A couple days ago some articles came out about a reinvigorated effort to clone a Woolly Mammoth. Now this isn't nearly a "Jurassic Park" sort of moment where we're bringing a deeply prehistoric species into the present day. Rather, they probably coexisted with humans and we probably had something to do with their demise. If so, there's likely little danger of bringing them back - except perhaps to the Mammoth. I would personally be OK with there being a small herd of Mammoth running around out there somewhere. Anyway, many comments on the articles mentioned that one thing we'd be able to do with Woolly Mammoths if we brought them back would be to eat them. I guess that has a certain sort of appeal. Subsequently, I was surprised to read that, while this would certainly be unusual, there are likely a few modern people who have eaten bits of frozen Mammoths (and Mastodons and the like). Talk about freezer burn. FOCUS: What's the most exotic thing you've ever eaten? Can you characterize the taste, texture, etc.? ALT FOCUS: Would you eat a bite of frozen Mammoth if given the opportunity? What about a cloned Mammoth?
The most fucked up thing I've ever eaten was in Cambodia. After trying the run of the mill insects, rats, snakes etc. I happened upon a stand that sold eggs. Boiled eggs that they would then crack open for you and adorn with some leaves and spices. The fun thing was, that inside the egg was a duck embryo. That's right, a small duck within the boiled egg. It was acutally quite tasty because of the spices, and the egg yolk was still in the egg. The little duck didn't really register because it was soft and mushy, but the beak was crunchy. That was weird. Adding to the general weirdness was the fact that the whole egg was eaten with a plastic spoon like the ones you use to feed toddlers. Also, grilled rat is cool, the best thing clearly being the tail. I'd definitely try mammoth, clone or not. If they can farm them to feed & clothe people and I get to have a sweet ass ivory pimp cane, I'm definitely in favour of cloning as many mammoths as humanly possible.
Once, and only once, I ate Fugu (blow-fish sushi) I was too freaked by the whole poisonous thing to really taste, but i think it tasted vaguely of pennies.
I had a black bear burger while I was in college. A buddy lived in the UP of Michigan and he came back from a long weekend with some ground up meat. We threw it on the grill and topped it with nothing, it was delicious. Very tender and juicy with no game-y taste. Kind of like a mix between a filet mignon and venison maybe? I also had an emu egg omelette. Didn't taste much different than a regular one except that it was fucking huge.
Some local hunting society had a big wild game event years ago, so I got a eat a bunch of new animals. I don't remember everything, but I know there was caribou, rattle snake, and wild turkey. I've also had alligator, snapping turtle, conch. I guess most of these things are only unusual based on location. Strangest thing though, horse. But again, it just really depends on where you live. As for the mammoth, I don't think I'd eat a frozen piece of it. But, if we brought them back I'd definitely try it. I bet it wouldn't be very good though. It's not like we eat elephant now.
I ate some pretty nasty shit when I did my para-rescue course in Northern Ontario. It was basically 2 weeks surviving in the wilds in mid-November, and the diet consisted of some smaller rodents and insects that could be scrounged. Not really something I do on a regular basis, but when you have no food and are HUNGRY, you'd be surprised at what you'd eat. Most years before our hunt camp actually goes hunting, we'll meet in the summer for a Wild Game Night. One of our guys is a head chef at a big hotel in Toronto, and he'll generally prepare a feast of miscellaneous game that he's brought in for the restaurant, which is your typical venison, etc. The other guys bring in whatever they have in the freezer, pot luck style; bear, venison, wild boar, wild turkey, geese, ducks, etc. Probably the most fucked up stuff I ate was some weird-ass sushi here in Vancouver. Went to an off-the-grid kind of place, nobody spoke English, and the people I was there with ordered for me, off the menu. Yeah... Japanese "cuisine" can be out there, and it wasn't a good night for me. If it was slimy and lived in the ocean at some point, we probably ate it. I think the only thing that kept it down was the saki that accompanied it.
Ive tried some different stuff in my day, nothing is sticking out too much though. They fucking LOVE chicken feet here in China, so much so that they import a shit ton of it from the states. I had deboned pickled chickens feet one night out on a drunk grub mission. Pretty good, basically just cartilage and fat. There are all sorts of live eels and crustaceans at the local "wet" market but even I can't stomach that shit.
I've eaten a whole mess of 'nasty bits'. Head Cheese Pigs feet All manner of tongues, hearts, kidneys, livers, tails. Calf, lamb and pork brains - Creamy, creamy textured meaty goodness. Ostrich - best made into burger patties, extremely lean. Buffalo Bear Alligator - Tail meat, grilled and served on top of loaded potato soup, doesn't taste like chicken - but not far off. Kangaroo Venison Caribou Rabbit Snails Fresh water and salt water eels. They were all good except the Kangaroo. Didn't much like that one. Luckily it was in a burrito and really masked most of the flavor. On the other hand, I love head cheese and all sorts of pates.
Headcheese and pickled pigs' feet were fairly common in my house growing up, since my Polish grandmother lived with us. She also made a badass duck soup which on the surface, doesn't sound too exotic, except one of the key ingredients is blood from the ducks. She would take me to the fresh poultry market, tell me to pick out two ducks, and the butcher would take them from the cage, she'd give him a jar, and he'd go to the back, slaughter them, fill the jar with blood, then pluck and dress them (I would stand at the doorway to watch this ritual). Neither my parents nor my siblings would touch the soup after learning what was in it, but I absolutely love it. I've enjoyed ostrich, which can best be described as a very lean NY strip steak. There used to be a restaurant in Irving called Tenaya that specialized in serving game, and they had elk chops on their menu that were awesome. While sea urchin is fairly common in sushi restaurants, I'd consider it pretty exotic. It's a very weird texture. While rabbit isn't really exotic, it isn't very common, either. That's one of the things I miss about not living outside of Boston anymore. I could go down to the North End (the Italian 'hood) and get fresh killed rabbit in most any butcher shop.
Forgot about haggis. Had authentic haggis last year when I was in Scotland, and as much as it sounds fucking disgusting, I quite liked it. Blood pudding I couldn't do though.
That stuff is called Balut (in the Philippines at least). My GF is Filipino and her parents eat it. It is a delicacy. She has never eaten it, nor have any of her cousins as far as I know, but her parents and aunts and uncles who were all born in the Philippines eat it, generally the dark.
Isn't it claimed to be an aphrodisiac? Being raised in the South, you are subject to trying all sorts of unique things. I have eaten: venison, wild hog (sow is better than boar), wild turkey (awesome deep fried and dipped in ranch dressing), dove, squirrel, gator, rabbit, and wild duck. However, by far the strangest I have eaten is Armadillo, aka Armadildo for those with a twisted sense of humor.
Isn't it claimed to be an aphrodisiac? [/quote] People claim any weird food is an "aphrodisiac" None of them are. And I also don't see why you need any aphrodisiac other than a naked chick standing in front of you.
I thought you needed to be more specific. Can I have a guy though instead? I'm sorry, but I don't have lesbian tendencies.
Why do you enjoy shattering the dreams of men? I'd probably chomp on some mammoth, but only if there was a decent-sized herd of them. I wouldn't want to be the asshole to destroy the chunk of DNA that could bring them back. I'm not a terribly adventurous eater, most things I've eaten have had an endoskeleton, and the only critters with exoskeletons I've eaten were sea-dwelling .
Bartending at a sushi restaurant, we of course have a few exotic items. My favorite roll that we offer features eel as the primary meat. It scares some people off when I mention it, but I understand that there also a lot of people who have become acclimated to it. Eel is definitely the softest seafood I've ever had, but the flavor is unique, and it's great smoked. One item on our menu that nobody orders but they should is octopus leg. We only offer it sashimi/nigiri (just a slice of raw seafood/the slice rapped with rice and seaweed) by the slice but it is outstanding. One of the best seafood flavors I've ever tried - it doesn't have that fishy taste/smell. Also the toughest and chewiest seafood I've ever had.
I know this doesn't seem crazy to anyone down south, but gator is one of the more exotic things I've tried. Maybe it was the way it was prepared but I wasn't a huge fan, kind of like dry chicken. I had kangaroo when I went to Australia too, but I was too young to remember what it tastes like. I'm a huge fan of wild game and will have venison, bison or elk over beef any day of the week. I would definitely try me some mammoth. What kind of person goes to a sushi restaurant and gets freaked out by eel? Maybe it's different in New England, but wherever I go eel is usually in the top three or four types of sushi served, right behind tuna and salmon... and I guess those stupid fucking California rolls too.
Obviously you don't know that there is a difference between sushi restaurants in Cincinnati and the east coast. They only get the finest of eel in Cincinnati, and it is exotic because it is caught fresh from the muddy banks of the Ohio river. I was in Shabamon's restaurant the other day and they even have this new green past that makes things wayyyyyy hotter. I hear it is becoming a staple in Japan. Do you have that Frank? I think not. We all know clam chowder is the only thing to garnish food with up there. Jesus Christ I hate it when someone from Ohio talks about exotic food. It's like a homosexual male (a gay) talking about how he saw a vagina this one time. I hear the Italian restaurants down there are stalking a new noodle called manicoti. Any truth to this?
I said I was sorry! Would you rather me lead you on and lie, like practically every other female alive? Oh yes, what I really mean is pussy is the strangest thing I have ever eaten....