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I would try almost everything on the above lists. I'm fairly adventurous when it comes to food. And I was raised in the country, so organ meats are nothing strange. My mom even made head cheese once, for my dad. I wouldn't dream of making it, but it tasted fine.

These days, I'd draw the line at brains, what with mad cow and all. But I don't know what I'd like until I try it. I've had Marmite and Vegemite--in fact, I have some in the fridge right now because I forgot what it tasted like. Not great, but it wouldn't make me sick or anything. I've eaten tongue, sweetbreads, and other various offal. I'd try haggis, no problem. With an ex from Philly, I've had scrapple and thought it was great. I'm sure I'd try durian, given the chance. I just wouldn't be able to have it in the house--my husband gets sick when I make lard or onion confit. :hmmm:

I don't think I'd try eyeballs, and most of the rotted stuff doesn't sound very appetizing, although I love cheese and tofu and yogurt type stuff. Natto doesn't sound great....but I'd try a bite or two. Love grits and okra, and I'm from Seattle.

Really, the only line I'm firm on, is no primates, no living animals, and no blowfish. Everything else is negotiable. Oh yeah, and no black licorice, even though I like the flavor, because it makes me ill.

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Hey FistFulla

Do you remember garfish roast? How in the world did they get a roast size piece of fish out of that thing so hard to clean?

It needed a lot of help, as I recall. Stuffed with plenty of garlic, roasted on the stove in a chaudiere.

Scorpio

You'll be surprised to find out that Congress is empowered to forcibly sublet your apartment for the summer.

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Ok, all you salty licorice junkies, here's your answer to a prayer: www.licoriceinternational.com

Sorry I don't know how to turn this into an active link; I'd love it if someone would PM me with the technique! The company's very good; I was turned on to it in another thread. They also have sugar free stuff, and shipping is reasonable and fast. Enjoy!

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

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You consider bream to be trash fish? Sea bream? I first encountred sea bream when I lived in Spain, where it is a very popular fish prepared in the best homes and offered in very good restaurants. You pay a pretty penny for it compared to the less expensive fishes such as the ever-popular and budget-minded hake.

I'm referring to a fresh water fish, sometimes also called crappie or perch locally. Little bitty fish, mostly inedible bone. Maybe the size of your hand at the largest, and about 2 bites of meat per fish. And so everyone knows what I'm talking about, trash fish is the term Cajuns used to call those species that would not sell at market, so the fishermen took them home to feed the family.

I forgot garfish as part of that list too. The garfish has to be broken up so much because it is so bony, it's easier to scrape all the meat from the bone you can before cooking, mix it with potato and flour, and make a kind of meatball. Tasty if done right, but a royal pain in the ass to prepare. Most people wouldn't think it was worth the effort, since flash frozen fillets of whatever you want are only a couple of dollars at the megamart. Spending 30 minutes preparing a fish for one serving is a lot of work for a fish that needs so much help. But it's a cultural touchstone.

Not the same as sea bream, I guess! They are lovely!

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I'm a fairly adventerous eater, but I've never gotten into uni. I've had it a time or two, I know it is well loved, but still... shudder. I guess you could lump sushi and sashimi into the category, since the vast majority of Americans haven't had good or even decent sushi in the states. I like the stuff, but many don't.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all kinds of sushi AND sashimi. But cannot eat uni. I was just describing it to my FIL the other day as rancid pudding.

What SHE said ! :wacko:

Is it because you've had bad uni? The first time I had uni many years ago, it smelled and tasted like garbage, so I avoided it for a few years. I've since had it many times at excellent Japanese restaurants where the uni is sweet and tasting of the sea...there should not be a bad odour or taste.

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I'm a fairly adventerous eater, but I've never gotten into uni. I've had it a time or two, I know it is well loved, but still... shudder. I guess you could lump sushi and sashimi into the category, since the vast majority of Americans haven't had good or even decent sushi in the states. I like the stuff, but many don't.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all kinds of sushi AND sashimi. But cannot eat uni. I was just describing it to my FIL the other day as rancid pudding.

What SHE said ! :wacko:

Is it because you've had bad uni? The first time I had uni many years ago, it smelled and tasted like garbage, so I avoided it for a few years. I've since had it many times at excellent Japanese restaurants where the uni is sweet and tasting of the sea...there should not be a bad odour or taste.

The first two times I ate uni I thought it was one of the most extraordinary and good things I'd ever eaten. The third time, I ordered it with complete confidence, took one bite, and nearly lost my lunch. It has to be fresh, like Lorna describes, or else you have an entirely offensive experience. Try it someplace very good, whose reputation you trust completely. I'd also suggest eating it at the sushi bar, where the chef must look you in the eye as you taste what he's just prepared for you.

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How about Ukrainian salo?  Ukrainians believe nobody who is not Ukrainian can like it.  Salo is like bacon, but not smoked.  it is sliced thicker and not cooked before eating.  I first visited Ukraine and tasted salo after age 50.  Ukrainians were surprised and pleased that I liked it.

i can't believe someone beat me to the punch! that was the first thing that came to mind when i read the title of the thread. Salo is not smoked but it is cured in some way and is basically just the fatty part of bacon...sliced thicker and very delicious with some fresh bread, salt, and green onion!

Yes! A kind of buterbrot. Are you Ukrainian and a lifelong eater of salo or a later-in-life fan like me?

i was born in ukraine so i grew up eating it, but i haven't had it since living in america...have tried some stuff in russian stores but it doesn't compare to the stuff in ukraine :wacko:

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How about Ukrainian salo?  Ukrainians believe nobody who is not Ukrainian can like it.  Salo is like bacon, but not smoked.  it is sliced thicker and not cooked before eating.  I first visited Ukraine and tasted salo after age 50.  Ukrainians were surprised and pleased that I liked it.

i can't believe someone beat me to the punch! that was the first thing that came to mind when i read the title of the thread. Salo is not smoked but it is cured in some way and is basically just the fatty part of bacon...sliced thicker and very delicious with some fresh bread, salt, and green onion!

Yes! A kind of buterbrot. Are you Ukrainian and a lifelong eater of salo or a later-in-life fan like me?

i was born in ukraine so i grew up eating it, but i haven't had it since living in america...have tried some stuff in russian stores but it doesn't compare to the stuff in ukraine :wacko:

Ah! You noticed too. I thought it was just me. Where in Ukraine were you born? Where do you live now? I live in Philadelpia and am working on adopting a sibling group in Sumy (northeast).

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Did someone mention gefilte fish and I missed it?

“The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it… If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.”

~ James Beard

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umeboshi! I love it, but I'm from Kyoto. I also like natto, because my father was from Tokyo and I grew up eating it. Still, I haven't met many people who will eat umeboshi. On a trivia show, a Swedish couple was given a traditional Japanese breakfast, and they said the tamagoyaki, misoshiru, aji, was fine, but they couldn't eat the natto and umeboshi.

I can't eat cilantro.

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White Castle has a nostalgy factor for me (having grown up in NJ), but I haven't ever had them while sober. I shudder at the thought.

Regarding gefilte fish - no thanks. Also I ponder why people eat matzah (jew here). It's like eating cement. Why would you do that to your system?

Where did Vienna sausages come from and why won't they go back there?

The only thing I've ever seen while travelling and not understood is the canned spaghetti sandwich, first encountered in New Zealand.

Eating pizza with a fork and knife is like making love through an interpreter.
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I like gefulte fish if it's not too sweet, but matzah is just a trial to get through every Passover. Save for matzah brei, that I enjoy.

However, I think you have to be a native of Venezuela to eat mondongo - otherwise known in other Latin countries as menudo. Greasy, bright yellow, stinky mondongo! Yech! People eat it for breakfast, after a night's heavy drinking, oy vey. After seeing people drink all night and breakfast off mondongo, then go to sleep, and wake up again sometime next day, I am a firm believer in the resurrection of the dead.

Miriam

Miriam Kresh

blog:[blog=www.israelikitchen.com][/blog]

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I believe that many of the traditional dishes in the Emirates are of the sort that only a local could love, though that certainly doesn’t assume that the affinity comes with the territory (yoo-hoo). I have heredity and a history of continual exposures on my side and I still can’t stand most of it.

Most traditional of all is the one-pot wonder harees: porridge oats, kid goat-- bones and all- or mutton, rivers of ghee and cumin, boiled into a tenacious goo with all the consistency and appeal of book paste. A daily breakfast staple, although alarming quantities of this stuff are typically foisted onto neighbors and friends before the sunset meal (I guess that would make it breakfast, literally, as well) during Ramadan. Any attempt swallow a mouthful of it will send me into immediate panic mode, akin to what I'm guessing it feels like to drown in quicksand, head-first. Agh! :shock: … impenetrable.

Of course, because of all the bone splinters, one is forced to work through it slowly and cautiously, chewing (can you chew paste?) thoroughly through the mash in search of sharp and gritty death traps--- Please, just give me Chinese water torture, or the guillotine, instead.

While we’re on the topic of breakfast, perhaps I can interest you in another traditional breakfast dish? Sweet, sweet, evil balaleet. Vermicelli boiled in sugared water and oil until mushy (pod of cardamom optional). Drained, then panfried in ghee with saffron and onion (this step is also optional). Poured into a casserole dish. Several cups of granulated sugar poured over (depends on how sticky you like it). Fry a few eggs in ghee until yolk is cooked through and place on top. I used to have nightmares about this stuff... my cousins would always try to get me to eat it and I'd fake a tummy ache and call my mom to pick me up.

Please keep the climate of the Emirates in mind while considering any potential temptation factor in either dish. :sad:

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As a wailing child growing up in Scotland, my cuts and grazes were anointed with a product called 'Germolene' which I remember as being Pepto-bismol pink. It also reeked of something like artificial Wintergreen.

Arriving as an adult in North America I was astonished to have a soft drink foisted on me which smelled and tasted like the cut-salve of childhood. Yech.

For all those of you who grew up with the root beer stuff, I invite you to imagine encountering a soft drink which tasted like household cleaner or bleach. Hard to work up an enthusiasm :)

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As a wailing child growing up in Scotland, my cuts and grazes were anointed with a product called 'Germolene' which I remember as being Pepto-bismol pink. It also reeked of something like artificial Wintergreen.

Arriving as an adult in North America I was astonished to have a soft drink foisted on me which smelled and tasted like the cut-salve of childhood. Yech.

For all those of you who grew up with the root beer stuff, I invite you to imagine encountering a soft drink which tasted like household cleaner or bleach. Hard to work up an enthusiasm :)

Because Irn-Bru is just soo much better than root beer????? Yuk

Get your bitch ass back in the kitchen and make me some pie!!!

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As a wailing child growing up in Scotland, my cuts and grazes were anointed with a product called 'Germolene' which I remember as being Pepto-bismol pink. It also reeked of something like artificial Wintergreen.

Arriving as an adult in North America I was astonished to have a soft drink foisted on me which smelled and tasted like the cut-salve of childhood. Yech.

For all those of you who grew up with the root beer stuff, I invite you to imagine encountering a soft drink which tasted like household cleaner or bleach. Hard to work up an enthusiasm :)

Because Irn-Bru is just soo much better than root beer????? Yuk

Most definately!!! And I'm not Scottish either!! I don't like Irn Bru but I can understand it!! But root beer??????????? :wacko:

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You have to live in Rochester to get a garbage plate

I submit to you that this dish sounds worse than it tastes.

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!

The same goes for scrapple.

But where are there White Castles in New York? I don't ever recall seeing one on my visits to the city. Or do you mean the 'burbs, or upstate?

BTW, the White Castle chain originated in Wichita, Kan., in 1921. It's considered the first fast-food chain in America. Oddly enough, you can't find a single White Castle in the Sunflower State today.

We did have them in Philly for a while. Then they pulled out of the market. :angry::sad:

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...)

I figured that in a five-page-long, nearly 150-post thread, someone was going to mention chitlins (spelled "chitterlings" but never pronounced that way) sooner or later, but I'd never figure you'd be the one to bring them up.

I grew up smelling them cooking. They tasted even worse. Guess I really am an Oreo after all. :wink:

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

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Vernor's ginger ale. As a kid in Michigan I loved this stuff, but after moving to Seattle I was shocked that none of my friends would drink it. I guess it does have a very unique taste, but I can't think of a better and more nostalgic lunch than Vernor's and pizza. Mmmm.

Vernor's I can handle.

But you gotta have a lot of moxie to down Moxie.

AFAIK, the beverage is confined to New England these days. I hope it doesn't break loose and contaminate the rest of the country again.

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

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But where are there White Castles in New York? 

There's one on Fifth Avenue, across the street from the Empire State Building.

There's another one on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, somewhere toward Queens from Nostrand Ave.

I'm sure there are more.

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There's a White Castle on 8th Avenue at 36th Street.

I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed or not to admit it, but I've never eaten at one. Are they considered a New York thing? I'd always thought they were midwestern.

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