Comments on: Mouse wine, grilled guinea pigs, maggot cheese, rotten shark

Mouse wine, grilled guinea pigs, maggot cheese, rotten shark

growabrain — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:00:44 -0800

The most disgusting food in the world. From The Museum of Disgusting Food, which has opened in Malmö, Sweden. More and more. WARNING: DISGUSTING FOOD INSIDE!

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:04:01 -0800

*puts down sandwich*

By: Think_Long

Think_Long — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:04:59 -0800

Not to be that guy, but I wish they wouldn't call it "disgusting" and just call it interesting or unusual foods. There's a lot of western value judgment in all of these that I'm not sure will age very well. That maggot cheese is something else tho.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:07:25 -0800

No, there's some really disgusting stuff on there. Licorice, Jell-O Salad...

By: zamboni

zamboni — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:10:23 -0800

More like disgustibus non est disputandum, amirite? *holds up hand expectantly for altum quinque*

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:11:02 -0800

Kumiss though? That was sloppy, what with only a picture and no description. If I didn't know what kumiss was already...

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:11:56 -0800

I dunno, I think any culture that routinely juices a cow, and then coagulates the liquid with the lining of a baby cows stomach, then leaves the resulting solid in a cave for a couple years shouldn't call Johnny Foreigners food "disgusting". You know what's disgusting? The process for making chicken nuggets. Except for fermented shark, that shit is disgusting.

By: mandolin conspiracy

mandolin conspiracy — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:19:00 -0800

Licorice You'll pry my Salmiakki from my cold dead hands. You, or the resultant high blood pressure will.

By: sexyrobot

sexyrobot — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:21:35 -0800

Is chicken-in-a-can on the list? If so this needs a trigger warning. If it's on there I can't even look.

By: wellred

wellred — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:21:54 -0800

For a sec I thought those were live guinea pigs hanging out with the cooked cuy. Feel better after a closer look.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:24:53 -0800

13. Century egg I saw baskets of these in NYC Chinatown, "What are those?". "Not for you, not for you."

By: pracowity

pracowity — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:31:22 -0800

puts down sandwich

Are you going to finish that?

By: TedW

TedW — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:32:33 -0800

I appreciate that the museum tried to include foods from various places around the world. I like licorice but understand that is not the case for everyone, and not a big fan of congealed salads, but don't find them disgusting. I don't recall ever eating menudo, but I eat tripe in pho from time to time and would probably really like menudo. A lot of the other things I would be willing to try, except for the Casu Marzu and various fermented fish.

By: Homeboy Trouble

Homeboy Trouble — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:37:54 -0800

I'm an adventuresome eater; I've eaten offal on four different continents, and I still think that the weirdest food I've ever eaten (although not the most disgusting) was probably a Sausage McGriddle.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:38:22 -0800

That maggot cheese is something else tho. That is the one food that I have pre-decided I will not eat on the grounds of "disgustingness". There are a couple other foods I've quietly decided not to eat based on recent scientific theories about how certain diseases are spread - brains are one, and there's some theories about snakes being a vector for some hemorrhagic fevers; but that maggot cheese is one where I'm all, "it may be technically safe, but dang, that's gross, no thanks."

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:39:58 -0800

Mmm, bullcock, just like Mother used to make.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:41:11 -0800

Grilled Guinea Pig has only one problem: not much meat, at least, for this western guy, who is used to unnaturally large chickens and such. And that's the point of traveling, even within a large city -- trying different food to expand your notion of "normal" and remind you that your point of view is not the only point of view. Otherwise you end up being those Ugly Americans (or wherever you're from), out on a "safari" trip but requesting hotdogs and hamburgers from the skilled local chefs who are confused why you're so set on getting your meat ground up and put on a bun.

By: sarcasticah

sarcasticah — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 10:54:27 -0800

I can't even look at the cooked guinea pigs, what with having these little guys as pets.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:05:29 -0800

I'm all about weird food and will try most things, but I probably draw the line at anything still alive at the moment I put it in my mouth which also rules out some Korean preparations of octopus in addition to the maggot cheese. If those maggots are dead or if the cheese is the only part meant to be eaten (I'm pretty sure neither is the case), I'd be game though.

By: prize bull octorok

prize bull octorok — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:15:00 -0800

I ate a live mayfly to impress a date once, so I guess I have no basis to object to casu marzu. do you eat it on water crackers or what

By: mareli

mareli — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:23:41 -0800

Disgusting is in the gut reaction of the besmeller.

By: Exceptional_Hubris

Exceptional_Hubris — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:24:43 -0800

ive consumed a pretty substantial number of these things - cuy was delicious and i would absolutely eat it again given an opportunity (they are bony as all get-out, as filthy light thief observed). Hakarl is simply revolting - it tastes off because it is, and to call it 'well aged' is a form of intentional understatement i think you'd have to be nordic to pull off. like, its just all kinds of piss and too long forgotten brie cheese rind flavors layered over distinct sea/fish flavors with the texture that is a perfect cross between old ceviche and chewing gum. I have zero problem calling it a disgusting food - i couldnt find anyone in iceland who disagreed.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:25:15 -0800

> TedW: "I appreciate that the museum tried to include foods from various places around the world. I like licorice but understand that is not the case for everyone, and not a big fan of congealed salads, but don't find them disgusting. I don't recall ever eating menudo, but I eat tripe in pho from time to time and would probably really like menudo. A lot of the other things I would be willing to try, except for the Casu Marzu and various fermented fish." I have had menudo and, if done right, it can be amazing. The same holds true for tripe. And all cooking. Most any "disgusting" food can be amazing if done right.

By: praemunire

praemunire — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:26:58 -0800

I'm with you, juv3nal, nothing that's still living while I eat. I've had the fermented shark. With many of these foods, if you served them to people "blind," their big objection would be to the texture. Not so with fermented shark. It has such a powerful scent/taste of ammonia that I could only get down one bite.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:34:45 -0800

Cuy seems out of place on this list. I don't see how it's any different than squirrel.

By: lepus

lepus — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:36:22 -0800

This weekend I read about a dish, a beloved Swedish dish, that was so startling to my none Swedish palate I immediately memorize how to make it. Get a rotisserie chicken. Pull off the meat, place in a casserole pan. Season with Italian seasoning. Then get four bananas, slice, and place over the chicken. Take 3 cups of heavy cream, whip until holds peaks, and then mix in a cup of Heinz chili sauce. Cover the banana chicken layers with the chili cream and bake. When done scatter cooked bacon and roasted peanuts over, serve over rice with an iceberg salad. It's called a Flying Jacob and if this does not have a prominent place in said museum they are missing an excellent opportunity to bring the disgusting food concept home.

By: halation

halation — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:38:45 -0800

Not to be that guy, but I wish they wouldn't call it "disgusting" and just call it interesting or unusual foods. kæstur hákarl actually is pretty disgusting -- it's like ammonia in chewable form, and even my icelandic friends won't eat it (though they will try to prank the unwary with it, and it is Tradition to down some at Midwinter with a shot of brennivín even if you don't actually like the stuff).

By: DirtyOldTown

DirtyOldTown — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:49:27 -0800

I thought this was gonna be about Quizno's.

By: GoblinHoney

GoblinHoney — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:50:36 -0800

Pretty annoyingly shitty framing for these foods. All food is disgusting on some level when you get down to it, the whole process is fucked up no matter what your diet is. It's also subjective to the point of not even being worth considering in that way. For my money, I'd rather eat any of these things than ever eat a drop of mayonnaise, but there are also tons of folks who willingly put mayonnaise in things they eat. Still, I could easily colourfully compare mayo to something so gross from a dog I'm pretty sure it'd get my comment removed here and call it disgusting, but is it really? No, I just do not like it. I think disgusting is a fair word to use with food, when something goes awry, if something is spoiled or someone dumps a bunch of Lucas into it or something else like that. Calling an unfamiliar food disgusting just from the outset seems childish.

By: zompist

zompist — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:55:09 -0800

I'm not sure that we should be making fun of foods that other people like. Which of these will be the hot new food in trendy restaurants in 10 years? For Peru, rather than cuy, I'd suggest toqosh. Take potatoes and let them ferment in a stream (or non-running water, sources differ) for up to a year. This is the one food my Peruvian wife won't eat. The smell is said to be formidable. One website claims that it develops penicillin, so it's good for you!

By: Purposeful Grimace

Purposeful Grimace — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:55:30 -0800

I've eaten of lot of these, not the European stuff as much as Asian/Central/South American items. And from my personal perspective, Asia has more side-eye foods than Europe. Like, by a lot. Hakarl was a delightful delicacy compared to extra stinky tofu that I had in Taiwan. Surstromming? An afterschool treat for well-behaved children compared to Korean preserved skate. Virgin boy eggs in China? They didn't really taste that different than sulfur spring eggs, it was my guide's reticence to directly translate what they were that tipped me to their "unusual" preparation. Yes, eggs boiled in under-10 year old boys' urine. Snake bile from a snake killed in front of you (to guarantee freshness) and its bile gland ripped out of its innards and squeezed into a glass, then some of the snake's blood added for good measure? Bitter and bloody but by gawd it cleared up my allergies for a week. One of the hardest ones for me was in Peru, and no, it wasn't cuy, which btw is some fine eating. It was that goddamn chicha. Knowing its origin added to it. Women sit around and chew corn and spit the mass into containers with some sugar, let it ferment, and then serve up this gooey mass that would make the strongest crossfit candidate weak in the knees to even view. This list could go on but I figure it's lunch time somewhere, so enjoy!

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:04:44 -0800

When I was a kid (in middle-class suburban white America), I always heard that kimchi was cabbage that was "buried in the ground until it was rotten and stinky". It wasn't until I was well into adulthood that I learned that kimchi preparation had been terribly misrepresented, and that it's absolutely delicious. A substantial percentage of Americans have extremely parochial attitudes toward unfamiliar cuisines.

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:20:53 -0800

I was slightly taken aback by Jellied Moose Nose, but... I guess... how else are you supposed to eat moose nose?

By: halation

halation — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:30:43 -0800

how else are you supposed to eat moose nose? it can also be stewed or braised, but jellied would be very close to headcheese. Both would be delicious!

By: Copronymus

Copronymus — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:32:56 -0800

I think disgusting is a fair word to use with food, when something goes awry, if something is spoiled or someone dumps a bunch of Lucas into it or something else like that. Calling an unfamiliar food disgusting just from the outset seems childish. I don't enitrely disagree with your point here, but a lot of these foods do break what are essentially food taboos, and taboos for good reason. The fact that you can manipulate the rotting process in such a way that hákarl won't make you sick doesn't mean that most people are going to accept that pungently fermented shark that tastes strongly of ammonia is food in the same way that rice and beans are. It's only food by the slimmest of margins, and I have to imagine it was only discovered to be edible by someone who was on the brink of starvation. Similarly, we have a lot of good reasons to find the idea of live maggots in a food prima facie distasteful. In the vast majority of food interactions, that indicates something that should never be eaten under any circumstances. It's worth celebrating the human ingenuity that has found a way to make casu marzu into something with a substantially reduced chance of turning yourself into a host for insect larvae, but people aren't disgusted by it for aesthetic or cultural reasons, they're disgusted by it because they honestly should be.

By: sjswitzer

sjswitzer — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:38:10 -0800

posted by Copronymus What is the opposite of eponysterical?

By: The Underpants Monster

The Underpants Monster — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:42:47 -0800

So, when is Methodist Church Supper Night?

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:48:23 -0800

I knew MetaFilter would enlighten me on all the ways to eat moose nose! I love you guys!

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:49:45 -0800

In Hawaii, they say, "Eddie Would Go," meaning that Eddie Aikau would be brave enough to face bad surf conditions, and you should be brave, too. I submit that for unusual foods, the term should be, "Bourdain Would Go."

By: Omnomnom

Omnomnom — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:54:33 -0800

While I agree with calling maggotty or rotten/mouldy food disgusting, I have learnt to love limburger, roquefort and kimchi, so this is not a consistent view for me to take. I've always been very eager to try all kinds of foods, no matter how maligned, but one thing I can't get over is slime. Anything is slimy, I have an automatic gag reflex. I know because I tried to force myself by sheer force of willto eat a certain type of exotic fruit, while my mother, laughing, begged me to stop. I couldn't believe that I was finding it impossible to keep an item of food down! So slime is revolting to me.

By: misskaz

misskaz — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:54:53 -0800

I mean, I willingly drink Malört so I would never shame people for eating weird shit, but some of this definitely triggers my Oh Hell No response.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:55:36 -0800

I actually wish the link to the Museum itself had some captions to go with their various pictures (I see that they have them in the museum itself, I'm talking about at the web interface). They're making a bold statement by representing "pork" with a model of a cute piglet with a bunch of syringes stuck all over; I think I know what they're getting at but would love to read the caption to be certain. The licorice inclusion reminds me of a reaction from one of those "kids react to weird food" videos where they fed a bunch of kids different candy from around the world; one of the candies they had for taste-testing was Finnish salty licorice. One of the kids had a puzzlingly specific description for what he thought it tasted like: "Raisins dipped in beef."

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:56:04 -0800

....and now that I look at it "Licorice Inclusion" would be a cool band name.

By: halation

halation — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:59:00 -0800

"Raisins dipped in beef." this actually sounds delicious to me and i'm not even that fond of raisins

By: ChuraChura

ChuraChura — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:01:48 -0800

My undergrad supervisor spent several months boating around tributaries of the Amazon looking for fossil exposures. He and his companions ate cuy (grilled Guinea pig) at all sorts of tiny establishments all around rural Peru, and then rearticulated the skeletons before leaving. I like imagining all the slightly confused señoras cleaning up after the gringos who showed up, ate Guinea pig with gusto, left skeletons, and disappeared... Anyways, cuy is not gross, it is quite tasty.

By: Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon

Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:06:51 -0800

I mean on the one hand I appreciate the "every food is disgusting if you think about it a certain way / don't be xenophobic about food" sentiment, but also traditional Icelandic food is very much about being on an island that will absolutely without a doubt starve you to death unless you eat some objectively nasty shit sometimes. like the appropriate reaction to fermented shark isn't to pretend you can find a way to like it, it's to appreciate that 21st century Iceland is a much nicer place than 19th-century-and-before Iceland was. (okay the appropriate reaction is to not eat it at all, cause greenland shark is threatened and it's a dick move for a non-starving person to eat a threatened animal just to make the point that it's techically edible.)

By: jim in austin

jim in austin — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:13:05 -0800

Exhibit A, with retching courtesy of Holtz: The SURSTRÖMMING CHALLENGE

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:14:26 -0800

Take potatoes and let them ferment in a stream (or non-running water, sources differ) for up to a year. This is the one food my Peruvian wife won't eat. The smell is said to be formidable. What omg no. Rotting potato has to be the worst smell on the planet. It's worse than corpses.

By: murphy slaw

murphy slaw — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:32:17 -0800

the thing nobody ever seems to mention about hakarl is it is this horrific treatment that is the only thing that allows Greenland Sharks to have any food value at all. they're deep-water fish, and

As an adaptation to living at depth,[3] it has a high concentration of trimethylamine N-oxide in its tissues, which causes the meat to be toxic.

hakarl is essentially a food of last resort, and it tastes like it.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:33:09 -0800

For my money, I'd rather eat any of these things than ever eat a drop of mayonnaise, but there are also tons of folks who willingly put mayonnaise in things they eat. Still, I could easily colourfully compare mayo to something so gross from a dog I'm pretty sure it'd get my comment removed here and call it disgusting Like what? Dog semen? As far as criticizing one food or another as disgusting, well, de gustibus non disputandum est swings both ways, right? Per loquacious right above me, I do agree that rotten potatoes have a powerful stank, but not "worse than corpses", or at least rotting meat IMO. Me, I think that cilantro tastes like soap, but that may simply be the remnants of my supertaster childhood. (There were a lot of things that I used to loathe that I grew to love.) Picky eaters previously on the blue.

By: Think_Long

Think_Long — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:44:04 -0800

Eat food, mostly unrotten, not too euro-centric

By: kinnakeet

kinnakeet — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:53:26 -0800

Durian is something that really needs to be experienced in person, if only once.

By: Drab_Parts

Drab_Parts — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:55:09 -0800

Regarding eurocentric or American-centric food preferences: When I was in college I had a Korean roommate. Once I commented that one of our mutual Korean friends always smelled like kimchi. I wasn't trying to be too judgmental, my roommate and I both ate kimchi every day. But my roommate replied, "Americans all smell like cheese" and I realized, yeah, that's probably worse. My great-grandmother used to make grape jello with shredded carrots and peanuts, but I haven't heard of anyone making a savory-ish jello salad for a long time. I might be misinformed, but I don't think it's true that "Jell-O salad...graces tables across the US at Thanksgiving" anymore, particularly with suspended olives and pearl onions like in the photo.

By: halation

halation — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:59:59 -0800

I don't think it's true that "Jell-O salad...graces tables across the US at Thanksgiving" anymore it's definitely been replaced by green bean casserole, which arguably merits its own place in the Grody Grub Halls Of Fame

By: PussKillian

PussKillian — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:07:17 -0800

"Raisins dipped in beef." This is close to a favorite of mine, lumpia with a filling of ground beef and raisins. It's a nice change from the more traditional types. I grew up watching my uncles eat balut, and aside from the taste I don't think I could get past the crunch crunch of tiny bones.

By: praemunire

praemunire — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:08:52 -0800

The poverty of pre-WWII or so Iceland was really astonishing. Independent People blew my mind. Personally, I think the jello example chosen let us off easy. Try a fish mousse in aspic!

By: praemunire

praemunire — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:09:53 -0800

(P.S. Greenland shark is not threatened, only near-threatened.)

By: Fuchsoid

Fuchsoid — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:36:57 -0800

"Disgusting" foods seems to divide into two broad groups - things that are or appear to be mouldy or rotten and therefore potentially poisonous (hakarl, century eggs, that cheese) or that are perfectly edible but go against different cultural attitudes (guinea pig, jellied salads, offal). Personally, I find haggis delicious - I once had a haggis scotch egg, and have been looking for them again ever since - but I can see why people who don't fancy eating lungs might not like it. Every country has at least one horrible dish they bring out solely to frighten foreigners with, but don't actually eat much themselves now they can afford better. In London that would be jellied eels - dreadful greyish things suspended in a clear fishy jelly flecked with bits of green (parsley, I hope) and eaten cold - full of bones too.

By: Wylie Kyoto

Wylie Kyoto — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:37:27 -0800

I used to work at a Swedish restaurant in NYC. Around Christmastime, there was always some guy who would come in & go, "You got that stuff that looks like crackers that hurts your teeth & tastes like cardboard? I need 7 boxes of that shit." (Trophy wife indulgence.)

By: Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon

Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:37:46 -0800

oh, true. nevertheless, "near-threatened and near-inedible" doesn't strike me as a thing that one should necessarily eat if they have other options.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:41:31 -0800

I will say that as much as I LOVE menudo -- my grandma and my mom both make formidable menudo, it's one of my favorite foods, and by god, that picture in the article looks amazing -- there are generally two types of menudo. The first is delicious and the tripe is tender and my mouth is watering, and the second smells, literally, like shit. Ordering it at a taqueria is always a gamble. I don't know if it's to do with how well you clean the tripe, but I have smelled (and tasted) some fucking horrible menudo.

By: halation

halation — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:52:48 -0800

the second smells, literally, like shit. I wonder if the version of menudo that you dislike incorporates portions of the colon -- that's what causes the distinctive scent of andouillette.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 15:01:01 -0800

Oh my goodness, halation, I have never heard of that and I really think that could be it! My grandmother always reminds me to get the best honeycomb tripe I can find, so that would make sense. Metafilter, as usual, solving all life's problems.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 15:02:40 -0800

And of course, I'm sure some people dig that, but having been brought up on the other version, it definitely just seems wrong to me. (I also like a lot of hominy in my menudo and I've noticed that seems to be something to fight about, too.)

By: 256

256 — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 16:45:35 -0800

I've eaten a handful of this stuff. It really sets my dog whistle alarm off when I see dog meat on a list like this though.

By: milkcrateman

milkcrateman — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 17:27:12 -0800

They also included Vegemite in the museum. Samuel West, a psychologist and researcher who was also behind Sweden's Museum of Failure, said they couldn't have a Disgusting Food Museum without Vegemite. "I love Vegemite so I'm kind of sad that it's in the museum," he laughed, adding that it would be a "traumatic food experience" for those who mistook it for Nutella.

By: mandolin conspiracy

mandolin conspiracy — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:12:57 -0800

"I love Vegemite so I'm kind of sad that it's in the museum," he laughed, adding that it would be a "traumatic food experience" for those who mistook it for Nutella. I realize there will be people in the UK and Australia who will insist Marmite and Vegemite are NOT the same thing, but anyway... ...when I was in high school here in Canada I babysat for a British family who didn't stock much in the house in the way of snack food. In fact, despite the parents' assurance that "There are snacks in the kitchen," there never really were. Unless you counted apples and shit, but I was a hungry teenager. On one particular babysitting gig there, one of the kids said "Do you want some Marmite?" Me, looking at it, thought "Ok, looks...chocolately?" They smeared some of it on some crackers for me, and boy howdy was that not the flavour profile I was expecting. The licorice inclusion reminds me of a reaction from one of those "kids react to weird food" videos where they fed a bunch of kids different candy from around the world; one of the candies they had for taste-testing was Finnish salty licorice. One of the kids had a puzzlingly specific description for what he thought it tasted like: "Raisins dipped in beef." My Finnish grandfather would give it to me as a treat, because he bought lozenges and candy and such at a Finn import shop. I guess that's why I like it. But I totally get why people think it's pretty fucked up.

By: mandolin conspiracy

mandolin conspiracy — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:13:52 -0800

Durian is amazing to experience too. Especially if you're expecting something like papaya or mango flesh. Which it certainly is not.

By: bruceo

bruceo — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:18:58 -0800

decades ago, i traveled through japan and my young self recoiled at the many (to me) weird/disgusting foods. years later, i worked with a japanese guy here in the states and put the question to him: "what american food do you find absolutely disgusting?". his answer... peanut butter.

By: Enkidude

Enkidude — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 19:09:45 -0800

There's a lot of things I've eaten and enjoyed that folks I know would recoil at: ant-wine from Guizhou, raw horsemeat from Japan, stewed stinky tofu from Taiwan, hákarl from Iceland, crickets from Mexico, sheeps brains from Morocco, and probably the worlds strongest and funkiest durian from a mountaintop fruit stand in Penang. All foods that a younger version of myself would have been horrified by. That younger version of me hadn't incorporated the desire for adventure and experience - something that can be learned if one has the right kinds of incentive. I'll continue to seek out odd food that people recommend and try it at least once because unique experiences in life are valuable to me. Exceptions exist: hákarl was nigh-inedible, I've refused whale and sea turtle on moral grounds, and I won't eat octopus nor cuttlefish again after seeing live examples scuba diving.

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 19:13:45 -0800

I'd probably suck down a bull's dick.

By: growabrain

growabrain — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 19:37:17 -0800

and now with video.....

By: sjswitzer

sjswitzer — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 19:51:45 -0800

Yeah, I too am off the "higher" mollusks on ethical grounds. Nothing gross about them at all, they are unfortunately delicious.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 20:32:14 -0800

Related, from the depths of the ancient internet -- Steve Don't Eat It.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 21:27:53 -0800

I'd probably suck down a bull's dick. Well, I guess we're definitely not doing phrasing any more because you just broke it.

By: Grither

Grither — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 04:54:31 -0800

Wylie Kyoto: "I used to work at a Swedish restaurant in NYC. Around Christmastime, there was always some guy who would come in & go, "You got that stuff that looks like crackers that hurts your teeth & tastes like cardboard? I need 7 boxes of that shit." (Trophy wife indulgence.)" Knäckebröd?? That's so weird, because Wasa crackers (basically the same thing) are in like...all the grocery stores I've ever seen in NYC.

By: TedW

TedW — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 06:22:43 -0800

Knäckebröd?? That's so weird, because Wasa crackers (basically the same thing) are in like...all the grocery stores I've ever seen in NYC. Knäckebröd is a family favorite (thanks to my mother's Swedish grandparents) and Wasa is but a pale imitation. I much prefer a chunk off the big wheel with a hole in the center, with a good schmear of butter on it. It will, however, tear up your mouth if you aren't careful, much like Cap'n Crunch.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 09:47:21 -0800

savory-ish jello salad Galaretka is common and popular in Poland, but I think it is made with real jelly from reduced bones / cartilage stock, so not quite as unnaturally icky? Pour some vinegar on that stuff, yummy yum! Also flaczki, a very specific type of Polish tripe soup, common and beloved over there. I don't really like any other kind of tripe, but flaczki is delicious, mmmmm!