What's the strangest thing you have eaten while travelling?

[munitalP]

The title says it all I guess!

Me -

Harbin China, the glutinous stuff inside pig trotters - ick!
Vietnam, a meat that was quite game tasting, later told it was "not farmed"
New Zealand, sea urchin roe - quite nice


munitalP

 

[nlagalle]

The title says it all I guess!

Me -

Harbin China, the glutinous stuff inside pig trotters - ick!
Vietnam, a meat that was quite game tasting, later told it was "not farmed"
New Zealand, sea urchin roe - quite nice


munitalP

Donkey stew in Beijing. i swear my shoes would have tasted better! one of the journos had a selection of penises (penii?). apparently the donkey tasted the best!

 

[yohy?!]

Month-old green boiled eggs filled with some kind of aspic in Shanghai

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Pickled Bull Frog at the Kind Hotel in Tianjin China in March 1995.

Kind Hotel is immediately adjacent to the Tianjin train station - I actually relive that nightmare 30 to 40 times every year when I arrive Tianjin on the train from Beijing - OMG how I kept that down I cannot understand.

Have tried snake, donkey, and a myriad of things I have not known and was afraid to ask - have baulked at dog and large unidentified insects.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I can't recall to be honest. Probably some sort of offal.


I try not to go way off the deep end terms of food (or to exotic) when l'm out of Australia, as you can get some nasty gut worms etc etc. I spoke to a doctor regarding parasites etc etc and he says that one common meat to be weary of, is pork. He says that poorer countries don't give the animals proper antibiotics, which they do here, and you subsequently end up with worms, parasites, etc etc...

OT;
I also take a cobantrin (2 tablets) with me when l go overseas, part of my little bathroom/headache/pharmaceutical pack, which includes; nurofen, condoms, band-aids etc etc...

 

[opusman]

Horse steak probably, but it wasn't that exciting (and you wouldn't know it was horse if the menu hadn't said).

 

[JohnK]

I am not one for eating things that are not familiar to me.

The strangest thing I have eaten would have to be various meat pies in Thailand.

 

[opusman]

I am not one for eating things that are not familiar to me.

There had to have been a first time for everything though

 

[tuppaware]

Donkey stew in Beijing. i swear my shoes would have tasted better! one of the journos had a selection of penises (penii?). apparently the donkey tasted the best!

Yeah I have also done that!
And turtle soup... I felt bad for that one.

 

[DrAndyC]

Harbin China, the glutinous stuff inside pig trotters - ick.

munitalP

I had those gelatinous pig trotter bits in China as well. I found them quite tasty

The strangest I have eaten is probably ostrich neck at a game restaurant in zimbabwe in the 90s. Wasnt much meat on it at all (which is not a surprise considering it is an ostrich neck)!

 

[samh004]

I try not to go way off the deep end terms of food (or to exotic) when l'm out of Australia

I am not one for eating things that are not familiar to me.

+1

I’m not very adventurous, though am getting a little more into trying new things as I get older, but would probably draw the line very quickly.

I guess haggis was the last big gamble I took, and really liked it, surprising myself a lot.

Edited to add I quite like nattō, which is fermented soybeans from Japan. It’s lovely.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Can't say it is that unusual but I tried kimchi in Seoul a few years ago,it's probably the only thing I have ever tried that smelt a lot worse than it tasted.

 

[JohnK]

There had to have been a first time for everything though

For some things yes although for many things there will never be a first time.

Anyone ever tried a durian?

 

[wingspan]

FAnyone ever tried a durian?

Yes I really LOVE Durian! You've got me craving it now!

Can't say I really ever find much food strange - although other people usually freak out when I tell them about the cow womb I've eaten (it appeared as 小袋 - "child bag" on the menu) or the whale cooked 2 ways.

And jellyfish - although I guess that's not all that uncommon even in Australia.

 

[simonpenny408]

Balut - Philippines. A fertilized duck egg with crunchy bits. Ammoniacal liquid mixed with chilli dribbling down your chin. What's not to like. Oh and the deer cough soup in beijing which had what appeared to be a baby's arm draped over the side of the bowl. Yee ha!

 

[Fifa]

At Korakukan Jigokudani Minshuku near Yudanaka, Japan we enjoyed deep fried crickets with river fish for dinner. Interesting texture!

It was a fascinating place to stay with snow monkeys curled up against hot water pipes next to the building and soaking in the guests' onsens.

 

[serfty]

Garlic/chilli Jellyfish in SoHo Hong Kong ... :shock::-|

 

[tuapekastar]

Anyone ever tried a durian?

To my eternal discredit, despite having durian stalls at the end of our street when I lived in Singapore, I never tried one (it was hard enough navigating past the smell). Certain people insisted once one got past the odour, they actually tasted good.

Well, I still haven't eaten durian, but I did try durian ice-cream last year at a Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne. I won't be in a hurry to eat the real thing. :shock:

I've thought of myself as reasonably open-minded when trying exotic things, but TBH, cannot cannot think of anything more exciting/revolting (delete whichever is applicable for you) than something like black pudding, which I tried in Shetland last year - the taste wasn't so bad, it was just the texture, the feel, indeed the vibe of the thing that I couldn't handle.

I did read a restaurant review about Snow Frog Ovaries (available here in Melbourne I believe) - hate to think how many Snow Frogs suffer for each serving of that!

 

[oz_mark]

Balut - Philippines. A fertilized duck egg with crunchy bits.

I've had the Vietnamese (and chicken) version of this. The Vietnamese prefer a slightly more developed duck/chicken.

 

[Postcode]

Two things will remain with my forever

1.Bear Paw Soup. Recipe here PAUSE POOR PAW CUISINE FOREVER! The local hosts were very proud of the dish and interested in our reaction, presumedly as to who vomited first. This was when China was first being opened up to the West in the early 1980s. A number on the tour wished it had remained closed.

2 McDonalds. No recipe available for any of the meals on offer though. Although as I was reminded recently their coffee is not at all bad.