You had to be (born) there

[bavila]

Grits. I have never had edible grits, and I don't care how much cheese and garlic you add. 

While I was born Yankee, I have spent most of my life south of the Smith and Wesson line, and love green beans cooked all day, fried cabbage, okra--but NO GRITS.

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Yay! More grits for me! And you haven't really lived in the South unless you've lived south of I-10.

I'd also nominate French andouille -- to be put in the organ meats category. Ick.

[Jambalyle]

I wonder whether there are many non-Jews who like gefilte fish. Sure, they like quenelles and other stuff that's similar, but what about gefilte fish? For the record, I think it can be pretty nice when home made.

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I married into a Jewish family... I've only had my mother-in-law's homemade gefilte fish. She makes a batch for the High Holidays and for Passover every year. She runs down to the local Chinese fish market to buy very fresh fish heads and assorted parts. I love the stuff... though some batches are better than others, mostly due to saltiness or lack thereof.

Otherwise... I think haggis is tops on the list, but closely followed by fur seal. You definitely need to be Aleut to enjoy fur seal.

[TongoRad]

I wonder whether there are many non-Jews who like gefilte fish. Sure, they like quenelles and other stuff that's similar, but what about gefilte fish? For the record, I think it can be pretty nice when home made.

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My wife is Jewish, so I've had my fair share. To be honest, though, I don't see myself ever eating any without the family present. Usually I load up on the horseradish to 'get through it' and be polite.

When I was growing up I would occasionally have friends over for 'sunday gravy'. The one thing they usually could not fathom was the pork skin bracciole (no meat, just skin)- "...isn't that just to flavor the sauce?...why would anyone eat that when there's a giant bowl of meatballs and sausage right next to it?...". On the other hand- you did not want to get between my grandfather and the serving dish. And he liked to try to get the newbies to try a bite, which resulted in some interesting faces being made.

[anzu]

Here's one that's close to home for a lot of egulleters: Root beer.

Every non-American I know, including myself, bought this in either the spirit of scientific enquiry or culinary curiosity, or by mistake - thinking it might be something palatable. This was not a mistake any of us ever repeated. And the idea of a root beer float... What a waste of icecream!

Salted liquorice is popular in Sweden and Finland too, though maybe in not quite the variety of the Netherlands. But Finland has a wide varity of liquorice flavored things: chewing gum, liquorice icecream with liquorice syrup (interesting visually, but taste-wise ). I seem to remember liquorice flavored soft drinks as well, but maybe that's just a figment of my fevered imagination.

And while in Scandinavia: viili ((the Finnish name) or filmjölk (in Swedish). This is a dairy product made in a similar way to yogurt. HOWEVER, in taste and texture it's like when you try to make yogurt yourself at home. You know how occasionally it just doesn't work (maybe this is just me ) and you have this nasty runny yet stringy texture...

Vap ca aka Vietnamese fish mint. Words fail me on this one. Don't buy it. Don't try it.

And finally cha om (Thai name) or tra om (Vietnamese name). These are acacia shoots, and are reputed to be 'strong flavored'. Rather an understatement IMHO. I had to scrub my pan twice and my chopping board five times before the smell would finally come out. My fridge smelt of it for days. It doesn't actually taste that bad, but the taste keeps 'recurring' for several hours after eating it.

But how, on a previous post, could one say that Japanese sweets are not likeable!? I sure wasn't born in Japan, but Japanese sweets are to die for!

[daniellewiley]

Grits. I have never had edible grits, and I don't care how much cheese and garlic you add. 

While I was born Yankee, I have spent most of my life south of the Smith and Wesson line, and love green beans cooked all day, fried cabbage, okra--but NO GRITS.

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Have you ever had REAL grits? I had them for the first time last weekend at a food conference. It was mind-blowing. They tasted like corn!!!

Here's a source. Zingerman's

And, a quote from the Zingerman's catalog:

Everyone’s heard of grits, but in my experience more people have had the chance to eat good sushi than they have really great grits. Even in the South good grits are rare. Most everybody these days grew up with the stuff that comes out of those cardboard Quaker drums, which is about as exciting to eat as…well…Quaker Oats. Being down on grits because you didn't like the Quaker version would be like ruling out pasta cause Kraft macaroni and cheese didn't seem too exciting.

[GordonCooks]

You have to live in Rochester to get a garbage plate

Edited May 25, 2005 by GordonCooks (log)

[Mooshmouse]

I think I'd have to submit dilis as a candidate. Tiny dried anchovies, usually served dipped in vineger with chilis and crushed garlic. I'm forbidden to either pan-fry or oven crisp these in the house, so I cook them outdoors using the barbecue's gas grill. He still swears that I'll kill every bird and small animal in a 5-mile radius with the smell.

Bearing that in mind, my Canadian-born/half-Filipino preschooler loves them. Eats them like chips. And tries unsuccessfully to get Daddy to try them. Here's where a parent's food training comes back to bite you in the ass: "Daddy, you always say that we have to try everything at the table once. Come on Daddy, you'll think they're great!"

Edited May 24, 2005 by Mooshmouse (log)

[Country Cook]

And while in Scandinavia: viili ((the Finnish name) or filmjölk (in Swedish). This is a dairy product made in a similar way to yogurt. HOWEVER, in taste and texture it's like when you try to make yogurt yourself at home. You know how occasionally it just doesn't work (maybe this is just me ) and you have this nasty runny yet stringy texture...

Viili was my mothers favorite at the Hoito Resteraunt in Thunder Bay, Ont,. Can. it's quite good once you get over the stringy texture. Scalloped potatoes and beet and carrot salad flavored with salt herring was hard to get used to as a kid, I'm still not a fan of the potatoes.

[racheld]

Cincinnati Chili. And no offense to a lovely city that we visit often and find charming and entertaining. We tried the cheese-laden concoction at a local franchise of the Tall-Buildings-In-Silhouette and could eat only a few bites. The cinnamon was OVERPOWERING. A ten-gallon pot of apple butter has not that much spice.

We asked for go-boxes, thinking to perhaps give it another chance in the privacy of our own home. But we could not bring ourselves to taste or even smell the stuff heating in the microwave. The two styrofoam pillows sat there in the fridge, glaring mockingly at me every time I opened the door. I finally gave them the shake test---if you shake a container of leftovers and it rattles, you can throw it away---it's the LAW.

And I still avert my eyes when we pass the billboards.

Edited May 24, 2005 by racheld (log)

[Jaymes]

Bearing that in mind, my Canadian-born/half-Filipino preschooler loves them. 

Which makes me think of something that one has to be a native to love....balut. And not even all the natives will eat that.

[windydaze]

Very rare the non-Southerner who would willingly tuck into a plate of fried okra.  Okra has really gotten a nasty rep for being slimey but crisply fried okra is pure heaven.  How about corn bread crumbled into a glass of milk? Or green beans with fat back that have cooked all day til they are moosh.  O god!  now I've done it, but where will I get these things here in the North?

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I was just going to mention Southern corn bread crumbled in a glass but when I was growing up my Grandmother would use buttermilk instead of sweet milk. For sweet milk, it was crumbled up graham crackers. Both of them were extremely rich tasting and I usually could never finish a glass.

[Megan Blocker]

Growing up in PA I had eaten, and still to this day when I visit PA I get nostalgic for, SCRAPPLE!  But, if you don't have some "history" with this culinary treat (?) then I'm not sure if you would stomach it.

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Yes - SCRAPPLE! I went to college in PA (after growing up in CT and attending boarding school in NH), and I could not believe the first plate of scrapple I ever saw. It actually wasn't bad - it just looks horrible. In a blind taste test, it may not do too poorly!

[emmapeel]

I like Scapple but haven't had it in years. If I were to leave New York, I think I'd miss White Castles (although I rarely eat them). A transplated native New Yorker took her sons to a White Castle because she missed the burgers so much, and soon after lunch, her sons threw up!

[Behemoth]

Very rare the non-Southerner who would willingly tuck into a plate of fried okra. 

Unless you are african, middle eastern, persian, afghani, indian...

[Susan G]

Menudo. The appearance, the texture, the lack of taste in that protein.

[touaregsand]

Menudo.  The appearance, the texture, the lack of taste in that protein.

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My husband says it reminds him of an Algerian tripe soup which he likes.

The homemade stuff is pretty good.

[mizducky]

Heh. I was going to go on about beef tongue again, as a Jewish delicacy I grew up loving but which sends the uninitiated screaming out of the room ... but of course all you folks are initiated into the Cult of Offal so it doesn't have that effect on you.

Now ... how about chitlins? The very idea of that sends some folk round the bend. I confess I've never had the stuff ... but I just adore stuffed kishke, so I figure I'd be okay with it. (Come to think of it, stuffed kishke probably would freak the uninitiated too...)

[stephenc]

Stinky Tofu

Durian

Spicy fermented bean curd

Bitter melon

Thousand-year-old egg

Edited May 24, 2005 by stephenc (log)

[Megan Blocker]

If I were to leave New York, I think I'd miss White Castles (although I rarely eat them).  A transplated native New Yorker took her sons to a White Castle because she missed the burgers so much, and soon after lunch, her sons threw up!

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Yeah, White Castle has a way of messing with the digestive system...

A friend of mine from Australia says he thinks pickles are one of the weirder things he's eaten - he didn't even have a sour or dill pickle until he came to the States.

[SuzySushi]

You have to be American to like peanut butter. Europeans can't understand us.

[binkyboots]

You have to be American to like peanut butter. Europeans can't understand us.

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not so, I adore peanut butter, oh yes, it's contraband in our house though as my niece is allergic

[MaxH]

In Louisiana they serve "debris," which however is good stuff and better than its name.

I once knew a Norwegian gentleman who had a sort of scholarship from NATO and who alternated between the US and Norway for years. He had a wickedly ironic sense of humor, and as "gifts" he brought to the US jars of the oddest of the many kinds of pickled herring available there. "Not only do Americans dislike it," he confided to me brightly, "but also, it's difficult to digest!"

[C_Ruark]

Cincinnati Chili.  And no offense to a lovely city that we visit often and find charming and entertaining.  We tried the cheese-laden concoction at a local franchise of the Tall-Buildings-In-Silhouette and could eat only a few bites.  The cinnamon was OVERPOWERING.  A ten-gallon pot of apple butter has not that much spice. 

We asked for go-boxes, thinking to perhaps give it another chance in the privacy of our own home.  But we could not bring ourselves to taste or even smell the stuff heating in the microwave.  The two styrofoam pillows sat there in the fridge, glaring mockingly at me every time I opened the door.  I finally gave them the shake test---if you shake a container of leftovers and it rattles, you can throw it away---it's the LAW.

And I still avert my eyes when we pass the billboards.

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Well... next time hit the "Etoile d'Or" franchise!!! Much better results IMHO.

I am still envious none-the-less!!! I work in Washington DC and a local chili parlor slings a variety of Cincy chili that is nearly demonic. It's pasty, red, lacks the nearly-hidden dark chocolate "bite". Wanted or not, the bowl (!) is topped with a handful reconstituted onions and less cheese than Toxic Hell adds to their tacos.

I miss home...

- CSR

Edited May 24, 2005 by C_Ruark (log)

[C_Ruark]

Hey Gordon,

[Edited this entry after seeing your post upthread. Missed it on my first reading. ]

Apparently, you guys in Rochester have something going. One of my coworkers claims Nick Tahou's "Garbage Plate" is a must-have. He's even got a poster (old advertisement maybe?) in his office.

- CSR

Edited May 24, 2005 by C_Ruark (log)

[sparrowgrass]

$18 plus shipping for 2 pounds of grits?!? No, I will just go on in blissful ignorance of "good" grits. I will just wait for the sweet corn in my garden, instead.

Edited May 24, 2005 by sparrowgrass (log)