Foreign food that scares me...

[Dagney]

Originally Posted by Beestie

However, even *I* won't try whale anus sushi. It was offered once in a Hawai'ian sushi bar and I'll try anything once. Except that.

Brings new meaning to the usage of the phrase "this tastes like ass!" wouldn't you say?

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by BrianR

Another note, Feel free to make random marks on a bill that is presented in Chinese and does not come with a translation into English.

If there are any people who were at the Joy Tsin Lau GTG way back when you should remember me doing just this in retaliation for the unreadable bill.

Brian

Hey, be grateful: At dim sum at Ocean Harbour, more than once our waiters have missed a couple items because the bill was illegible in between the blobs of soy sauce and duck grease.

And yes, they are really writing out a character when they make those five marks indicating how many dishes you've had.

I haven't had too many bad experiences (I love food), but in western China I have a) watched a cat get cooked, and b) eaten turtle, snake and whole frogs in the same meal at some decrepit restaurant near the southwestern city of Kunming.

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by melidasaur

I tend to think that all Chinese food is dirty, so I try to avoid it at all costs. I know that is a stupid thing to think, but I can't help it.

Sorry, got carried away with the smilies there. Carry on.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by melidasaur

I tend to think that all Chinese food is dirty, so I try to avoid it at all costs. I know that is a stupid thing to think, but I can't help it.

I'll betcha she eats hotdogs though ...

[melidasaur]

Originally Posted by wolf

I'll betcha she eats hotdogs though ...

Actually, I don't like hot dogs. I think they are pretty gross.

I try chinese food... and then as I take the first few bites, I realize, wait - I don't like chinese food.

If i make it myself... I'm okay. It's the restaurants that scare me and that stems from bad chinese food restaurant experiences. I've been to chinatowns all over the world and I try the food each time and each time I leave with feelings of regret and fear that I really didn't eat what I thought I ate.

Yes, I realize this is completely irrational. I'm trying to get over it because chinese food looks so good.

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by melidasaur

Actually, I don't like hot dogs. I think they are pretty gross.

You haven't had a Gray's Papaya dog in NY. EXCELLENT - they *snap* when you bite into them. An effect like no other dog on this planet.

Yes, I realize this is completely irrational. I'm trying to get over it because chinese food looks so good.

Just out of curiosity, what kinda stuff do you try? I know the stuff I eat doesn't sit well with most of my friends, but they're willing to go for the simple things like noodles and dumplings. If you dislike pig belly or cow intestines, that I can understand, but there's so much other good stuff to be had as well.

[zippyt]

A big bowl of soba noodles in broth with a few tasty bits floating in it would change her mind .
Me I will try most ANY thing at least once , and i went on 2 west pac cursies( the PI , JP, AUS, Malisia , etc...) , and was stationed in Iceland( can you say Sheep head, the WHOLE thing, eye balls and all ) for a year .
The only things i didn't enjoy were the Ballout in the PI , the dog in Okinowa( or was it MEX?? ) , and this dish from a street vender in Singapore that was noodles with 5 types of mushrooms , i like mushrooms but this was just TOOOOO much .
I refuse to eat chiterlings , tripe , munedo , guts in general , no way no how !!!!!
I know liver is good for me but it tastes like mud .

[melidasaur]

Originally Posted by breakingnews

Just out of curiosity, what kinda stuff do you try? I know the stuff I eat doesn't sit well with most of my friends, but they're willing to go for the simple things like noodles and dumplings. If you dislike pig belly or cow intestines, that I can understand, but there's so much other good stuff to be had as well.

I'm willing to try anything as long as the description on the menu is what I actually receive. For example, this past summer I went to china town in london for dinner - attempting to give chinese food a try. My dining companion and I ordered two dishes - one was a chicken and noodle soup type thing with snow peas and carrots - sounded tasty and harmless and the other was a honey braised pork with mushrooms.

The chicken and noodle dish was not soup - but was actually good. The pork on the other hand was basically just big pieces of fat - NO MEAT - just fat in a sickenly sweet sauce with no mushrooms. I was ordering PORK not fat. It was the grossest thing I have ever had in my life. I was expecting pork because that's what it said on the menu. Yet again, I was wronged by Chinese food.

Moral of the story: I'll eat chinese food if and only if the place where I'm at has no variation between menu description and what i receive on my plate. Other than that... I'm totally willing to give it a shot.

[jaguar]

Headcheese.

Whiskey, Foxtrot, Tango, over.

Lots of my friends work in restaurants or have, hell I've done a stint. If you think Chinese restaurants are any better or worse than 'western' ones you're kidding yourself.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by jaguar

Whiskey, Foxtrot, Tango, over.

Lots of my friends work in restaurants or have, hell I've done a stint. If you think Chinese restaurants are any better or worse than 'western' ones you're kidding yourself.

Oh, PLEASE, please, let's not get into a thing on restaurant cleanliness or grossness! I can barely eat now as it is!!!!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Did you ever think, when you eat Chinese
It ain't pork or chicken but a fat Siamese?
Yet the food tastes great, so you don’t complain.
But that’s not chicken in your chicken chow mein.
Seems to me I ordered sweet-and-sour pork
But Garfield’s on my fork.
He’s purrin’ here on my fork.

CHORUS
There’s a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon
The place that I eat every day at noon.
They can feed you cat and you’ll never know
Once they wrap it up in dough, boy.
They fry it real crisp in dough.

Chou Lin asked if I wanted more
As he was dialin’ up his buddy at the old pet store.
I said "Not today. I lost my appetite.
There’s two cats in my belly and they want to fight."
I was suckin’ on a Rolaid and a Tums or two
When I swear I heard it mew, boys.
And that is when I knew.

CHORUS
There’s a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon
I think I gotta stop eatin’ there at noon.
They say that it’s beef or fish or pork
But it’s purrin’ there on my fork.
There’s a hair-ball on my fork.

[Trilby]

Knowing that I can always count on bruce is an enormous relief.

Now, if you'll excuse me

[richlevy]

Well, in Chinatown here in Philly there are a lot of restaurants where the menus are in two languages. In most of them you have American-friendly foods side by side with what we consider exotic. A case in point are the dim sum places where you can have steamed dumplings or steamed chickens feet.

No, I didn't try any.

I did try oriental style beef brisket. It definitely wasn't like mom used to make. What I didn't like was the way it was cut, with the fatty layer sandwiched between the meat.

I won't do tripe or head cheese (brains), but I do like to try different seasonings, styles, and types of noodles. When I was a kid in the 60's, all you could find was Cantonese food. Now almost every province in China and most of the rest of Asia is represented by a restaurant in major cities.

There are almost too many choices. Lately I've been going to an Indian lunch buffet about once a month in Frazer. Tandoor chicken and Gulab Jamun for dessert.

[limey]

I was once on a train in southern Russia sharing food with a bunch of people I hardly knew. One offered me a meat sandwich and said the meat was a great delicacy, called "вымя" (vyymya). I took a bite, and as I chewed, I thought, "I know that word. It's one of the ten neuter nouns that end in "мя", a little grammatical oddity I had to learn at school, the words mean ... flag, earth, burden, time, name, tribe, seed, stirrup, crown, and .... UDDER! " I almost didn't manage to swallow. I didn't take another bite.

[wolf]

Gulab Jamun is one of the most magnificent foods in the universe. One of our Indian doctors (sadly, no longer employed at the hospital) would bring me a batch every time she made them at home.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering.