Unusual things you've eaten?

Potential-Monke wrote: »

How do people eat food when they don't know what it is? The amount of ye saying ye had (usually Asian) street food but aren't sure what it was...

Imagine that in the sex trade; 'I went there for the ride last night. Not sure what it was I screwed, but I came anyway. [Would/Would not] recommend'

The biggest lesson I learned while living in Asia was not to ask what things were. There's quite a lot of food that tastes sublime, but once you find out what it was... or how it was cooked, and I was very reluctant to try it again. Some of it is simply cultural, others cringe worthy. Snake was the big one for me. Quite enjoyed it in a variety of dishes, but couldn't eat them again once I found out what the meat was.

As for the sex comparison.. It's a silly comparison.

Potential-Monke wrote: »

It's not really though. You're taking a chance eating something you've no idea of what it is. Could be deep fried human dong for all you know. More the action than the bits involved, but same idea. (Actually, suppose it's like a one night stand. Take a chance and it's either enjoyable or not, and you could end up with some disease from it - for example, Covid in case of weird animals (bats or pangolins), gonorrhea (or other) for the sex).

Ahh well, I find it an oddball analogy.

Still though, there are some things that just shouldn't be eaten, and not just by western standards. Snake, for example, is not recommended simply because it has a crap tonne of bones, is dangerous to catch and is not all that nice unless marinated in a restaurant to make it not chewy (allegedly, I will never eat snake). Similarly, why in any gods name would you eat a deep fried tarantula?!

By western standards? I don't think you really comprehend what western nations invariably eat in their own countries. I suspect you mean Ireland/UK standards... because even the US has a range of food which could be considered quite dodgy depending on which state you're in.

I never paid much attention to what was recommended or not in regards to food. Every culture has a different opinion as to what's right or wrong. There's plenty of activities/habits that Asians find weird in Westerners...

Lets take pork/bacon for example. Terribly unhealthy food. Do I care? Nope. Do you care? Probably not... because it's culturally familiar to you.

As for snake, I've had it about 9 times. Twice intentionally, and both in top restaraunts in HK. The other times, I simply didn't translate the local language before eating it, and found out during/after the meal. Dealing with face/respect is sometimes quite important, so it's not the case of being able to refuse certain dishes. The mother of my ex, had a family recipe for chicken feet... <shudders> I hate the stuff, but I'd still finish of ten or more of them to give respect.

I guess it's different when you're a tourist, but I live in Asia, China in particular. I travel a fair bit, and exploring local culture is very important to me, with food being one of the best way to talk to locals. After being there a decade, I tend to go with the flow with most things. Saying that, really exotic things such a snake or a lot of what's mentioned here is rare.

I tried to Google if they're safe to eat, but I'm an arachnophobe so just can't... If I don't know what something is, I will straight up refuse to eat it. And especially street food. I need to be mouldy drunk to eat from a street food vendor, and even then it's still 'normal' food, like burgers, hotdogs, etc. Just can't wrap my head around eating what some Asians eat... Seems to be working out well for them!

Ahh I haven't eaten tarantula. I've also avoided most other "bugs". I've tried a few varieties, but mostly for dares on dates.

As for it working out well for them... Until Corona, people pretty much ate whatever they wished. I've had really oddball things in Eastern Europe, especially in the Balkan areas. Even Italy and Spain produced some weird dishes on occasion. I think it's easier to judge now, when before it was just a weird practice.. now it's becoming widely known it's risky. I'm sure most people are like myself, and we didn't really think about food beyond whether it gave the ****s or other immediate problems.