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Bizarre Foods You've Eaten

Not bad, actually. Especially when the skin is grilled crispy. What animal is that in the picture? It looks like sheep or somesuch.
What do they serve it with? It's difficult to see with the clingfilm over it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suckling_pig Roast suckling pig is a rather popular dish in Bavaria, traditionally served with dumplings, salads and sauce. Actually, there was a court decision the other day whether sauce was mandatory or not. Someone had ordered a roast suckling pig for a party, and when it was delivered without sauce, he cut the price. The caterer sued him and the court had to decide. If I recall correctly, they ruled that it was up to everyone himself and that in future everyone had to make clear when ordering or accepting an order whether a sauce was desired or not.
 
I forgot to add goat meat to my list, which isn't unusual in itself but out of the ordinary here in the U.S. It's got quite a greasy, gamey taste, similar to lamb. There's a dish called caldereta in my native country that I haven't tasted in ages. Quite delish!
 
What is your native country? I simply ask out of of curiosity.

I've had goat at Indian restaurants now and again.
 
I'm originally from the Philippines and came to the U.S. with my family when I was a teen. From time to time, I kinda miss some of the native dishes, like the caldereta. Fortunately for me, my parents and my oldest sister still cook stuff like pancit and lumpia. :D Here in the Bay Area, there are also a lot of Asian supermarkets that sell a variety of Filipino, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean foods. But as far as choices of restaurant, I usually go for sushi and Chinese.
 
I miss where I used to live where we had Indian, Asian, and Latino markets all within a 5 minute drive. It's amazing how much better a dish tastes when you don't have to improvise on the ingredients.
 
LOL tell me about it - my ex is from LA and a dedicated cook. One day he gave me his super-secret Gumbo-recipe. The only prob was that in Germany, I can't get half of the ingredients and had to improvise. When I told him what I had used, he almost fainted, heehee.
Then he suggested substitutes for my substitutes which I had to substitute again with what was available here. After a few rounds we ended up with a delicious stew that had absolutely nothing in common with the original recipe. :D


Gryffindorian if it's not too personal a question: where from the Phillippines do you hail from? I'm curious because last year my brother married a girl from Davao and I have the impression she is quite homesick atm. Perhaps I could cheer her up with a dish from her home island.
 
^I have nothing to do with this conversation, but I just wanted to say, Rhubarbodendron, what a wonderfully thoughtful and sweet thing to do! :techman:
 
Rhubarb, i'm originally from Luzon island, province of Cavite to be more precise. That's where I was born and raised. Davao is farther down south, and one would have to take a plane or ship to get there from Luzon. I've never been to Davao but have relatives living there.

At this point in my life, I've gotten so jaded about eating native Filipino foods, I don't miss them that much. :)
 
awww thestrangequark, you're such a sweetie *blush*

Luzon is a lovely island, judging by the pics my brother once showed me (he's been working all over the Philippines for almost a decade). I'd love to go there one day, especially to the archeological sites and to Callao Cave.
Congratulations on being from the province where the Phillippine's independence was proclaimed :)

If you happen to live in the vicinity of Los Angeles, you can get goat meat there in some places, for example at Farmers Market. I've once tried it in a curry at an Indian restaurant but didn't really like it. But then, it was a rather old goat, and a male one at that. Perhaps not the best choice for a start.
 
Sweet! I hope your brother and his wife have a good time whenever they visit the country. I think the place has progressed more since I last visited 16 years ago. My sisters have been back there and visited some of the more touristy areas. One particular area they really liked was Tagaytay City, also in Cavite, where there are lots of restaurants, fruit stands, and rental properties with a nice view of the dormant Lake Taal volcano below. My other sister took a trip to Cebu earlier in the spring; she said the place was gorgeous. Yes, Cavite (in the town of Kawit) is where Emilio Aguinaldo led the revolution and proclaimed independence from Spanish rule. My hometown is called Maragondon; I grew up in the boonies! This is where they filmed scenes from Platoon and Hamburger Hill, about the Vietnam War.

Thanks for the tip. Last time I tasted caldereta, my brother-in-law actually bought the goat meat from a market in Stockton, which is at least an hour or so drive from the Bay Area.
 
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Robert D. Robot said:
Durian... Indonesian Stink Fruit! The King of Fruits!

I tried it, but it was pretty hard for me to stomach. Like yellowish-green custard flavored with old, half-rotten onions & garlic & leeks. It is a very neat (and dangerous!) looking fruit.

I am hoping to have another go at it sometime, but I'd like to try it fresh in Indonesia and not thawed after being frozen & flown to NYC! This might make a difference, but the thought of it still gives me a queasy feeling. I refuse to give up on it, though!
Click to expand...
I've heard of durians and once got some cookie wafers with a 'durian' filling. Weird and awful. While sweet because of the sugar, the essence of the durian was there and it lingered despite eating food and plenty of drink afterward. I had to eat a lot of garlic to eventually override the flavor!


It's amazing what some cultures consider vile others consider quite edible.

About the only thing I've ever had that I'd consider really pushing the limit was sweetbreads, which is the culinary name for a variety of internal organs (like pancreas, heart, stomach, gullet, etc). I think it was a pancreas that was marinated in something intense enough that transformed the texture into something like "chicken lite".

I did try kangaroo and crocodile one time when I visted Australia and both were delicious. The kangaroo reminded me a little of ostrich.

I am pretty open to eating a lot of things. I love sushi/sashimi and I've also eaten octopus and calamari (cooked), as well as eel (delicious). I've eaten elk, wild boar, venison, buffalo, ostrich, goose/duck, and emu. Some were a little gamy, but with the right spices and proper cooking they were excellent. The best thing about uncommon meat is that it's outside the massive processing chain and is generally of better quality with the animals having better diets with less chance of hormone injections.


While I know intellectually that insects are high in protein and generally quite healthy to eat, I've never gotten up enough nerve to try any. I guess it'll have to be one of those things where I'm starving and there's nothing else to eat! ;)
 
yes, same here. Grasshoppers are tasty, but you wouldn't catch me dead trying maggots, beetles or spiders. Or snails, for that matter, though technically they are just rolled up clams.

Wild boar is very common here in Bavaria, but there is a little problem: these animals love mushrooms. Mushrooms love heavy metals and accumulate them in their tissue. The nuclear fallout from Czernobyl consisted mainly of heavy metals, and guess where it fell out back then.
In other words: Bavarian wild boar can easily be found by using a Geiger counter. Many of them are so far beyond the permitted radiation level, that they are not suitable for eating but have to be destroyed as hazardous waste.
 
Rhubarbodendron said:
yes, same here. Grasshoppers are tasty, but you wouldn't catch me dead trying maggots, beetles or spiders. Or snails, for that matter, though technically they are just rolled up clams.

Wild boar is very common here in Bavaria, but there is a little problem: these animals love mushrooms. Mushrooms love heavy metals and accumulate them in their tissue. The nuclear fallout from Czernobyl consisted mainly of heavy metals, and guess where it fell out back then.
In other words: Bavarian wild boar can easily be found by using a Geiger counter. Many of them are so far beyond the permitted radiation level, that they are not suitable for eating but have to be destroyed as hazardous waste.
Click to expand...


EWWWWWWWWW

that was interesting though.

Ate some dried cuttlefish the other day. Tasted salty.
 
heehee, my brother once caused an uproar at the airport with a huge plastic bag full of dried cuttlefish he had brought from Asia as a snack. The customs inspector asked what was in the bag, my brother said: "dried sepias" the officer: "Suuuure. Another of those funnybones who try to pull our legs? Hand me that bag!" He put his nose in, took a deep breath, emerged from the bag veeery green-faced and ran for the toilet.
The security guys who saw him running away thought there'd be something dangerous and questioned my brother. It took him a minute to explain the problem to them but then everyone had a good laugh. They just made sure he had no protected species in his bag.
Interestingly, after this incident he never got controlled again at the airport.

I tried those cuttlefish, but didn't like them much as they tasted extremely fishy. And I always feel sorry for them. They are such pretty and intelligent animals.
 
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