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In a few minutes I will be sitting down to my favourite meal - roast beef, yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes a couple of green veg and gravy thick enough to stand a spoon in.
It has got my infertile brain thinking for once. Just like we have all sorts of different types of stories here; a virtual literary smá¶rgá¥sbord you could say of styles and themes; what about differences in what people consider their favourite meal?
I know when we have various forays abroad, the first thing my wife says is that she's not eating that! In certain countries it's considered a great delicacy, but I can't eat the following:
Frogs legs
Snails
Squid (in fact anything with tenticles)
Snake
Leeks
Lobster (I don't like how they kill them)
Veal
cats
Dogs
Rabbits
Anything furry where I would say 'ahh' and give it a stroke and a cuddle.
The list is endless, but in some countries, maybe yours, certain foods are not considered yucky but rather nice.
What is your favourite meal and are you as squeamish as me?
I'm probably hypocritical, but I will eat meat as long as I like it and it's packaged to look like food and not some nice animal.
Hugs
Hungry Sue
Comments
Being squeamish
All of those things on your list are quite delicious if cooked properly. Dog is a bit strongly flavoured and has negative connotations for Westerners (gweilos). I'm not keen on sea slugs or bears' paws. Otherwise, when in Rome.
One of these things is not like the others
What are leeks doing on that list of animals? Given the recent explosion of Welsh stories here, that's a rather dangerous choice as the one vegetable you're afraid of.
I like the taste of tomatoes when they're part of a sauce, but I find the texture of a raw tomato to be kind of gross, so I always pick them out of a salad or sandwich. Whole stewed tomatoes are also icky, but I like them sun-dried.
Leeks
Jennifer,
I wasn't just talking about meat, there are tons of veggies I hate too. I used to have school dinners and the smell of overcooked greens made me want to be sick. But I'm weird, I hate uncooked tomatoes but love them in a curry or spag bol.
Regarding leeks, I used to live in Wales for a while and I swear that I could see herds of them grazing up on the hills. Mind you my eyesight is bad and I normally saw them after I had a few drinks - they could have been sheep I suppose but I'm not convinced.
Hugs
Sue
Leeks!?
They are like mild onions.
The key is to trim of much of the greens -- they are much stronger but can be used sparingly in dishes if fresh and crisp or to make stock -- and to wash the pieces thoroughly. But that is true for spinach and many greens. The way the plant grows causes it to collect grit.
Potato and onion soup make with leeks is wonderful. Veal is the side product of dairying though they could be raised up as steers I suppose. That was tenticles you refered too was it? I suggest you avoid Riocky Mountain Oysters like the Plague.
From the list you would starve in France, the maritime provences and cagun country.
John being helpful and silly in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Welsh State Bird
Jennifer:
I think it's because Leeks are the state
bird or something in Wales. At least every
St. Davies Day, I believe. It's easier to
pet them, not to mention Leek Watching...
Save the Wales
Sarah Lynn
Who is Saint Davies?
Could it be Dewi Sant, about whom we are talking? Bloody 'mericans more culture in a pot of yoghurt! 8)
Angharad
Angharad
Looking forward
Yeah, when you're not a has-been you don't tend to obsess about the past. ;)
KJT
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Janis Joplin
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
It's all food
I honestly can't think of any food I wouldn't eat. I have favorites, like seafood & most cheeses. There's some food that I don't care for but I'll eat if there's nothing else; I like the taste of peanut butter, I don't like the texture.
I don't hunt animals for food, but I'll happily eat something that someone else has hunted and killed. I suppose I would hunt and kill my own food if I had to, but I don't have to.
The idea of limiting ones diet by excluding certain foods, for any reason, seems very weird to me.
Mr. Ram
For me it is anything unclean.
I was raised as a SDA and if it's unclean according to the Old Testament, well I can't and won't eat it.
Funny thing is I haven't been part of the church for over twenty years, but I still can't eat unclean food. Turns my stomach thinking about it.
I also have an easily upset stomach so I can't eat spicy foods. Even stuff most others consider mild tears my stomach apart and burns my mouth.
Oh yeah those overcooked veggies you hate. That is about the only way I can have them. Raw veggies or not completely soft ones give me major painful gas.
The other thing I can't stand if barbecued food or flame broiled. The smell is 100% revolting along with the taste of food cooked in this manner.
As a result I have very boring tastes when it comes to food.
Arwen
Quite Often
When you are in a new country or environment you will be given a delicious new or ethnic dish and afterwards they will tell you what it was and you will want to go and throw up, because the prejudices are there in your mind. Of course sometimes those prejudices are justified!!!
Apart from leeks, I think I
Apart from leeks, I think I agree with most of the items on your list Sue.
When I was a child there were several things served at school dinners that I used to dread having to eat. I hated rice pudding and tapioca pudding, but the worse thing (and it still makes me ill to just think about it) was bread and butter pudding - yuck!!!!
SueBrown My Dear
I think those were definitely wild leeks you saw grazing on the hillsides. Like haggis in Scotland they travel in a clockwise direction because their right legs are much shorter than their left legs. They are harvested by forcing them to change direction which causes them to roll down the hill and they can be simply picked up at the bottom when they land on their backs with their legs in the air, much like some of the denizens of this website.
Nothin' wrong with my legs
You won't catch me that way. Both my legs is the same length as the other, which makes it easy for me to walk up or run down the hills, but unless there's a flat path or something, walking round on a slope is awkward, but then I'm neither a wild leek or haggis. I don't think I "live" on this site - I may frequent, but I'm certainly not an inhabitant, so I'm not a denizen either.
I don't like lamb. Come to that, I'm not really into anything excessively fatty unless the fat is drained. It's weird, but I can eat lamb hot, but as soon as it starts to cool and the fat starts to congeal, forget it.
I really like squid (calamari) and ate it a lot when I worked in Italy. Mind you, I wouldn't have put cinnamon with beef until I went to Greece, so what do I know?
Honey is another thing I'm not particularly keen on, but I don't mind it when used to augment, like in sir-fry or as a glaze for basting roast ham or something and it has nothing to do with the creepy, crawly flying things that make it.
Antipodean leeks?
Joanne,
You have brought out an interesting and scientfic point.
It raises the question whether Antipodean leeks travel in an anti-clockwise direction as they are in the southern hemisphere.
Also, I assume that the haggises (or is that haggisi?) who are the decendents of the ones who emigrated from Scotland to Australia centuries ago also do this?
Sue
Homing Leeks
Joanne:
People like you are why Homing Leeks are
extinct!
Sarah Lynn
One person's feast
I had to laugh out loud reading this and the comments, because I'm very picky about my food too. I had some bad experiences as a child almost choking to death on that proverbial fish bone so even smelling fish cooking can make me sick. Raised in a very rural southern US household, my early childhood diet was very bland. I was in my teens before I got exposed to even spaghetti for goodness sakes. Meat and sweets were few and far between. It's why today I tend to over indulge in both. Tomatoes were one of the crops we grew and so I have fond memories of watching the first ones ripen. Yes I've picked, brushed the dirt off and eaten the sun warm product right off the vine. LOL, I enjoyed every bite after a winter of eating preserved veggies.
My military service did take me overseas and so I got exposed to foods that had too many legs or not enough. Can't really say I enjoyed any of it too much. I'm happy with good a old fashioned Americana diet with the occasional taco, pasta, or fried rice dish. Alas if push comes to shove I'll eat about anything but I certainly won't like it. Like that fictional character from down-under said, "It'll keep you alive but tastes like ...." (insert your favorite colorful metaphors)!
hugs!
grover
as a non fictional, semi character...
...that hails from Down Under Ive eaten some weird sh**. I spent several months in my early twenties wandering parts Nth seeking enlightenment or something of the sort. I've seen a few too many David Attenborough things to fancy Turtle, all those poor little guys scurrying to the water across the beach being scooped up by birds and lizards and all sorts, then the fish when the few make the water... still. I've tried Crocodile and Roo, snake and goanna, emu, witchity grub... which is definitely not a dish for western sensibilities, tasty though once you get your head past what it is. Rabbit, these big long mangrove tree worm things... sort of very long oysters with a fishy woody taste. Offal..hmm don't mind brains and liver, can't stand kidney...I dunno. Cow meat... yum.. just never look at those eyes before... Venison is nice. Lamb is a fave Just about any seafood. Insects... don't like the crunchy ones. Found a locust in a bottle of Indian pickle once...didn't add anything. Laika mentioned Rocky mountain... nope never gone there and I don't think I've ever eaten dog or cat. That'd be like eating the kids.
Um... I guess it takes all sorts and at basis it's about survival. Of course there's a lot more too it than that or at least there should be when survival is not an immediate issue. I'll try almost anything once even if it takes a bit of mental adjustment to get the idea of, 'that's food', in place. Being of Scots decent on the fathers side... never tried hagis, not sure I want to. Black pudding, I think that was a Goodies episode sounds equally unappealing. Oh, as an aside to the Yorshire puds thing on Angs bike episode last week you can get pre prepped packed puds in a pack in the supermarket here, I had a look. Wonders never cease huh. Might have to try them. Vegemite sandwich anyone?
Kristina
Ugh no. Marmite for me
with cheese or mayo!
Okie girl
Gwen Brown
One man's meat
I would agree with much of your list, although I have to disagree with leeks for obvious reasons. Leek and potato soup is one of my standbys.
I don't like shellfish very much nor crabs and their relatives, although I eat loads of fish. Have to watch fats and things as they upset my IBS, but being a Taffy I do love Welsh lamb - the proper stuff not imported copies! (You can tell they're genuine Welsh lambs or sheep, 'cos they have wellies on their back feet to enable them to walk up hills. They are also a bit dim when it comes to crossing roads and if you hit one, no farmer will accept it was one of his.)
I also have a sensitive palate, so can't eat spicy food or swallow strong drinks (I'm a cheap round).
Favourite meal, roast (Welsh lamb) or Lemon Sole.
Can't understand how kids today can get addicted to MacDonald's et al or binge drink. Mind you I don't need surgery to remove a mobile phone or MP3 player either. However, I am a self confessed chocoholic.
Angharad
Angharad
I've never eaten cat or dog,
I've never eaten cat or dog, at least, not willingly or knowingly, but I spent some time in rural Asia once, so who knows? Squid and snails depend a lot on how they're cooked because they tend to taste like the soft end of a pencil if poorly prepared. Snake has very little flavor but I only ate it once. Frog legs taste like chicken someone cooked in fish oil, but I probably did not have well-prepared ones.
Lobster is okay as far as big bugs go but bad lobster is a horror and good lobster is expensive. Rabbits that I have not been personally acquainted with can be quite tasty. I avoid veal and lamb but they are okay as far as taste goes.
Leeks are just big onions. :)
I've eaten kangaroo, bear, turtle and alligator, too. Bear is very good, like a cross between venison and pork but sweeter like beef. Alligator must be an acquired taste and I've no inclination to acquire it at those prices. :) Tastes a bit like lobster but more fishy. Kangaroo tastes like beef. Turtle is amazing but some of it is good.
I'm not really an adventurous eater, I've just lived a long time. :)
Thanks for the grin this morning.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
GaK, Anyone?
"De gustibus ain't what dey used ta be." -S.J. Perleman
~~~> Human, ape, cetacean, dog, cat are my entire taboo list (Trigger better watch out...).
It's based on front-brain chauvinism and the subjective "cuteness factor" (duck is borderline; they're so cute, bopping around, wagging their little tails- like Homer Simpson and his pet lobster, I cry when I eat them: "Soooooo (sniff!) delicious..."); I must seem like a perfect barbarian & hypocrite to a vegetarian...
~~~> Certain organs & parts---perfectly edible---gross me out. Brain, adenoid, tongue (I never eat anything that's been in a cow's mouth), tripe, etc---though I don't mind them in, say- chorizo, IF I don't think about it. Liver's alright but I'm not crazy about it. I can't stand the idea of Rocky Mountain Oysters, which is ironic because ........ well maybe that's too much information...
~~~> I have no problem with any sort of crustaceans or mollusks or echinoderms, stuff like that. Haven't got around to frogs legs or escargot or arab-style locusts, but I'm always curious to try things I've never tried before, when I go over the hill to San Francisco I'll always pick a restaurant of an ethicity/nationality I've never been to before, and usually love all the new uses of spices (I don't get the whole notion of "comfort food"- Meatloaf? That's not comfort, that's stagnation! I was raised on spagetti {seemed like twice a week} and never want to see it again, but remember my mom's hand-stuffed ravioli far more fondly for their rarity) ........ Had caviar for the first time at the age of 50, and loved it and couldn't figure out why it tasted so familiar. Then I remembered I'd had plenty of roe at various sushi joints...
~~~> One thing I've never heard of ANYONE, ANYWHERE serving as a dish, even in the poorest countries, is sea gull. Which is strange considering they're everywhere, easy enough to catch. Must taste really really bad!
~~~> hugs, Laika
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Sea Gulls? Amphibious Dumpster Chickens
Laika:
Sea Gulls?
Did you mean Amphibious Dumpster Chickens?
I live in Maine.
OK, I have to admit, if I want to eat something
that tastes like chicken, I eat chicken. I think that's
pretty amazing, because if you every actually watched
a chicken, I don't think your first instinct would be
to eat it.
OH, and I eat cows too, even though I think Cows are
damned cute. I don't think it's so much the cuteness factor,
as one of Empathy. An Ape, a dolphin, A cat, or a dog, or
even a Rat. I just know that they would be thinking...,
'Jesus! I think She's going to eat me!!"
I believe that would rule out some cute creatures too,
like Pumba and Timone.
Ha'kuna Ma Ta'ta,
Sarah Lynn
P.S.
I haven't made up my mind about Aardvarks. Sorry Aardvark!
An Explanation ?
Dear Friends,
As grewn ups we can chose what we want to eat or not, but I have an idea why this might be specially common for persons with more or less transsexual conditions. I admit that the chain is somewhat weak but just give it time to "sink in" before you just discard it.
1. There seames to be some connection between transexualism and Asperger's syndrome. I think I have met too many of this combination to say that is only a case of chance. There is a long time study under way in the University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
2. Asperger's syndrome have many different grades of severity. Some can go almost a life without even noticing it, or understanding why Life is so difficulkt to handle.
3. Among all the symptomes that end up in the final diagnosis is one of refusing to eat some food.
4. Scientifically one should never refer to single cases to propose a connetion of founds, but I am certainly one of these cases.
5. I have difficulties with almost all food that have no "structure", like jelly, marshmallows (R) and all kinds of porridge.
6. Think about this and see for yourself if there is something beside transsexualism that might have twisted up your life earlier
Ginnie
GinnieG
In The Southern Hemisphere
Haggis(es)are extremely rare and only come out of hiding on Burns Night, when they are enticed from their lairs by the wailing of the bagpipes, which they mistakenly think are mating calls. They are then cudgeled to death by kilted expatriate Scotsmen in varying stages of inebriation and put straight into the pot while still fresh. When they are cooked to a mush whisky is poured over them in copious quantities to make them marginally edible. I imagine expatriate Welshmen follow a somewhat similar tradition on Saint David's day with respect to leeks, but I claim no expertise in the arcane rites of the Welsh
I don't think I have just one
Well I had barbeque pork ribs and salad tonight one of my favorites.I love seafood lobster, shrimp,scallops,crab legs but my favorite would be fresh fried Maine clams the only fish I eat regulary is tuna.I love most cuts of steak a t bone being my favorite.I used to have potbelly pigs for pets(strictly for pets) they're characters and I wish I could still have some but I do love pork ribs, bacon and ham.I used to have chickens, ducks, and turkeys plus even a couple Emu's.Chicken is all right but poultry is pretty nasty the way they live.I've eaten horse in East Germany before the reunification wild boar in west germany plus some raw tadpoles on a survival coarse.Gator in Florida it tasted okay but I didn't like the texture.Quail or as they call them in the southwest desert chickens.I've killed a few rattlesnakes outside my house but they stink horribly so I didn't try it.Chinese,thai,korean,soulfood and some mexican foods are all okay by my tastebuds.Amy