What weird or exotic foods have you eaten?

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

I just thought of some more:

goat milk
durian (only took one bite, didn't like it)
fried tiny shrimp and fish that you eat whole
fried sweet shrimp head
sting ray
octopus
squid
turtle soup


I don't know if these are really exotic:
lychee
longan
bamboo
cactus fruit
guava
pomelo
loquat
bitter melon
lotus root
sugar cane



When I was younger, I wasn't as adventurous an eater. When I was about 11-12, my cousin got married and had her reception at a Chinese restaurant. They served pigeon and I refused to eat it. My mom tried to trick me, saying it was a really small chicken. I could totally tell she was lying to me.

Around that same age, my parents took me and my brother to a restaurant that served frog legs. I refused to eat them.

[pbear19]

^^Aren't the little shrimp you eat whole creepy?

I forgot one that's not so much exotic as amusing. There is (or perhaps was) a restaurant in North Little Rock called Gators. They have a menu item called Gator Balls. Which IIRC are really just little fried and breaded meatballs made from aligator meat - but the name is funny enough I had to try them one visit just to say I've eaten Gator Balls.

[catiebug]

I personally trend to avoid items from the organ food group.

When we lived in Chile, we ate a lot of ceviche.

[LucyKKG]

I've had reindeer (sooo bomb!), moose heart (I think it was jerky), eel, and lutefisk (cod preserved in lye).

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

I've had reindeer (sooo bomb!), moose heart (I think it was jerky), eel, and lutefisk (cod preserved in lye).

I've had reindeer, too, while in Sweden, but I would never eat Lutefisk!
I've had sheep's brain, durian, softshell crab/crawfish, alligator, tripe, beef tendon, caviar, foie gras, pate, sweetbreads (yum!), jellyfish, eel, sea urchin, venison tartar, beef tartar, all types of sushi, octopus, frog legs, escargot, pigeons, scrapple, quail...I'll try most things at least once. But...I don't want to try kidney...they smell like urine!

[RaggedyAnn]

I eat sushi on such a regular basis that I didn't even think of it as being exotic. Goes to show you how geography influences things. I'll add to my list:
Eel
Raw Yellowtail
Raw Tuna and White Tuna
Raw Salmon
Raw Mackeral (not a fan)
Octopus
Seaweed
Squid
Caviar

[33girl]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

I eat sushi on such a regular basis that I didn't even think of it as being exotic. Goes to show you how geography influences things.

So true, and also, if you live/were raised someplace where the schools are off for the first day of hunting season....venison is not exotic. About the weirdest thing I've probably had is escargot.

There's scrapple & pudding, which I think are basically American versions of haggis. My dad used to eat pigs' feet.

Oh, and someone mentioned tongue. When I was about 8 I came home from school one day - my mom was upstairs or in the cellar or someplace. On the stove was a very large beef tongue sticking up out of the pot. I was so freaked out I screamed bloody murder. I don't care how good this stuff tastes, NWIH will I ever eat it - I'm still not over the trauma!!

[Nanners52674]

I love Irish Black Pudding (Blood Pudding) My dads parents are from Ireland and he grew up on a farm so his mom would make it fresh for him, and him and step-mom usually buy it once a year at the Irish Fesh but knowing what it was made of grossed me out to much until i was in Ireland and it was on my plate for breakfast so I figured why not (the whole when in Rome thing) and its actually really really good. . . Theirs some of it in my freezer rite now

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I think it is funny that many have listed escargot - which I don't consider exotic at all.

Agreed. I'd say the same about foie gras and caviar, too. Pricey, sure; exotic, nah.

(And as far as I'm concerned, none of them are worth eating, much less paying what you usually have to pay for them.)

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Agreed. I'd say the same about foie gras and caviar, too. Pricey, sure; exotic, nah.

(And as far as I'm concerned, none of them are worth eating, much less paying what you usually have to pay for them.)

I'd completely disagree...foie is definitely worth the price. I actually have a 6# bag of it in my freezer right now!

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I'd completely disagree...foie is definitely worth the price. I actually have a 6# bag of it in my freezer right now!

Oh, I know some people love it, and more power to them. Like I said, I love haggis, so who am I to talk.

But every time I've had foie gras, I feel like Tom Hanks in "Big," where he starts trying to scrape the food off his tongue. Just doesn't do it for me.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Oh, I know some people love it, and more power to them. Like I said, I love haggis, so who am I to talk.

But every time I've had foie gras, I feel like Tom Hanks in "Big," where he starts trying to scrape the food off his tongue. Just doesn't do it for me.

Do you eat tiny corn like Tom Hanks,too?

[guitarak]

Escargot, Kangaroo, Giraffe, humpback whale, seal, eel (not sushi, but that's good too)

[RaggedyAnn]

33girl, you mentioned scrapple. I haven't had that, nor from RaggedyAndy's description, will I probably ever. I have had dandelion salad soaked in bacon fat dressing as the Eastern Pennsylvanians do. It felt like I had sucked on a big stick of butter. Yuck! I would have never tried it if I had known what I was eating.

Has anyone ever had Ugli Fruit?

[epchick]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

Has anyone ever had Ugli Fruit?

I know I have, but I was younger, so I can't remember much of it. I just remember laughing at the name!