OK, I Ate Some; But Never Again

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

I dot it the same way.

I must be the only other person on MR that likes Kim chi.


I have to reiterate that some of the foods that people "hate" may only be "bad" because they tried bad versions in the past.

On the other hand cultural differences in cuisines may prevent many from even thinking of trying some very good food. Escargot anyone? Gefilte fish (well maybe not Gefilte fish)? Chicken and chocolate gravy with chiles (Chicken Mole)?

There are many ways to make food bad. But sometimes you can be surprised how good a strange recipe may be if done right.



The only thing that I've balked at so far has been Chinese chicken feet.

Spoiler:

I LOVE Kimchee and have been trying to figure out if i can get away with eating it at work. I have packets of Miso soup and like to put the Kimchee in it. i accidentally got into some chicken feet at a Dim Sum place in San Francisco. not pretty

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I want to ask about other delicacies around the world. As you can see I have used a spoiler to cover the text and I suggest that anyone with a weak stomach just pass, you've been warned.

Spoiler:

I want to say up front that I do not under any circumstances advocate of approve of this practice, but would probably try it if I was offered it, sorry, just being honest. I used to teach a lot of Korean students English and we would always talk about foods and their favorites. The one thing that they all wanted me to try was canine meat. I confess to having wondered if it was as good as the Koreans told me it was, but I have never had the opportunity to find out for myself.

There are so many animals and parts of animals that we as Westerners don't normally eat, for instance, what's mutton? I have eaten a few things I would rather not ever eat again, ants, grubs, maggots, snails from the garden. While i was living in the Northern part of Canada, next door to Santa, I tried seal blubber and wish I hadn't, it was one of the few things that I truly wish I could erase my memory of.

I have also eaten a few things I didn't think were to bad, alligator was quite yummy, the texture but not the taste was rather like turkey, I thought. Snake that really doesn't taste like chicken, but tastes exactly how you think it will if you think about it a little. Monitor lizard, very good with a spicy sauce on a bed of rice. Prairie oysters, some of you might know the term, but for you who don't, the bulls danglers, while the thought of eating them was very nasty, the taste wasn't half bad, if a little chewy. Tequila worms, nuff said? In Thailand fried grasshoppers with a spicy sauce is rather tasty.

Some things I haven't eaten but would try if I was there, in Ecuador fried Guinea Pig. Baked bats and rats are popular in India. Pieds de chameau a la vinaigrette, or Camels feet in English. Sago worms in Papua-New Guinea, they are roasted like sausages on a spit. Kangaroo in Australia, I have been told it is better than wild deer meat, opossum is supposed to be good down under as well. The list goes on, I guess I really will try anything once, twice if I thought I was drunk the first time.

This all brings up the question, why are some animals ok to eat and others not?

When I fist came to malaysia I was told that the Malays won't eat pork, the Indians won't eat beef and the Chinese will eat anything they can catch.

Sorry if I ruined any dinners, cheers.

Just to clarify...

Kangaroo meat is available in Australia in most supermarkets. It is very lean, tends to a gaminess as suggested, and is almost certainly cooked rare as it toughens to leather otherwise. It's a nice barbecue meat, if you like that somewhat venison-like flavor and the rare cooking (I do; The Loved one doesn't).

We don't have "opossum" in Australia. They're just called "possum" (there are multiple species). We don't eat possum, and it is probably illegal to do so (i.e. illegal to kill them, though roadkill might be fair game, and of course exemptions would exist in some circumstances and places for hunting by indigenous people). In New Zealand it might be different, where the possum is an introduced pest.

I've heard that not even those permitted to do so will eat koala, because of the taste. I'm not sure if this is true or not.

I've had emu once before too, though I cooked it poorly and it was just a tough, overcooked-chucksteak-like mess, but that was my fault. And I've not seen it since that once many years ago in a supermarket in Sydney.

Cheers,
Marc

[SneakySnake]

Mr M likes roo meat (not as much as beef though). I think it smells yuk! Bloke reckons that no matter what you do with emu it will be as tough as old boots and pretty horrible to eat.

Koalas smell pretty bad alive, I could only imagine how they would taste cooked!

Cat would be better. The aborigines in the centre are keeping the feral cat population down by hunting them for food. They call this delicacy 'pusscat' and reckon it is pretty good tucker. (don't tell Mr M).

Give me vegemite on buttered saos any day.

[kindlekitten]

I would never eat a meat eater (unless I were starving)

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I'll have to try that, what sort of cheese?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sma%C5%BEen%C3%BD_s%C3%BDr

The cheese is EDAM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edam_%28cheese%29
Very mild hard cheese similar to Chedar.
What is used for deep frying is NOT the aged variant of Edam (Eidam in Czech)

You soak the cheese in milk. Then you cover it with flour, dip into egg and cover with breadcrumbs. You can repeat the egg and breadcrumbs to get thicker crust.
Then you fry it quickly in a very hot oil.
Serve with Chips (that are called French fries in USA) and mayonnaise.
You can get it in any Czech restaurant and it used to be one of the most frequently ordered meal. (I say used to be, because I do not know what the situation is now)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

They call this delicacy 'pusscat' and reckon it is pretty good tucker.

You know, there's a lot that can be said about that delicacy; but I won't go there.

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by Mortis

This all brings up the question, why are some animals ok to eat and others not?

(fake answer ahead)
Because the animals we eat are inherently evil and thus deserve to be eaten! The rest is innocent and pure so it's a sin to eat them!!1111

j/k of course. But I have often wondered what pigs and cows did to us that we consider them to be fair game, while dogs and cats (for example) are untouchable and countries eating them are evil.
(Personally, I think I'd eat everything. Unless you can prove that it's sentient on a level comparable to a human.)

I suppose the animals we (whoever "we" are) eat are those that were easiest to breed at first, while the rest either wasn't so easy to breed in numbers, or was more useful otherwise.
After a while it becomes tradition/custom to eat just these animals.

Some animals aren't always safe to eat either (pigs for example - easier spoilage and parasites).

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by kacir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sma%C5%BEen%C3%BD_s%C3%BDr

The cheese is EDAM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edam_%28cheese%29

I'll have to try that cheers.


Cyberman tM, I have also wondered why and I think we came to the same assumption, cows are rather stupid and can be kept, same with pigs, chickens, sheep and goats.

This still doesn't answer why we don't eat cats and dogs, I have aa house full of the furry buggers, and more than a few are at butchering weight, I jest, a little.

[PhilipChen]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I've experimented with foods from other cultures and for the most part, it's downright good; but there's a limit as to what I'll tolerate. Never again will these three ever hit my taste buds:

• ketchup
• kimchi
• lutefisk

You just listed three of my favorite things.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

The chicken feet are very popular at my favorite dim sum restaurant. I keep saying I'm going to try them but I haven't yet. (I have been studying technique, though, so I won't embarrass myself.) The last time I went, there was a very old Asian woman with what appeared to be her granddaughter/grandson-in-law. The first thing she took from the cart was the chicken feet, and she was very skilled indeed in sucking the meat off and spitting the bones back onto her plate. I was impressed.

My father-in-law and sister-in-law love boiled chicken feet. I haven't tried them. Be sure to tell us how you like chicken feet, if you give them a try!

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by Mortis

This still doesn't answer why we don't eat cats and dogs, I have aa house full of the furry buggers, and more than a few are at butchering weight, I jest, a little.

They are more useful if you don't eat them. And probably more difficult to prepare, less meat on them and such.
I think horses have often been eaten when they couldn't be used for work anymore. Probably because they have more easily accessible meat.

Also, as has been said in this thread I think, we rarely eat carnivores. I guess their meat doesn't taste as good. Unless you're constantly near starvation, in which case you'd learn to eat anything.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I would never eat a meat eater (unless I were starving)

I really thought the whole dog and cat eating thing was a myth. I distinctly remember learning in school that meat-eaters (Carnivores) taste horrible, which is why humans hunt(ed) Herbivores.

I suppose, however, if one is hungry enough, they'll eat just about anything they can hold down.

Edit: Just saw Cyberman's post.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by kacir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sma%C5%BEen%C3%BD_s%C3%BDr

The cheese is EDAM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edam_%28cheese%29
Very mild hard cheese similar to Chedar.
What is used for deep frying is NOT the aged variant of Edam (Eidam in Czech)

You soak the cheese in milk. Then you cover it with flour, dip into egg and cover with breadcrumbs. You can repeat the egg and breadcrumbs to get thicker crust.
Then you fry it quickly in a very hot oil.
Serve with Chips (that are called French fries in USA) and mayonnaise.
You can get it in any Czech restaurant and it used to be one of the most frequently ordered meal. (I say used to be, because I do not know what the situation is now)

I've never tried this with Edam, but I do make it exactly the same way with Camembert (soft cheese). It's very good, usually serve it with French bread and caremelised onions or cranberry sauce.

[Mortis]

I hate to burst the bubble about us not eating carnivores, pigs are omnivores, which means that they consume both plants and animals. I can personally attest to the fact that pigs eat anything.

As far as religious beliefs go, in Islam (Halal meaning "Lawful or Legal") and Judaism (Kosher meaning "Fit to eat" loose translations) , the reason pigs are not Kosher or Halal is because they are considered dirty but also because they have canine teeth. Any animal with canines are considered Haram/ not Kosher. Incidentally, the dietary rules for both Islam and Judaism are very similar, in fact Muslims in Canada and the States go to Kosher restaurants if they can't find a Halal restaurant.

I personally believe that pigs were dangerous to eat when these rules were made, but I have been wrong before.

I wasn't trying to start a religious discussion, but rather I was wondering what others views were about why we don't eat certain animals, I have tried many things and would try almost anything.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

They are more useful if you don't eat them. And probably more difficult to prepare, less meat on them and such.
I think horses have often been eaten when they couldn't be used for work anymore. Probably because they have more easily accessible meat.

Also, as has been said in this thread I think, we rarely eat carnivores. I guess their meat doesn't taste as good. Unless you're constantly near starvation, in which case you'd learn to eat anything.

horses, until recently, were considered a delicacy in Japan. there used to be a rather thriving, however relatively secret trade in horses from the farms that collect mares urine and milk that had foals. there were feed lots close to Sea-Tac (the Seattle airport) that held these young geldings to be shipped to Japan for the meat trade. there was a rather secretly conducted investigation and it was stopped. I recall seeing several butchers that advertised horse meat when I was in Paris.

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I really thought the whole dog and cat eating thing was a myth. I distinctly remember learning in school that meat-eaters (Carnivores) taste horrible, which is why humans hunt(ed) Herbivores.

I suppose, however, if one is hungry enough, they'll eat just about anything they can hold down.

Edit: Just saw Cyberman's post.

even though *technically* fish and fowl are omnivores, the effect for the most part doesn't come through to the flavor of the flesh. one big exception is sea gulls. I've never eaten a gull, but had gull eggs... gag! it was like eating rotten fish! the only other experience I've had with eating a flesh eater was having a salmon eating bear. totally nasty and very different from a berry eating bear.

Originally Posted by Mortis

I hate to burst the bubble about us not eating carnivores, pigs are omnivores, which means that they consume both plants and animals. I can personally attest to the fact that pigs eat anything.

As far as religious beliefs go, in Islam (Halal meaning "Lawful or Legal") and Judaism (Kosher meaning "Fit to eat" loose translations) , the reason pigs are not Kosher or Halal is because they are considered dirty but also because they have canine teeth. Any animal with canines are considered Haram/ not Kosher. Incidentally, the dietary rules for both Islam and Judaism are very similar, in fact Muslims in Canada and the States go to Kosher restaurants if they can't find a Halal restaurant.

I personally believe that pigs were dangerous to eat when these rules were made, but I have been wrong before.

I wasn't trying to start a religious discussion, but rather I was wondering what others views were about why we don't eat certain animals, I have tried many things and would try almost anything.

I thought there was something about their feet as well? aren't all shellfish also considered unclean?