Exotic Food

[NickLock]

Many cultures eat foods that are unusual to the the culture we grew up in. Sometimes hearing what's in a certain food makes it sound unappealing, but after tasting it, one finds that it's quite delicious. And some people are more adventerous eaters and will try anything that's different from what they are used to.

As readers, we often experience difference cultures and ways of thinking through the words of the page. Do you think this makes one more open to trying exotic foods? What's a food that you've eaten that's unusual to your culture? Did you like it? Why or why not? Or what is a food that you would like to try? Why does that particular item appeal to you?

[Storygamer88]

Hmm, I think the most exotic foods I've had are usually seafood or amphibious like certain clams and frogs. I wouldn't mind trying some based on what I've heard or read. I heard deer tastes interesting but never had it, same for human meat, and there are tons of treats/deserts that I think would be fun to try. I tried a real life variant of Bertie Bott's Flavor Beans and hated it.

[Steph K]

Deer is excellent! People outside of rural areas probably have never tried it. If it's cooked properly it tastes good and does not have that gamy flavor. Squirrel is popular in rural Missouri. I had it once, because I was feeling adventurous, but did not like it. It was stringy, greasy, and chewy.

[0719672189]

Still adjusting to sushi.

[RegularGuy3]

I'm a pretty adventurous eater. I've tried jellyfish (rubbery and I think I was allergic because my mouth went numb) and sea cucumber (gelatinous dirt) at a Chinese wedding; Vietnamese congealed blood soup (iron-y but ok with enough chili paste); and many others. I'll give any food a shot because someone likes it somewhere so maybe I will, too. But the weird thing is that I can't stand cooked fish--the idea of a salmon filet disgusts me more than cow knuckles.

[ebethina]

The only culture food I have eaten is Chinese food and I do like most of it but not all

[Brandi Noelle]

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food, but I usually agree to try something once (unless it's truly out there). My husband is a hunter, so I've had venison, elk, beaver (don't ask), duck, goose.

As far as internationally exotic foods, my daughter was recently studying food around the world and so we decided to make some of the dishes to give her a taste of what she was learning. She is a great eater and loves pretty much all foods, so she really took to this idea. She is probably the only 4-year-old around to enjoy sushi, paella, tamales, pad Thai. The best part was when we went out to an Indian restaurant for my brother's birthday and she insisted on having chicken tikka! She loved it, too.

[Njengnjoro]

I would like to try sushi someday.

[personwholovesbooks]

There's a lot of exotic foods here in the Philippine like in some parts of the country they eat snakes (haven't tried it yet and I have no plans on trying it), some eats 'salagubang' or beetle in English (I like them as pets when I was young but not as food), some eats 'Tamilok' or woodworm in English (I had the chance to eat it once but I didn't, I just can't) and here in our place the locals used to eat 'Bayawak' or Monitor Lizards in English but as of today, hunting and eating Bayawak is strictly prohibited (I've tried this when I was still a kid, my father tricked me into eating this he told me it's chicken and it really does taste like it.)

[ladycraic]

Mediterranean rice is a food that is not apart of my culture, but I've come to enjoy it! I love the flavors of roasted nuts, raisins and everything else that is thrown in!

[David_92]

In 2016 I visited a foreign country and was served with fried snails. I was a bit scared but when I tried them they were quite delicious. Interesting .

[Emma13]

I live in the middle of a big city so I'm lucky enough to have access to lots of different cuisines. In particular, our Chinese Quarter does a lot of the more traditional dishes, rather than just the recipes designed for western tastes.

One of the things I'm doing this year is trying to read a book and try a new meal from each of the countries in the World Cup. Seems like a great way to try new things. Easy for places like Spain; a bit more challenging for somewhere like Panama! Any suggestions very welcome.

[victorycoffee]

Eating goes hand in hand with travelling for me, especially when I'm lucky enough to spend time with a parent or grandparent who knows all the local dishes off the back of their hand. One of the things that has struck me is that just because a certain way of preparing a dish is popular and traditional, it doesn't mean it's the best way of preparing it. For example, duck is sometimes treated like chicken (boiled/roasted) in Poland, but it doesn't nearly bring out the flavor like a French-style confit, or a Chinese-style Peking duck.

[BookHausJ]

When we were kids, my siblings tried the Rabbit. It was one of our relatives who introduce us to eat the rabbit. Since we were just kids we don't know if rabbit is really allowed to eat. But it was my uncle who slaughtered the rabbit and made preparation to make it a dish for lunch. Well, honestly it taste like a chicken. But I don't eat a lot that time. Because sad to say, it was our Pet also.

[mandalee519]

My family is of Latin decent and my favorite dish that we cook is a plantain and ground beef lasagna. It is by far the best sweet and salty dish I have tried!