Am I alone?

[ballast_regime]

I'm omnivorous in every sense of the word. If something's edible, I'll eat it. What's more, I'll like it, as long as it's fresh and well-prepared. Considering there's nothing I wouldn't eat, let alone enjoy, I may be borderline pica*.

My question for everyone is, who likes everything, literally? I'm looking for comrades-at-arms.

Much peace,

IML

ballast/regime

* Main Entry: 1pi·ca

Pronunciation: 'pI-k&

Function: noun

Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, magpie -- more at PIE

Date: 1563

: an abnormal desire to eat substances (as chalk or ashes) not normally eaten

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

I'd love to concur and expound but if I have to eat another goddamned Frito chip I think that's curtains for me. Bad, bad experience as a kid. Waterchestnuts too...like chewing on stryofoam. Other than that, and certain varieties of fish that are just wrong to serve in the center of the country when it takes four days to receive I'm with you--oh and gulf oysters. Ah, you better nevermind me.

[essvee]

I eat everything. In my house, there was no argument. If you complained, you got more. I guess it rubbed off.

[Holly Moore]

Sorry, no brains. Most anything else, but no brains. Never, ever again.

[Fritz Brenner]

* Main Entry: 1pi·ca

  Pronunciation: 'pI-k&

  Function: noun

  Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, magpie -- more at PIE

  Date: 1563

  : an abnormal desire to eat substances (as chalk or ashes) not normally eaten

But are you really pica? Do you crave ashes and the like? I know that happens to many pregnant women, but...

I think the desire to eat, or at least try, anything is a wonderful thing.

**Fritz

[Bux]

I have strong curiosity about food and a desire to eat things I've read about or discover in strange places, but there are foods and nonfoods alike, I neither crave, nor eat. When I've eaten all sorts of small shrimp and such shrimplike creatures with or without their shell, I tell myself they are just like beetles or cockroaches, but I have not yet eaten an insect and told myself they are just like seafood. Whatever I might tell myself upon eating insects is likely to remain moot.

[ballast_regime]

Fritz:

Not literally, no, and I'm not planning on a pregnancy any time soon.

Essvee:

Welcome to my world (or vice-versa, since you're probably my elder).

Bux:

Eating a raw cockroach wouldn't be appetizing. Notice my caveat: If it goes into my mouth, it must be well-prepared. I've had many grubs, beetles, ants and worms that were damned tasty.

Much peace,

IML

ballast/regime

[Bux]

I've had many grubs, beetles, ants and worms that were damned tasty.

I believe you. In fact, I'd prefer to accept this on faith than have it proven to me.

[Fat Guy]

I'll like it, as long as it's fresh and well-prepared.

The "well-prepared" part of this formulation might seem troublesome to a purist. Likewise, many foods are not best when fresh, e.g., a dry-aged steak or most anything that's cured, fermented, etc. Could you further define what you mean by omnivorous?

[torakris]

I will eat pretty much anything put in front of me, there are some things I like more then others though.

I don't really like beets, but if they are served to me I can eat them, I have to admit I have never eaten bugs, but I would be willing to try.

[Suzanne F]

If someone somewhere eats a food for nourishment and/or pleasure, I will at least try it. I may not look for it in the future, but at least I won't refuse to taste anything. Can't say that I like natto, but now that I know it is sometimes served "disguised," I might even try it a second time.

[ballast_regime]

Fat Guy:

Fresh wasn't necessarily an all-encompassing stipulation as it was a guiding principle. Omnivorous was the closest term I can find to mean I'll ingest anything with nutritive value. Otherwise, I (usually) won't put it in my mouth.

Fermentation, curing, aging, and the like are also acceptable for me.

You never mentioned where you stand on this divide. I.e., will you eat anything, and do you like it?

IML

ballast/regime

[Jonathan Day]

In a now-archived Symposium thread, here, we discussed Carolyn Korsmeyer's thesis that the line between "disgusting" and "delicious" is a thin one.

I will try anything at least once, and have found very few foods in their natural states to be truly disgusting or impossible to eat. It is possible to have things very badly prepared and hence not attractive to the taste. Some commercially prepared products (e.g. certain flavoured crisps) seem to be so doctored with chemicals that they are difficult to eat.

Perhaps the most difficult food for me so far was durian, because of the need to overcome the smell, but the fruit itself is very tasty.

[ballast_regime]

Jonathan:

Durian reminds me of a very sweet but very smelly onion with a creamy, underripe banana flavor. The smell doesn't bother me so much as the taste, which isn't to say I find it unappealing. One French naturalist wrote, "On first tasting it I thought it like the flesh of some animal in a state of putrefaction." I find it best used in a savory way so as to minimize the natural sugars while emphasizing its semi-onion taste.

IML

ballast/regime

[Fat Guy]

will you eat anything, and do you like it?

No and no. I'll try most things that large numbers of people eat. But there are plenty of things that I either won't eat at all or won't eat unless they're prepared a certain way. As for liking it, no, not everything I eat tastes good to me -- not even everything I eat in the best restaurants in the world.

[mamster]

There are no absolutes here, only arbitrary categories laid down by me.

Compared to most people I know, I'll eat anything. I got some pretty funny looks from a friend of mine while I was talking about the suckling pig we ate at West in Vancouver (I didn't mention that it wasn't presented whole, with an apple in its mouth, but I would have eaten that, too).

Compared to some people here, I'm a picky eater. Therefore, you can all rate yourselves on a "picker than mamster/more adventurous than mamster" scale.

[JAZ]

Perhaps the most difficult food for me so far was durian, because of the need to overcome the smell, but the fruit itself is very tasty.

This sort of statement is completely incomprehensible to me. I can't ignore the smell of a food if it's bad; the smell is inextricable from the taste.

[Matthew Grant]

Jaz, that is true but there is also some foods that smell somewhat unpleasant by themselves but once combined with the taste are perfectly acceptable. There are numerous cheeses that smell like rotting feet but taste delicious. If you can get beyond the smell of some foods, you will be pleasantly surpised at what you discover.

[Jonathan Day]

Janet, I would normally agree. With durian, somehow the smell stopped being vile after a few minutes, and after I got closer to the fruit. At that point, I was able to taste the underlying fruit flavour, which was interesting. I suspect that what was operating was a kind of sensory saturation or adaptation., where the effect of the bad smell diminished over time and rendered the fruit palatable. The durian I was served was carefully selected by a very skilled Thai cook; she rejected most of the fruit in the market before choosing them.

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

Perhaps the most difficult food for me so far was durian, because of the need to overcome the smell, but the fruit itself is very tasty.

This sort of statement is completely incomprehensible to me. I can't ignore the smell of a food if it's bad; the smell is inextricable from the taste.

This statement is borne of ignorance...if you walked up to a durian (not that it would let you get that close to begin with) and took in the whole olfactory experience you'd certainly turn and run. It must have been a masochistic fool that cracked into one but, once you pull your nads out of throat and cut yourself a slab you'd be amazed. You've got to try everything in this life if you call yourself a culinarian I think--unless there are odds on your quick demise. Like I'd roast Rover long before I broke my good knee on a blowfish.

[Elizabeth_11]

I will pretty much eat anything put in front of me (non Fear Factor-related), and am not picky at all. The only thing I can think of that I'm against eating (at least for the time being) is anything raw, i.e. fish eggs, fish, etc.

BTW, I noticed you are from Lawrence, KS. I lived there for 3 years and attended KU. I miss it often! How is Lawrence nowadays? If I'm not mistaken, you guys are in the middle of a nasty storm/possible tornado----hope it's not too bad!

Elizabeth

[Louisa Chu]

I'll eat anything and like just about everything - though to wildly varying degrees. There are few things that once I've gotten my mitts onto them that I can't transform to something I really love.

Durian for example. I know I could make something that a durian-phobe would like - and that I would really love even more than the fruit. My southeast Asian friends say that the best durian are from Malaysia.

As for Fear Factor, I find most of the eating challenges rather appetizing were it not for the time factor.

And I maybe be borderline pica too. I often wonder what various things feel like in the mouth. I always want to put those Italian glass shaped like bon-bon's into my mouth.

[ballast_regime]

Elizabeth_11:

Lawrence itself wasn't hit by tornadoes, thankfully, but Wyandotte county was. Two dozen people lost their lives, so it's a sad day in the Midwest.

Very few things are changing in this town, except that local restaurants are thriving, despite the fact that south Iowa street has more corporate chains forming on it. The higher end restaurants, like Prairie Fire and the Bleu Jacket, have failed. This town is very enchanting, if you get the right parts of it. My girlfriend and I live downtown, above one of the stores.

The biggest psychological problems most people have with eating raw seafood is texture and issues of food poisoning. The latter is never a problem if you're eating raw seafood that is really good to stellar, which isn't hard, even here in the Midwest. Disliking textural qualities is understandable, but they cease to be a problem upon repeated consumption. Raw foodstuffs from the sea are my favorite things to eat, and I'd urge you to try them as much as possible. They're very enjoyable.

JAZ:

I think Matthew, Jonathan, and Spencer did a good job of capturing how durian comes across.

Loufood:

Your sentiments echo my thoughts exactly. I really believe there's a perfect preparation(s) for every foodstuff, just how I prefer durian in a more savory context.

Much peace,

IML

ballast/regime

[Bux]

I will eat pretty much anything put in front of me, there are some things I like more then others though.

I don't really like beets, but if they are served to me I can eat them, I have to admit I have never eaten bugs, but I would be willing to try.

I have only one bug story to tell and I suspect I've told it before in eGullet. I'll tell it again anyway. We were traveling with our, then eleven year old, daughter, rather off the beaten path by car. The deal we made was that if would take one bite of everything, I would finish the rest of any dish or course served to her in a ryokan, so they wouldn't think she didn't like the food. There was nothing I wouldn't eat and nothing I hadn't enjoyed in Japan. One morning in a ryokan deep in the Japan Alps, where we were evidently the first westerners ever to stay, we were served a small portion of fried crickets or some similar bug. The look on my daughter's face said it all. I hope we didin't offend anyone, but the bugs were left intact. My wife later remarked that she'd have given it a try late in the afternoon if she a glass of whisky to wash them down.

Not long afterwards we had a visit from an old friend who is a Japanese artist and photographer and something of a world traveler with several books on international public sculpture to his credit, although English was not yet under his full command. I told him our story thinking his contact with the west would lend an understanding to our story. He had only this to say, "No taste, just crispy."

[reverendtmac]

I pride myself on trying anything once, and that includes grubs n' the like (not that that's come up recently). I also have a pretty good taste memory, so if something was terrible, I know better than to give it a second day in court. That in mind, there are very few things I won't go back for...canned hard-boiled quail eggs are at the top of the list, though. I've *never* made a noise like that before or since after biting into one of those...