)
2.) Alligator (I have eaten this fried a few times, and to be honest it tasted similar to fried catfish.)
3.) Turtle Soup (I ate this as a kid, but I remember thinking it was pretty good.)
4.) Boiled Crawfish (One of the greatest foods on the planet, and I can't figure out how anyone thinks its wierd or disgusting)
5.) Frog Legs (I have eaten this fried many times, and it taste like chicken legs.)
6.) Pickled Pig Lips (My dad loves these things, I personally dislike all things pickled other than cucumbers and onions.)
7.) Red Boudin (My dad has eaten this a bunch of times, I tried it a couple of times when I was younger. It was alright, nowhere near as bad as it sounds. Oh and in case you don't know what it is, its Blood Sausage)
8.) Hog's Head Cheese (If made well this stuff is the BOMB. You usally eat with crackers or melt it over a bowl of hot grits.)
9.) Turducken (Nothing really weird, but most people are suprised by the idea for some reason. It is a Duck with stuffing stuffed inside of a chicken stuffed inside of a turkey.)
10.) Choupique patties (This one is probably wierd even for people were I live. It is kinda like crab cakes, but it uses the meat from a Choupique aka Bowfin fish. If made right it isn't bad, but it has the potential to be horrible, my aunt used to make it for us when we were kids. After she died I have never eaten it since, and I have never even heard of anyone else who eats this fish. So it is very possible this could be pretty far out there in the relm of wierd. Of course it is also possible everyone in the world eats this but people from Louisiana)

[Kerryclan]

Great thread, guys!

Pickled pigs feet - My mom's favorite snack. (the Irish don't waste anything)

Goat's pancreas - had it in a middle eastern place. (good stuff, lucky I only found out later what it was! )

Stuffed derma (a Jewish sausage thing, no idea what's in it)

Conch - big sea snail an African friend served. It smelled real bad. But I was polite.

[GmeNGrmetSales]

All of which were done off a bet.

I drank this one - the rubber mat under which they pour rail drinks, most bars will drain it into a glass and let you drink it for free - it is always different - Yorch.

Pig nuts - The hairs kept getting stick in my teeth.

Pizzles - Otherwise know as deer penises. They actually taste nothing like chicken, but more like hot dogs.