Speaking of foods, what won't you try?

[explanade]

Recently Bourdain featured a show about Porto, Portugal.

They showed them skinning an eel and slaughtering a pig. In both cases, they saved the blood to cook with the meat or organs.

They showed an extended sequence of a tripe dish being made.

I have no interest in even trying any of these things.

Some of the reaction is visceral, some of it is notional.

A lot of cuisines use ingredients and techniques that may offend some modern palates. Even those of us who have not made conscientious decisions to become vegetarians or vegans may be repulsed at some of the ways livestock is harvested.

For instance, I've not tried foie gras. Not avoiding it but not seeking it out either. I won't demonstrate against it like some people have but I get the objection to how it's produced.

So what kind of foods have you encountered or considered, either at home or in travels overseas, which made you at least think twice about trying or elicited strong disgust?

Or something in between?

[NW-Bound]

Can think of many, but right off hand I will say insects.

I don't know what crickets and grasshoppers taste like, but I don't like to think of having their little legs and wings stuck between my teeth.

And no crawly worms and caterpillars either.

[Fedup]

No rats that pass as chicken.

[Meadbh]

Eyeballs.

[Act2]

If I don't know what it is, but it's a plant (that someone reliable knows is not poisonous), I'm game. But unidentifiable animals or animal parts, not so much.

[Texas Proud]

One of my BILs would eat almost anything.... he loved the whole fish and would suck out it brains and loved the eyeballs...

I am not adventurous at all with eating... and when I do adventure out I usually do NOT like it...

One dish he mentioned that just got to me was Duck blood pie.... I tried to look it up but it came back with soup... but I do remember him saying 'pie'...

[explanade]

I've heard to sweetbread? It's not bread.

Bourdain will eat anything. But even he admitted that when he was cooking, he'd just order the fish and meat from the market or suppliers, not really look at where it came from, how it was produced, etc.

[Ready]

I will not eat anything that contains:

Mayonaisse
Sour Cream
Cream Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Ranch Dressing
Ketchup
Mustard
Almost any white liquid substance

And I have no interest in eating any exotic animal meats. I eat some chicken, occasional beef, and fish. Otherwise, I'll pass.

[ER Eddie]

Nothing involving testicles.

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud One dish he mentioned that just got to me was Duck blood pie.... I tried to look it up but it came back with soup... but I do remember him saying 'pie'...

I was just going to mention Duck Blood soup. Found a recipe card after my grandmother passed and it starts with "cut the head off a freshly strangled duck."

I'd try it. My mom had cravings for it when pregnant with my older sister.

[Bamaman]

Since I'm now of real retirement age, I've cut myself off from trying foods made of "components" I've never tried before.

We recently returned from Hungary. They eat all kinds of entrails, brains and other animal parts thrown away in other societies. I'll stick to foods already common to me.

[MRG]

Nothing. Well except salmon eggs, and Balut. Other roe are fine.

Doesn't matter fish, foul, game, insects, reptiles, organ meat, cooked, raw.... If it's generally considered edible I want to experience it.

A friend and I used to go to some very different ethnic restaurants. One place we'd always have mystery meat, never knew what it was.

Only time I ate something "bad" was a restaurants home made mayo. The resulting hospitalization was very unpleasant. It was a long time before I ate any mayo after that.

[Blue Collar Guy]

I used to see some TV show (fear factor?), they had to eat unusual (IMO gross) items. I would gag at the thought of it. Ill stick to the main stream stuff that I grew up with.

[Koolau]

I'm not particularly adventurous with food. Having said that, I've expanded my food horizons quite a bit after moving to a different culture. I've rarely encountered anything I didn't find palatable (other than too hot). So sushi, sashimi, poke, kim chee, Thai, Indian, etc., I have learned to try if not always relish. The more exotic foods listed already (the ones that sound just gross - sorry, MHO) I would not try. "Normal" foods within the local culture, I've usually been fine with trying. YMMV

[aja8888]

I won't eat onions, especially raw.

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade I've heard to sweetbread? It's not bread. Bourdain will eat anything. But even he admitted that when he was cooking, he'd just order the fish and meat from the market or suppliers, not really look at where it came from, how it was produced, etc.

It's French for brain, I think.

[FlaGator]

I don't eat anything uglier than me

Alligator
Crayfish
Soft Shell Crabs
Whole fish
Squid/calamari (not anymore, the best I had was just chewy, the worst tasted like rotting fish-flavored bubble gum)
Sushi of any kind
Tripe
Menudo
Haggis
Tongue
Chitlins
Mutton
Lamb from the US (AUS/NZ is excellent though)
Organ meats, except chicken gizzards

Would be better off living in Indiana instead of the Gulf Coast

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman ?........They eat all kinds of entrails, brains and other animal parts thrown away in other societies. I'll stick to foods already common to me.

My Dad and all of my relatives on his side of our family were from the hills of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, and were poorer than dirt. That being the case, they ate just about every last part of whatever animal was available to them. As he said more than once, they ate everything but the oink. Even after they were able to work their way up to upper-middle class, and could afford better, the menu changed very little. I grew up eating, and for the most part enjoying, most of those same things......with the exception of the fried hog brains! I just never could develop a liking for them, not because of the taste, but because of the texture (or lack thereof).

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG ?..........Doesn't matter fish, foul, game, insects, reptiles, organ meat, cooked, raw.... If it's generally considered edible I want to experience it. ......

I'll try anything once, because I learned a long time ago that you can never know for sure whether or not you'll like something, unless you actually try it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlaGator I don't eat anything uglier than me Alligator Crayfish Soft Shell Crabs Whole fish Squid/calamari (not anymore, the best I had was just chewy, the worst tasted like rotting fish-flavored bubble gum) Sushi of any kind Tripe Menudo Haggis Tongue Chitlins Mutton Lamb from the US (AUS/NZ is excellent though) Organ meats, except chicken gizzards Would be better off living in Indiana instead of the Gulf Coast

Oh, just pass that plate over this way! The only things on that list that I haven't eaten yet are haggis and chitlins. The key word there is "yet". One of our local grocery stores regularly stocks chitlins, and one of these days I'm going to buy some and give it a whirl! But I eat everything else listed, ocassionally, if not regularly, with the exception of liver, because I just could never develop a taste for it.

[Bestwifeever]

I didn't think I would ever try haggis but I did and it was okay. When offered a taste of cow lung at a different time and place, though, I declined.

[audreyh1]

Sweetbreads and tripe are popular around here. Tripe is found in the ubiquitous menudo. I've had tripe a few times - meh. Doesn't do anything for me. Sweetbreads are often part of the locally popular mixed grill (parillada). I might have tasted it once - it was nice actually.

Other local specialties we do seek out are Cabrito al Pastor - kid goat roasted over a wood charcoal fire "Shepard style", carnitas with cueritos - slow roasted pork shoulder with pickled pig skin, and numerous seafood dishes and caldos (main dish soups).

I noticed organ meats and tripe were featured on menus all over France.