The Great Food Challenge

[Indyologist]

Inspired by Kate's thread on favorite foods, I want to issue a challenge. Sometime in the next 2 weeks, try a food that you've NEVER, EVER had before, especially if it's an ethnic dish. I don't care if it's monkey brains, fried green tomatoes, fettuccine alfredo, or a kumquat. The only requirement is that it HAS to be something that has never passed your lips nor seen the inside of your stomach.

Report back here to this thread and tell us:
1.) what you ate
2.) Describe how it looked, tasted, smelled, etc. and
3.) how you liked or disliked it.

Also, this is NOT a requirement, but you get EXTRA POINTS if it's especially bizzare. Believe me, though, I'll be proud of you even if you ate just a fig!

I think this is a neat Indy-esque idea. The spirit of Indy is the spirit of adventure, which means taking a risk and trying new things.

Sound good?

Bon appetit!



** Welcome to the Raven, where you'll find molars in the peanut dish **

 

[Kate]

Well, although I tried it four months ago, I feel this should count!

On March 29th, 2004, I tried Haggis for the first (and hopefulyl last) time. For those of you who don't know, Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made of ground sheep's heart/lung/liver/everything but the "baaa." oatmeal, and onions, served in a hollowed-out sheep's stomach. It smells vile, looks vile, and tastes... you guessed it.... vile. It was cooked for me by a young Scotsman with nipple piercings who was insistent that I try some before I went home. I washed it down with Guinness, and let me tell you, I have never felt more nauseous in my life. It was hands-down the worst meal of my life. On the same note, a friend and I (who works at the same camp I did) made up what our ultimate nightmare meal would be, and here it is:

Haggis
Nato (fermented soybeans)
The macaroni salad served in the camp mess hall
Stuffing
Grape Koolaid

BTW, fab thread Indyologist!

 

[Finn]

<i>August 13th</i>

My friend Rufus visited me today. He giggled and told me he had given up drinking moonshine since finding the "miracle pills". I was dubious, and after long pleading convinced him to cork one more bottle with me. As usual, he passed out after five swigs and there I was, getting stoned all alone again. I was pretty pissed, to admit the fact. Rufus woke up sometimes around 1 am and left. He forgot a couple of pills. I thought about running after him, but the I got curious. What was so wondrous about these white little pebbles? I realized it was going to be one-time check, bravely tossed the pills down my throat and washed them into the depths of my throat with a long swig of good old trusty shine.


<i>August 14th</i>

Can't recall a thing for this day.


<i>August 15th</i>

Can't recall a thing for this day.


<i>August 16th</I>

Can't recall a thing for this day.


<i>August 17th</i>

A poltergeist, or something had chosen my pad as its temporary accomodations. On this morning, I woke up on the middle of my kitchen floor, inside a circled pentagram drawn by something that was red in color. I quickly checked my wrists, then tasted the stuff, and found it to be ketchup. Heinz Mexican. Blyech. I felt a slight breeze and noticed that the poltergeist had left through my window, but the handle had appeared to be a device too technical for it. Better call a glazier, as soon as my headache flattens and my tongue turns back from grey to healthy red. My fridge was stolen, but I found out that the thieves hadn't gotten far since my neighbor was dancing in rage around his Opel Astra, my Rosenlew sitting on top of it. Most of its contents had been emptied on the floor before moving it out since they sat on the floor beside me. I wondered what I had eaten and suspected it to be a traffic light post since my liver was squeaking oddly. Later on the day I noticed that some bastard had taken a leak onto myh sofa and left a barfy note between the sheets I was supposed to sleep. I'm wondering if I should hire a PI to figure out who's behind this all.

 

[Indyologist]

<i>August 13th</i>

My friend Rufus visited me today. He giggled and told me he had given up drinking moonshine since finding the "miracle pills". I was dubious, and after long pleading convinced him to cork one more bottle with me. As usual, he passed out after five swigs and there I was, getting stoned all alone again. I was pretty pissed, to admit the fact. Rufus woke up sometimes around 1 am and left. He forgot a couple of pills. I thought about running after him, but the I got curious. What was so wondrous about these white little pebbles? I realized it was going to be one-time check, bravely tossed the pills down my throat and washed them into the depths of my throat with a long swig of good old trusty shine.
.... (I'm not quoting the whole bleedin' thing!)

Uhh, nice to hear about your trippy exsistential experiences, Finn, but you are officially OT.

 

[LASTCRUSADER]

Well, although I tried it four months ago, I feel this should count!

On March 29th, 2004, I tried Haggis for the first (and hopefulyl last) time. For those of you who don't know, Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made of ground sheep's heart/lung/liver/everything but the "baaa." oatmeal, and onions, served in a hollowed-out sheep's stomach. It smells vile, looks vile, and tastes... you guessed it.... vile. It was cooked for me by a young Scotsman with nipple piercings who was insistent that I try some before I went home. I washed it down with Guinness, and let me tell you, I have never felt more nauseous in my life. It was hands-down the worst meal of my life. On the same note, a friend and I (who works at the same camp I did) made up what our ultimate nightmare meal would be, and here it is:

Haggis
Nato (fermented soybeans)
The macaroni salad served in the camp mess hall
Stuffing
Grape Koolaid

BTW, fab thread Indyologist!

I actually have Haggis at least once a year, sometimes twice. I'm quite fond of it. My ethnic background is Scotish and I attend a Ceiligh once a year. Its one of those dishes you either like or hate. I don't think there is any in between.

 

[Luckylighter]

Thanks, Indyologist. Now I have a mission for my vacation: to try something unusual. And I'll be in the Southwest, so you know there'll be something...unique, like rattlesnake or something. And I have now officially overused the word "something" for this thread. Hard to believe I'm a writer with this limited vocabulary.

 

[Finn]

Uhh, nice to hear about your trippy exsistential experiences, Finn, but you are officially OT.

Hey, I was just telling you about the time I let something that had never gone there before to pass my lips...

 

[Indyologist]

Well, although I tried it four months ago, I feel this should count!

On March 29th, 2004, I tried Haggis for the first (and hopefulyl last) time. For those of you who don't know, Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made of ground sheep's heart/lung/liver/everything but the "baaa." oatmeal, and onions, served in a hollowed-out sheep's stomach. It smells vile, looks vile, and tastes... you guessed it.... vile. It was cooked for me by a young Scotsman with nipple piercings who was insistent that I try some before I went home. I washed it down with Guinness, and let me tell you, I have never felt more nauseous in my life. It was hands-down the worst meal of my life. On the same note, a friend and I (who works at the same camp I did) made up what our ultimate nightmare meal would be, and here it is:

Haggis
Nato (fermented soybeans)
The macaroni salad served in the camp mess hall
Stuffing
Grape Koolaid

BTW, fab thread Indyologist!

Thanks Kate-- you were my inspiratation!!

Haggis is a very daring gastronomical feat, Kate! I'm proud of ya! Tell me, did it repeat on you all the next day? I mean, did you go "BAAAAAA BAAAAAA" every time you belched? And did you floss afterwards? I just hate it when I get wool stuck in my teeth. Or even worse, did you swallow any round, metal objects? Next time you see that guy, you might want to count all his nipple rings. Y'know, just to make sure they're all accounted for.

 

[Indyologist]

Uhh, nice to hear about your trippy exsistential experiences, Finn, but you are officially OT.

BTW, I know Rufus too. Guess you found out the hard way about those miracle pills of his. I haven't seen him in a while. Last I knew, he was trying to sell the formula for the pills to a breakfast cereal company, but I guess the coating on them are a little hard to frost with sugar. And for some reason the milk turns green and it spontaneously melts all the marshmallows. Go figure.

Isn't it weird how he has 2 heads? Don't listen to head #2, though. It's so damn sensitive.

Okay, back OT please...

Thanks, Indyologist. Now I have a mission for my vacation: to try something unusual. And I'll be in the Southwest, so you know there'll be something...unique, like rattlesnake or something. And I have now officially overused the word "something" for this thread. Hard to believe I'm a writer with this limited vocabulary.

That would be great if you could get ahold of some rattlesnake, Lucky, but remember that it can be anything new...

I'm so glad I inspired you!!

 

[Kate]

I'll be in the Southwest, so you know there'll be something...unique, like rattlesnake or something.

We don't eat rattlesnake here!

 

[Tennessee R]

Well, I had tried this long ago, but here are some different unique foods that I like:
Hummus (ground-up chick peas, olive oil, etc. Like a spread),
Tahini (A simpler form of Hummus. Also made of garbonzo beans),
Falafels (I won't try to explain, but it's good).
All great, and all can be found in the Middle East, and someplaces in the States.

 

[Kate]

Falafels are the best!! I made them for dinner for my family the other day. I love to cook... tonight I made french onion soup and chocolate merengue pie, which is possibly the most sinful thing I've evr tasted. MMM I'm hungry again.....

 

[Aaron H]

Well, I had tried this long ago, but here are some different unique foods that I like:
Hummus (ground-up chick peas, olive oil, etc. Like a spread),
Tahini (A simpler form of Hummus. Also made of garbonzo beans),
Falafels (I won't try to explain, but it's good).
All great, and all can be found in the Middle East, and someplaces in the States.

You can find Hummus at your local Panera Bread...I know because I used to work at one...for two year too long.

I'm not the daring sort when it comes to food. But one time I went on a missions trip to the Domican Republic we stayed at a youth camp in the middle of no-where, and the camp cook fixed okay meals which we choaked down...that was until we saw her fixing the food. She was fixing pasta noodles and mixing in the sauce by hand, but every so often she would "snuff" her nose and swipe her hand across it!

Suffice to say we ate only what few snacks we brought along with us from that point on.

 

[westford]

I actually have Haggis at least once a year, sometimes twice. I'm quite fond of it. My ethnic background is Scotish and I attend a Ceiligh once a year. Its one of those dishes you either like or hate. I don't think there is any in between.

It's 'ceilidh' btw About the only Gaelic word I can spell, hahaha!

Haggis is lovely, even my sassenach boyfriend thinks so. You can get vegetarian versions of it too, so maybe you'd like that Kate...

Haven't tried anything new this week so far, but will probably experiment with exotic fruit and veg cos I've just started a new diet...

 

[vaxer]

I guess I've tried most of the wierd things you can eat in my country.

Frog legs: You eat that with a delicious sauce, the meat tastes like chicken. And once you're done, you get a little skeleton you can play with .

Snails: I had a hard time putting that into my mouth. But once there i have to admit it was pretty good (the sauce is incredibly good). And no, it's not slimy!

Brain: never tried but have watched my grandfather eat it. It's supposed to be very good. But because of the mad cow you can't buy that anymore.

And there are many more like water sanke, pig feet etc...

 

[gladhatter]

Haggis is lovely, even my sassenach boyfriend thinks so.

What the .... You are a girl too or you are gay ? I cannot belief thse avatars simply are all very confusing. ...

 

[gladhatter]

Pickled pigs feet are great , rattlesnake is simply the finest of fine hands down and not an opinion but a fact. Best roasted over an open fire but simply a delicious white meat.

 

[Tennessee R]

Haggis is lovely, even my sassenach boyfriend thinks so.

What the .... You are a girl too or you are gay ? I cannot belief thse avatars simply are all very confusing. ...

westford is a lady.

And, Wow, Kate, sure wish you'd cook some of that for me.
French Onion Soup. Mmmmmmmm. By the way, do you put cheese on top of that, or am I thinking of something else?

 

[Kate]

Yes, you put cheese on top of it. Toasted french bread and melted swiss cheese. I'll make you some Tenn, and for the rest of the lads too. I love cooking for sexy men, *sigh*

 

[VP]

westford is a girl.

No she's not, she's a lady.

Falafels are not that good.