strangest/most exotic food you've eaten?

[AZKomet]

Bird's nest soup.

 

Wooster befriended by Chinese/American family

 

btw,bns contains no sticks or stems; rather the bird's glue/goo is the basic ingredient !

 

 

Actually it is the spit of cave swallows......could be worse!

[Joel]

Spam.

 

Lutefisk.

[Bullett]

Um, I seemed to have forgotten the "Rocky Mountain Oysters" compliments of one of our "guests" when I worked at Stanley Lake in Westminster, CO.

 

I didn't know what it was until after I ate it!

[lawnchairboy]

Octopus, in Japan.

[Selden]

Drunken shrimp, Singapore. A friend took me to a seaside restaurant, where they brought out a clear plastic box with some live shrimp in it, and a glass of vodka. I'm thinking, "There's no way I'm going to bite the head off a live shrimp." It's not actually so bad: they pour the vodka on the shrimp, which kills them, then they take them back to the kitchen for cooking. Apparently this is to demonstrate that the shrimp are really fresh.

 

Second strangest was sheep, stuffed with chickens, stuffed with eggs and rice, in Riyadh. For a really big feast, they stuff a camel. Mercifully, I wasn't offered an eyeball.

[rocks]

I have nothing to add to the list.

 

But I do think it is an interesting observation that almost all of the items mentioned are animal (or insect) based. Eating out of the ordinary plant based foods isn’t considered strange or exotic I guess. Wonder why that is?

 

Peyote

[keithb]

There is nothing like a raw scallop right out of the Bogue Sound. Anybody know where this Sound is located?

[ltljohn]

Bogue sound is on the NC coast look up Morehead City and Emerald Isle

[Gary in Aus]

one of my favourite topics -food.

 

Exotic may be hard to define as I am sure we all have different experiences.

 

Exotic for some may be mundane for others.

 

Australia

Growing up on a farm in far north west New South Wales not far from the Queensland border it was not unusual for us to dine on wild pig , kangaroo , goats {kids in a stew are a delicacy for some but not for me} rabbits ,wild duck, yabbies, baked emu and emu eggs according to my grandmother are as good as duck eggs for a sponge cake.We used to eat sugar ants alive , they have a little sack of liquid about the size of a large pea full of "honey" , very yummy.

 

I now live 50 metres fromthe ocean and have developed a taste for most things from the sea. I can walk about 70 metres to some rocks on the sea shore and can sit with my oyster knife , open rock oysters ,wash them in the ocean and eat them up by the dozens. I can also usually get a good supply of abalone , pippies and the odd lobster .

 

On holidays up north in Arnhem land and the gulf country we have eaten stingray , turtle, witchetty grubs {yummy} , goanna, snake ,mud crabs, crocodile and toredo worms {these are about a foot long and are dug out of mangrove bushes ,a bit salty].

Bogong moths {seared in flame burns the wings of and makes them crunchy ,taste like almonds}

 

We travel extensively and try most foods in most places

 

China -

100 day old pickled eggs

A flapping seared fish alive on the plate

Ground up rhino penis supposedly an aphrodisiac {like a milk shake}

Warmed eels in a broth {nearly vomitted}

Dog in a stirfry

Pigs cheeks jellied

Grasshoppers that have deep fried

The scorpions are too expensive

Fried chicken feet eaten like pretzels

 

Mongolia-

yak tea {basically a cube of refined yak fat in warm water}

Yak cheese which is basically yak milk with yak fat.

Wheat flour mixed with rancid yak butter and goat meat in cakes

Dog in a caserole

 

Germany

Wild boar

Venison

Ice wine {too sweet}

Not sure of some of their processed meats [sausages]

 

United Kingdom

Pork pies {eaten cold ]

Jellied eels {nearly vomitted}

Cod poached in milk

The fattiest bacon you can imagine

Hagis actually very tasty

Black pudding which is not as bad as white pudding

Warm beer

We stayed at a pub in Scotland and the porridge was served cold with some salt {we have our porridge hot with warm milk and brown sugar}

 

Norway-

pickled herrings {rolmops] these actually start to taste OK after about a hundred beers

pickled cucumbers and various pickled vegetables

 

Indonesia-

Aceh province - crabs stuffed with marijuana - the more you eat the hungrier you get

Salted tuna boiled in broth cabbage.

 

Java - a fish like a bream that is filleted , the fillets are fried and the carcase of the fish is deep fried until the bones nearly disolve, this is then served with the fillets and you eat the whole fish head ,bones and everything , it just is like a big prawn cracker.

 

Small anchovies that are stir fried with vegetables

 

Solomon Islands

Sea slug {beche de mer} sliced cold in a salad

Sea slug dried and eaten like beef jerky

cold jelly fish in a salad

Sea urchins raw {actually yummy with a bit of lemon juice}

 

 

Vanuatu-

baked flying fox at the la houstelet restaurant {they should cut the head off as it feels like he is watching you as you eat him}

 

turtle cooked in shell {yummy}

coconut crab {these crabs are large and eat the flesh of the coconut and this flavour is in their flesh}

 

United States

 

rattle snake

aligator

I really loved all the cajun food in New Orleans

 

New Zealand

white bait -in an omelete - fried and eaten with beer

bluff oysters { a little bit of heaven}

NZ mussells in butter and garlic{another bit of heaven]

 

Tanzania

warm milk mixed with cows blood

beef that has been slow cooked with dried dung and eventually tastes like dung

cows stomach linings that have been washed then poached in milk {nearly vomitted}

 

Papua New Guinea

 

betel nuts

 

Manu Samoa

clam hearts baked with taro

sea snakes cut into cubes stuffed into fish

real chocolate at the cocoa plantations

 

Tahiti

roast pig stuffed with taro

 

Cook Islands

mutton flaps from New Zealand {disgusting}

 

Fiji

kava by the time your lips are numb it's too late and you are ready to party

 

Turkey

 

dried figs that are stuffed with ground walnuts and pistachios then slowly boiled in honey until they swell nearly to original size and then eaten whole {heaven on earth}

real turkish coffee in the Hippodrome during Ramahdan {heaven]

real turkish delight {absolute heaven}

 

Holland

 

stuffed baked european carp { a delicacy there but fertilizer in Australia we nearly gagged eating it}

 

Zimbabwe

 

snake stuffed with eggs and flour

zebra staeks

eland steaks

 

Peru

guinea pigs roasted on a stick { my children freaked out at this}

 

Good post Mitch , it's good remembering all these experiences, I have forgotten many , however this will be a good topic to bring up at the Christmas table , I am sure between my wife and I we can remember enough exotic foods to turn our neices and nephews off their food.

 

 

 

 

[VinnyR11]

I have nothing to add to the list.

 

But I do think it is an interesting observation that almost all of the items mentioned are animal (or insect) based. Eating out of the ordinary plant based foods isn’t considered strange or exotic I guess. Wonder why that is?

 

Good point. Durian is a fruit that can be very funky the first time you try it. It's served throughout Southeast Asia. Smells like crap, but tastes pretty good, and you do develop a taste for it (at least I did).

[Agent_Orange]

Damn Gary, you sure get around.

[bakerzdosen]

Damn Gary, you sure get around.

+1

Ugh.

[HexST]

While living in the Philippines Balute (Duck eggs just before being hatched),Aso Adoboe dog stew my best friends dog to our chagrin,monitor lizzard, rice patty rat, almost all types of Sashimi and Sushi from Okinawa to Anchorage, lamb fries and R.M. oysters out west Akee, several types of Rotu from the Islands and it was all good I have about a half gallon of Habenero pickled eggs in the garage refer with some hot pickled bar sausages that my wife won't let me eat until she's out of town. Think I'll sneak downstairs BYE.

[Gary in Aus]

Like most Australians and New Zealanders we are world travellers and hopefully citizens of the world .

 

It was good remembering all the different foods we have tried but these are only some of the countries we have visited.

 

It's like a rite of passage that most young Australians and New Zealanders travel the world before they come home and settle down.

 

They then start travelling again in their 50's, my parents in law both over 80 years of age ,this year did a study tour of Egypt and next year are off on a two month cultural study cruise of the Mediteranean and they don't look like slowing down . This year my 82 year old father went on a tour of Gallipoli for Anzac Day, Turkey and the Battlefields of France

 

My 18 year old is off to the US next year as a camp counsellor for 3 months {she has her open water scuba diving ticket, senior first aid and is a full accreditted lifesaver} and when she finishes that she has a job lined up in Japan as a lifeguard and then possibly to the UK or Hawaii as a lifeguard.Then will come back to Australia to start university ,she has been accepted at Sydney University to do law but has deferred starting for a year to travel.

 

We gave our oldest daughter for her 21st birthday a round the world air ticket with over 20 stopping points ,she finished her Arts degree and Diploma in education, then she was gone for two years and had a great time.Young Australian teachers can pick up work in most places.

 

My sister in law finished university , flew to Harare , Zimbabwe to do a 4 wheel drive trip up Africa to Cairo . She came home 14 years later .She is a environmental scientist and picked up work everywhere around the world.She has been to some amazing places.

 

Between my wife and my careers we have been able to travel the globe but we are also great private travellers as well with my youngest having circled the world 3 times before she was 10. She prefers Disneyworld to Disneyland as she liked the Epcot Centre.

 

No matter in the world you go an Australian or a New Zealander will be there. We were on the Great Wall in China in 1980 for the celebrations of the 25 years of the revolution with about 1 and a half million chinese and the only other caucasians to be found were two kiwis.

 

On the boat out to Alcatraz the guard asked where were we from and after people called out San Francisco and most places in the US our kids called out Australia to be then followed by a lone Kiwi.

 

We stopped at the motel in Jasper Canada and the bell hops who unloaded our car were from Wellington New Zealand.

 

On the buggy ride in Central Park ,New York the driver was from Brisbane Australia.

 

While buying some "cowboy" clothes for our kids in Browning Montana the young lady who served us was from Sydney,Australia.

 

I have many more examples of this but these will do.

 

The usual practice is that when you come across some young Australians or New Zealanders working over seas we usually give them some money to help them along , however the young boys in jasper did OK because I gave them a $100 and un beknown to me so did our friends who were travelling with us ,so they ended up with $200, which is OK.

 

The world is a fascinating place , seeing the different cultures and situations they all face , while it will take years to understand it also gives you a sense of balance and perspective that you may not otherwise have.

 

The expression "walk a mile in another mans shoes" is sound advice just to understand where they are coming from.

 

Find something in the world that interests you then go and see/experience it , life is not a rehearsal and you are dead forever.

 

 

[bmurphypdx]

grubs

grasshoppers

cockroaches

 

all in Thailand

[Matts_12GS]

Terryaki grasshoppers

bee larvae

iridescent green roast beet (during the Navy days)