Banned Foods

[hhlodesign]

We are planning a dinner party serving all banned foods. So far we have on the menu:

Foie gras

Raw milk cheese

Absinthe

Cuban tobacco (not sure what to do with this yet, ideas would be great)

Some interesting way to use trans fats

???

After this we are drawing a blank. Any other suggestions?

[insomniac]

the killing of horses for food is banned

or

you could pretend that there really was a ban on vegemite

[Forest]

Not that I'd know where to get it (or that you'd even want to try!) in Seattle, but isn't whale meat banned?

[Peter Green]

We are planning a dinner party serving all banned foods. So far we have on the menu:

Foie gras

Raw milk cheese

Absinthe

Cuban tobacco (not sure what to do with this yet, ideas would be great)

Some interesting way to use trans fats

???

After this we are drawing a blank. Any other suggestions?

←

Well.........

The obvious, of course, is unpasteurized cheese from France.

Caviar, I believe, is now on the restricted list. At least we were told not to try and bring any back from Moscow last July.

And tonka beans, which can be used in a variety of desserts.

That's a starter!

Let us all know how the meal works out!

[Gastro888]

Try smoking a salmon with a bit of the Cuban tobacco. The flavor would probably go well with the oily fish.

Durian's banned in alot of Asian hotels and airlines. In the US: mangosteen, uncooked salted duck eggs...and all of my loot that I snuck in from Florence!

[Pontormo]

If you're sticking to bans for the United States, I'd see what Customs allows and forbids including uncured meats from foreign countries. I wouldn't wish to subject other parties to the prospect of fines or worse, though, or advocate breaking the law or risking the importation of a brand-new pest.

Otherwise, I suspect you want us to name certain types of seafood and I just don't want to dangle from your trap. However, I would perhaps add a chicken that has led a sorry life before being fried in Crisco. A lobster, too. Some milk from cows fed hormones, genuine Prosciutto di Parma, Land O' Lakes butter and Pepperidge Farm Cookies, the latter two brands Whole Foods stopped carrying.

You also might go historical, for example, by sautéing spinach.

Expanding your notion of banned foods to other cultures and traditions? That hairy moss served for the new lunar year if you can be sure it's old and not artificial (the fake stuff really can be dangerous, I understand). What foods from the U.S. are being refused in other countries? How about dog? Yorkies are eclipsing Golden Labs in popularity these days...

[GlorifiedRice]

Konnyaku Jelly

[JanMcBaker]

We are planning a dinner party serving all banned foods. So far we have on the menu:

Foie gras

Raw milk cheese

Absinthe

Cuban tobacco (not sure what to do with this yet, ideas would be great)

Some interesting way to use trans fats

???

After this we are drawing a blank. Any other suggestions?

←

I understand what your point is, but on the other hand, what is the point of using trans fats? Isn't it strictly a manufactured product? I don't think trans fats are 'naturally occurring', are they? Why am I asking all these questions? Can't I make a declarative sentence? eeee!!!

[Ling]

Those are just starting ideas--we don't necessarily have to use trans fats. Actually this idea of a 'banned foods' night came about when we were both tanked, so the trans fats addition to the list could have been a product of the cocktails...

To be clear, we're also looking for ideas for foods that are banned in other countries (and legal in the US/Canada), or foods that were banned for a time in the past, but are now legal (like the spinach Pontormo suggested.)

Great suggestions so far, thanks!

[Forest]

Actually this idea of a 'banned foods' night came about when we were both tanked, so the trans fats addition to the list could have been a product of the cocktails... 

To be clear, we're also looking for ideas for foods that are banned in other countries (and legal in the US/Canada), or foods that were banned for a time in the past, but are now legal (like the spinach Pontormo suggested.)

Great suggestions so far, thanks!

←

I guess in that case - things banned in the past - there's always alcohol (prohibition and all!) Serve enough and you might come up with even more fun food nights to plan!

[petite tête de chou]

Mezcal worms?

[Ling]

^Yeah, the idea started with alcohol...we are going to name this our "Prohibition Dinner"

[Ling]

Mezcal worms?

←

Awesome idea...but I don't know if 14 other diners would go for that

[hhlodesign]

genuine Prosciutto di Parma

←

Is genuine Prosciutto di Parma banned? Is this related to curing with the hoof on?

[Ling]

Love the konnyaku jelly idea...I used to love those. Are those still allowed in Canada?

Edited February 22, 2007 by Ling (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

Well, the most banned-- and certainly transgressive-- food you could eat would be human flesh. Unfortunately, that's hard to get nowadays. (Even Hufu seems to have gone under.) Maybe you could come up with some sort of pork-based human substitute?

[Ling]

the killing of horses for food is banned

←

You can get it in Canada, unless they changed the law recently.

[rooftop1000]

Ummm

smoked Puffin

maraschino cherries minus the old red dye

hmm didnt someone in Chicago used to make a raw milk icecream?

thats all I have

tracey

[hhlodesign]

I should note that our menu is limited to those items we can either find through backdoor channels in Seattle (and vicinity) or smuggle across the border from Canada.

[Pontormo]

genuine Prosciutto di Parma

←

Is genuine Prosciutto di Parma banned? Is this related to curing with the hoof on?

←

No, hormones fed to piglets during their first 30 days ex utero.

I should have explained that the entire paragraph (in my original post) in which you find this reference concerns the foods Whole Foods no longer sells. I started a thread about the matter this summer; decisions are left up to different regions, so your WF may carry what mine does not. To this day, I can only get San Daniele vs. Parma at WF, but can easily get Parma at several other stores around town.

[Pontormo]

Well, the most banned-- and certainly transgressive-- food you could eat would be human flesh.  Unfortunately, that's hard to get nowadays.  (Even Hufu seems to have gone under.)  Maybe you could come up with some sort of pork-based human substitute?

←

Some people chew their cuticles...

[Megan Blocker]

Try smoking a salmon with a bit of the Cuban tobacco.  The flavor would probably go well with the oily fish.

Durian's banned in alot of Asian hotels and airlines.  In the US: mangosteen, uncooked salted duck eggs...and all of my loot that I snuck in from Florence!

←

I don't think mangosteens are banned any more in the States?

[Andrew Fenton]

Well, the most banned-- and certainly transgressive-- food you could eat would be human flesh.  Unfortunately, that's hard to get nowadays.  (Even Hufu seems to have gone under.)  Maybe you could come up with some sort of pork-based human substitute?

←

Some people chew their cuticles...

←

Whose cuticles, though?

Remember, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't... er, how does the rest of that go?

[Megan Blocker]

Try smoking a salmon with a bit of the Cuban tobacco.  The flavor would probably go well with the oily fish.

Durian's banned in alot of Asian hotels and airlines.  In the US: mangosteen, uncooked salted duck eggs...and all of my loot that I snuck in from Florence!

←

I don't think mangosteens are banned any more in the States?

←

Aha...mangosteens are not banned, but they are banned from being imported from certain countries...

Because fresh mangosteens can harbor insect pests, the Department of Agriculture prohibits their being brought from the main countries that grow them in Southeast Asia, or from Hawaii. (Mangosteens smuggled from Canada, where they are permitted because tropical pests cannot survive there, are occasionally sold in Chinatown.)

But contrary to its reputation as a forbidden fruit, the mangosteen can be imported legally from 18 Caribbean and Central America countries, as well as from Puerto Rico. Until recently, however, no one cultivated them commercially in those areas.

Click!

Edited February 22, 2007 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Pontormo]

Whose cuticles, though?

Remember, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't... er, how does the rest of that go?

←

"Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?"