I recently read a very interesting book by Taras Grescoe entitled The Devil's Picnic.
In it, Grescoe describes how he travelled the world eating, drinking, and otherwise ingesting forbidden food, drink, and drugs. He then uses his experience to reflect on the nature of prohibition, and what we can learn about a culture by studying what it prohibits.
The last chapter, for example, is a discussion of the ethics of assisted suicide. Apparently, it is legal in Switzerland for doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to patients who want to kill themselves: the usual prescription is 15g of pentobarbital sodium dissolved in 60 mL if water. Grescoe visited a nonprofit Swiss organization that helps its members arranges their own suicides--though naturally, he did not try out their concoction himself.
I am wondering how many people here have sampled the delicacies from "the devil's picnic." They are:
--Hjemmebrennt (Norwegian moonshine);
--Marks & Spencer Savoury Crackers (prohibited in Singapore, for their poppy seeds);
--Epoisses de Bourgogne (one of the smelliest cheeses in France);
--Criadillas (Bull's testicles--though Grescoe went to Spain just after the bullfighting eason, and wound up eating pig's testicles instead);
--Cohiba Esplendido (a fine Cuban cigar);
--Absinthe Suisse (making a comeback after a hundred years of prohibition);
--Chocolat Mousseux (fine hot chocolate from the town of Bayonne);
--Mate de Coca (Bolivian coca tea).
You are allowed to count something similar: if you've ever eaten a really stinky cheese, or sipped a really fine (and expensive) cup of hot chocolate, then that would count.
Personally, I have smoked a Cohiba Esplendido (which was nice, but too expensive, IMO) and I drink absinthe regularly.
And is there anything on this list that you wouldn't try? I might have to nerve myself to eat the bull's balls, but otherwise, none of the items on Grescoe's itinerary held any terrors for me.
Except the Swiss suicide potion, of course.
EDIT: Damn it--I got the name of the cheese wrong in the poll. Too much absinthe, I guess. And what's THAT CRAWLING UP MY LEG OH GOD SPIDERS GET THEM OFF MEEEEEEEEEE
In it, Grescoe describes how he travelled the world eating, drinking, and otherwise ingesting forbidden food, drink, and drugs. He then uses his experience to reflect on the nature of prohibition, and what we can learn about a culture by studying what it prohibits.
The last chapter, for example, is a discussion of the ethics of assisted suicide. Apparently, it is legal in Switzerland for doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to patients who want to kill themselves: the usual prescription is 15g of pentobarbital sodium dissolved in 60 mL if water. Grescoe visited a nonprofit Swiss organization that helps its members arranges their own suicides--though naturally, he did not try out their concoction himself.
I am wondering how many people here have sampled the delicacies from "the devil's picnic." They are:
--Hjemmebrennt (Norwegian moonshine);
--Marks & Spencer Savoury Crackers (prohibited in Singapore, for their poppy seeds);
--Epoisses de Bourgogne (one of the smelliest cheeses in France);
--Criadillas (Bull's testicles--though Grescoe went to Spain just after the bullfighting eason, and wound up eating pig's testicles instead);
--Cohiba Esplendido (a fine Cuban cigar);
--Absinthe Suisse (making a comeback after a hundred years of prohibition);
--Chocolat Mousseux (fine hot chocolate from the town of Bayonne);
--Mate de Coca (Bolivian coca tea).
You are allowed to count something similar: if you've ever eaten a really stinky cheese, or sipped a really fine (and expensive) cup of hot chocolate, then that would count.
Personally, I have smoked a Cohiba Esplendido (which was nice, but too expensive, IMO) and I drink absinthe regularly.
And is there anything on this list that you wouldn't try? I might have to nerve myself to eat the bull's balls, but otherwise, none of the items on Grescoe's itinerary held any terrors for me.
Except the Swiss suicide potion, of course.
EDIT: Damn it--I got the name of the cheese wrong in the poll. Too much absinthe, I guess. And what's THAT CRAWLING UP MY LEG OH GOD SPIDERS GET THEM OFF MEEEEEEEEEE
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