What's the weirdest thing you've eaten?

[euplusia]

The weirdest I had were fried worms in the night market of Chiang Rai and guinea-pig in a hut in the Sierra Nevada del Cucui, Colombia. I hope the latter wasn't a rat. Both of them I cannot recommend.
Ostrich, antelope and kangaroo have been delicious. Crocodile in the Australian restaurant had a taste of garlic, and the Chinese croc soup is used as medicine and consists much more of skin and cartilage than meat and is not substancial.
In China I've seen restaurants offering dogs and snakes, but didn't go in. And in the markets they offered wasps for eating.
But if I think about our domestic edible snails and kaviar, I come to the conclusion that it is our mind which classifies some food as weird and other as usual.

[NYCorchidman]

but they are both in the same family, rodent! lol

How was wasps prepared? breaded and deep fried? I wonder what it tastes like. maybe fire works in the mouth. hahaha

---------- Post added at 12:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 AM ----------

Originally Posted by isurus79

The weirdest thing I ever ate was bat (I think it was a flying fox) in Palau. The server brought this large bowl to the table and peeled a pastry dough layer back that was covering the bowl. Inside was a whole bat staring back at me. There isn't much meat, even on the giant bats and the server pulled it out and carefully pulled the meat off. It was disgusting and tasted a lot like liver. Yuck.

Most meats seem to taste like something else, but the most unusual tasting thing I've eaten was bear in Alaska. My wife is from there and here mom got the meat from a friend who had shot the bear. It tasted like no other meat I've ever tried and I can only say that it tasted like bear!

I've also eaten ostrich (delicious!), elk, tons of shark when I lived in Hawaii (fillets were sold at Safeway and are a lot like swordfish, but for 1/4 the price), alligator, goat, etc.

I'll never understand people that don't get out of their meat and potatoes comfort zone! There's just so many flavors to experience!

Your story of eating bat reminds me of a scene in the movie Indiana Jones where a whole thing of monkey is served on a large plate with the head cut open. You have a spoon there to scoope the brain out. lol

Then there's this soup with some kind of eye balls in it. holy mol!!!

I love shark meat but it has been so long!

---------- Post added at 12:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 AM ----------

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

A lot of this I don't even consider weird and those who have them available wouldn't either, but perhaps some would - some of it in fact is delicious and I wish I could find it here. I'll try anything and haven't met too many things that are completely inedible.
Meats: armadillo, alligator, elk, bear, bison, venison, antelope, goat, horse, ostrich.
Seafoods: sea cucumber, dulse, razor clams, eel, snails.
Fruits: salmonberries, thimbleberries, salal berries, mahonia berries, indian plum (all native), durian, rambutan, jackfruit, dragon fruit, jambu.
Plants: miner's lettuce, cattail roots, bigleaf maple flowers (all native), nasturtiums, dandelions.

See cucumber feels like chewing stones. lol some of my friends love it for that texture, but I don't. just reminded that I had it once in the past. Definitely one worth to chart the list of the weirdest things to eat.

Dandelions leaves are sold at some stores and I was so shocked because they are basically weeds that grow commonly everywhere! tastes rather bitter.
the roots tastes like a nice coffee when dried and powdered.

---------- Post added at 12:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 AM ----------

Originally Posted by greengarden

Is it unusual over there to eat shark? Fish and chips over here is made using flake in a lot of places which is usually gummy shark.

I think sharks are protected species here. never seen them sold for food or for anything.
The only exceptions are the famous shark's fin dish at Chinese restaurants. don't like the texture of fins, but love the meat. but it has been long since I last had shark meat. would love to eat it any day!

[greengarden]

Yep, it's only very select species that can be used. Most shark species are protected and those that aren't have very strict catch limits

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

yep - goat is a "normal" ingredient of curry here ( cheaper than lamb ) and I see that it is also common in halal butchers. I am sure that one day we are going to see goatburgers............or billyburgers !

Random fact I learned is that apparently goat is like the most popular meat around the world because you can get milk from them and they are cheap and breed fast. I have not ever had goat, but I'd be willing to try.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by greengarden

Yep, it's only very select species that can be used. Most shark species are protected and those that aren't have very strict catch limits

In Hawaii, the shark meat is by catch from the long liners. Giving the meat some value gives the fishers incentive to keep the sharks and not just dump them back into the ocean. The value of the meat is not very high (unlike the fins), but its better than nothing. Some stores stopped carrying the meat before I left because people just see shark meat and assume the worst. Its sad because if there is no market for the meat, then there is no value and thus the shark carcases will just be dumped back in the ocean.

Originally Posted by butterfly_muse

Random fact I learned is that apparently goat is like the most popular meat around the world because you can get milk from them and they are cheap and breed fast. I have not ever had goat, but I'd be willing to try.

I've had it and its pretty good!

---------- Post added at 08:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 AM ----------

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Your story of eating bat reminds me of a scene in the movie Indiana Jones where a whole thing of monkey is served on a large plate with the head cut open. You have a spoon there to scoope the brain out. lol

Then there's this soup with some kind of eye balls in it. holy mol!!!

I was in a small restaurant in Palau, so I was not too far off from an Indiana Jones adventure! lol

[desertanimal]

Fried cicada are quite tasty. Tasty enough to eat whenever someone will catch them for you during cicada season in rural Madagascar. Weirdly, they taste like fried salmon skin.

[NYCorchidman]

Did you eat the adults?? They are pretty much hollow inside I think.

The larvae in their final stage taste like shrimp when fried. and much more meat to chew on. lol

[desertanimal]

Just adults. They're not so hollow that they're not prized and widely sought out by locals when in season. And I never swallowed all the chitin. Just chewed them until all the good stuff was gone and spit out the rest. We don't have teeth well-adapted to cutting up chitin. On an almost no-fat diet of beans and rice, they were gooooood.

[butterfly_muse]

Aren't there something like a few million (or billion?) cicadas coming out for mating this year? I'm sure you could catch enough to throw a bbq. Grosssss! xD

[NYCorchidman]

Is this year going to be one of those years???
Where was it? Virginia last time???

I'm not sure how yummy they will be as adults but I'm sure the larvae will be quite good and fleshy still.

Let's get out the big insect catching net ready. lol