Movies we haven’t seen, books we haven’t read and now foods we haven’t eaten. So Wickeds what food have you refused to eat?
Sherry: My dad grew up on a farm during the depression. They raised some cattle so pretty much no part of the animal wasn’t cooked and eaten. Growing up we were forced to eat (on the rare occasion, thankfully) liver and onions. Fortunately, mom took pity on us and didn’t make us eat the brains or tongue.
Liz: Back when I ate meat, I was encouraged to try moose. I did, just to prove I wasn’t scared, but…ew. Now I don’t eat any meat. Ever. At all. (Not because of the moose.)
Edith: I Iived in Japan for two years, and I adore sashimi and sushi, that is, raw fish. But
you should never, never accept less than perfectly fresh raw squid. It’s a big mistake. Hmm – that’s not a food I haven’t eaten. I’ve never eaten brains, either, Sherry, and if offered I believe I would refuse. Happen to love livers and onion, though, especially chicken livers! Chicken Liver Stroganoff? Yum.
Jessie: Eel. I’ve never eaten it and I shudder to think which circumstances could crop up and make me feel it was an appealing option. I haven’t eaten brains either and am not sure I could face them if I knew what they were. Last year I ate tongue for the first time. It was made into corned beef and used in a Reuben sandwich. It was extraordinarily delicious.
Sherry: Oh, no Jessie. I may never be able to eat corned beef again and I love Reubens!
Jessie: Sherry, would it help if I told you I had the tongue Reuben at Duckfat in Portland, ME? Everything they make is wonderful no matter what it is!
Barb: Liz, I am laughing. For the Maine Clambake series I did some research on recipes for moose. Every single one was focused on making it not taste like moose. My conclusion: moose doesn’t taste very good. My Brazilian sister-in-law makes a delicious dish with chicken livers, though I wish I didn’t know what was in it. I’m a pretty cautious eater, (okay, aside from working my whole career in start-ups, I’m a pretty cautious person), so I rarely end up eating unidentified objects. My husband who eats pretty much anything in the world (except calves liver) finds my timidity alternately aggravating and amusing.
Julie: When I was growing up, we had bacon, liver, and onions a couple of times a month. It was the only food I couldn’t eat. Still not a liver fan, though pate and I have a good relationship. Once I served kidney pie. Had trouble with it, since kidneys look like kidneys. All of this said, I will try anyone once. Well, maybe not brains.
Readers: your turn!
Ha! Julie, you wrote, “I’ll try anyONE once,” and then referenced brains. Even though it’s twenty degrees and howling wind out there, this made me laugh! “The Wicked Cozy Authors take a zombie turn…”
My mind went right to the gutter when I re-read the sentence.
Naughty Sherry! LOL…
I happened to visit a Russian market (first I’ve ever seen!) last week, and the food selection was very interesting, and most of the labels were in Russian so I had little idea what I was looking at. I passed on the packages of chicken feet and veal brains–yes, fresh, and sold by the pound! What’s on my food bucket list (and would that bucket be multi-purpose?)? Tripe. I think I tried turtle in Mexico once, and I had whale on News Year’s Day in 1974. Elk?
The H-mart can be eye opening too!
I’ll often close my eyes at the H-Mart.
The first time I went to one, a friend gave us a tour! I find it fascinating and unnerving! Their produce is amazing.
I love h-mart..the food court there is great also.
no brains or creamed chipped beef or tripe for me!
I love H-mart too but some of the things in there… And I’m with you on the creamed chipped beef!
What is H-Mart??
It’s an Asian food market. Wonderful produce, meat and great food court. There’s one in Burlington, Ma.
Maybe moose is an acquired taste. Decades ago, when my husband worked as a deputy sheriff and the sheriff had a previous career as a butcher, any time there was a car/moose accident and the driver didn’t want the meat, the sheriff did the butchering and divided the meat among the deputies. As I recall, ground moose meat didn’t taste too different from hamburger. But to answer the question, I wouldn’t eat any fish, fowl or meat if it wasn’t cooked and I doubt I could choke down eel, snake, or snails. Never tried oysters either. They always look slimy to me. I’m ambivalent on liver and onions but I have a weakness for liverwurst.
Kathy/Kaitlyn
Hmmmm, a sheriff/butcher sounds like the makings of a mystery! I haven’t ever had raw oysters either and don’t care for them cooked.
My husband once offered my daughter $25.00 per snail to eat escargot. He thought it was an easy bet. He completely underestimated how money motivated that kid was. She choked down six of them. Meanwhile, my son, who has always eaten absolutely everything (except raisins), was all, “Wait a minute. I ate them all for free. What is up with this?’
Snails taste like what they were cooked with, which is usually garlic and butter, lots and lots of both.
Very funny! Did he ever manage to get his share?
In the 70’s I was enjoying a company-provided sandwich tray at the holidays, and really could not stop eating this one kind. I asked my boss what it was, and it turned out to be tongue! But it was delicious, so I got over it.
My husband is a hunter and so are many of our friends, so I’ve eaten all kinds of game: venison, pheasant, chukkar (a kind of bird), quail, elk, antelope, bear (blech), mountain goat (double blech), and moose. The moose calf roast my friend made was, hands down, the best meat I’ve ever eaten. Maybe it was the preparation.
In other countries I’ve tried kangaroo (not bad) in Australia, alpaca and guinea pig in Peru (guinea pig is the national dish; the piece I had was very salty, so I still am not sure what it tasted like), goat in Tanzania (delicious, amazingly), and octopus in Ecuador. The very fresh seafood in South America was fantastic. I drew the line at tasting the lamb brains a travel companion had in Italy, though.
I’ve had goat in Mali and in Mexico, Karen, and loved it. I love octopus raw or grilled. You’ve traveled a lot!
Only for the last 14 years, can you believe it?
I love tongue and grew up eating lamb kidneys with bacon. Now you can’t get them without ordering a case!
I still don’t plan to eat tongue but there seems to be a case being made for it here!
I’m not an adventurous eater. I grew up with two parents who hate fish, and I don’t like it either. It’s an issue since all my co-workers do, so when we go out for birthdays, that will be an issue.
Never had liver.
So many of those fancy delicacies I’ve never had. Frankly, they sound nasty to me.
I was picky when I was young but seem to have grown out of it. I don’t think I had Chinese food until I was 25.
Barb, I had my first moose in school when a fellow div student—son of a Metis hunter from the wilds of Alberta—brought a side of it back from Christmas reading period. We made a stew for the Native American Students pot luck. Delicious! Tastes like grass-fed beef! Real grass fed beef… if you’ve ever had any. Rich but mild… oh yeah. The most popular dish at the pot luck.
Okay. I will reconsider my impression of moose, Reine. That seems to be the consensus here.
So where can we find moose meat, if we don’t know a hunter? P.S. My daughter found ground camel in her local supermarket in Chicago. Maybe if I visit I’ll try it.
Sheila, to find a real moose hunter, people who answer “I’m a moose hunter,” when you are rude enough to ask what they do, you have to fly to Alberta then find a bush pilot who will drop you in to the woods where the Racines live. My friend from div school probably won’t be there, because he is now a bush reserves teacher who flies with a bush pilot from reserve to reserve teaching high school students. No you can’t drive there. There are no roads. That’s why you need the bush pilot.
So you’re saying it would be easier for me to get camel meat than moose meat? (Heck, I’d be happy to see a live moose–I don’t have to eat it.)
The problem is that there aren’t that many moose these days. And fewer moose hunters than there used to be, too, since the government limits the hunting more than it used to.
Karen, we’re talking Mètis moose hunters on their reserve. You can’t get to them.
I said the same thing about a consensus about tongue. Moose and tongue it’s whats for dinner.
That jibes with my memory of moose, too, Reine.
I have seen moose in Idaho, Sheila. Although Maine is a lot closer for you. And your: it’s easier to get camel meat than moose cracked me up!
Cracked me up too!
An occasional moose comes down the train/trolley tracks all the way into Boston from up north. I saw one beside the trolley track that made it all the way to the stop for Fenway Park. That was not long ago. Deer are a regular site by the tracks.
Sherry, they called it “freshman fat” but it was really fear of Frau Schmart that drove me to eat cheese chimichangas in the basement of Aberdeen-Inverness Hall at UCR. [See Ramona’s post on daytime soap operas.]
Very funny, Reine! I’ll check out Ramona’s post!
Frau Schmart was her own soap opera. She let a select few of us—the troublemakers—into her room to see the photo of her father and his small remembrance flag from WWII. I became an exceedingly well-behaved student and graduated very early. Chills. Still.
I’m originally from New Jersey (although I now live in Maine), and one of the breakfast meats available there is called Scrapple. I suppose from the name alone I should have guessed, but it was so deliciously prepared at my favorite diner that I ordered it often…until my husband ruined it all by giving me a detailed rundown of the ingredients. I refuse to read the label or Google pork roll, which is another New Jersey favorite that I simply will not give up. Ignorance truly can be bliss. 🙂
I was introduced to scrapple when I moved from northern New Jersey to the Philadelphia suburbs. I agree. It’s delicious as long as you don’t focus on what you are eating.