Food. It's a pretty broad term, but when you really think about it, food is an important aspect of defining our culture. When I say "hamburger" you think Americans. When I say "sushi" you think Japanese. When I say "egg fu yung" you think Chinese. When I say "bratwurst" you think of Germans. When I say "escargo" (I have no idea if I spelled that right), you think of French...So you see, food plays an important role in defining culture across the globe.
However, what "we" eat vs. what "they" eat can bring up some pretty hairy topics. American's, for some strange reason, seem to be the pickiest eaters out of all the cultures in the world. The dishes we eat are pretty straight and narrow (yes, I'm American). You have the basic food groups and they are clearly defined with "do's" and "don'ts"...You don't eat dogs. You don't mix blood in with your milk. You don't eat brains. Poisonous animals are not meant to be eaten. Cook your food ALWAYS. Tofu isn't in the food group. And so on...rarely do we deviate into the "weird and 'taboo'".
Personally, I find this strange, since America is supposably the melting pot of the world. You'd think we wouldn't be such wussies about trying different foods. Alas, that's not the case, and exotic dishes are left to fancy resturaunts or eaten inside the homes of immigrants, away from the fightened eyes of natural born American citizens. (yes, this was laced with sarcasim).
I'll admit, I won't eat just anything plopped in front of me. If someone gave me a plate of deep fried maggots or milk with blood clots, I'd definitly pass. I'm all for trying new things, but I have a firm line drawn. I've eaten bulls testicals which are pretty good, tried chocolate covered crickets, sushi is yummy, hell, I want to try natto just to see what it's like. But I refuse to eat certain things...I suppose most people do as well.
Anyway, after watching an interesting show on television, I felt compelled to talk about some of the most interesting, and some of the possibly most disgusting sounding food out there. Now giving credit where it's due, the cultures who practice what we might consider "unsanitary" or even "morally wrong" eating preferences, are no different than us here in the US. I'm sure some of our food makes them queezy...hell, it makes me queezy (like cheeze whiz and spam...). So I'm not trying to say what they're doing is wrong, hell no...I just find it interesting, and peculiar...perhaps anyone reading this will too.
I'm not a big fan of fish. I can pretty much say I don't care for anything that is cooked with fish, save a couple of dishes. I do like sushi, smoked salmon and stuffed salmon, but that's about it. I couldn't imagine growing up in Iceland, where shark (aka Harkl) is a delicacy. Rotting shark, that is. Apparently, this is a cultural food served around a specific time of the year to celebrate the Icelanders "viking roots". Vikings are cool. Rotting shark meat is not.
What do I mean by rotting? Well, think of road kill frying on a hot summer road. That's the kind of rotting I'm talking about. A shark is caught, cleaned and then buried in a pit for several months and left to rot. Later, it's brought out of the pit and hung up to finish the curing process. Later, it is eaten, perferably with a special drink called brennivín.
Why eat rotting shark? Well, apparently it's not all about good, Icelandic fun. The sharks are actually poisonous, their body emits a chemical akin to antifreeze which allows them to swim in the cold waters. Eating the meat could mean dying, unless it's cured properly. The best way to get the poisons out? Let the meat rot. You can learn more about this process? Go here.
I'd mentioned Criadillas earlier, or something similar. For all you boys reading this, you might want to skip this part. Criadillas are bulls tesitcals. We know them here as "Rocky Mountain Oysters". I've tried them and they are quite good! Of course, I ate them before knowing what they were, but I'd eat them again if given the chance. Usually the testicals are boiled in water and then fried (or deep fried) in a pan. More on criadillas and bulls in Spain...HERE.
Placenta anyone? Yup. P-l-a-c-e-n-t-a. As in what a fetus is attached to inside a mother. As a matter of fact, that site above as some super cool recepies on how to COOK YOUR OWN PLACENTA, for all you mothers to be out there! How's that for a baby shower dish (since many mothers are waiting until AFTER the baby is born to have their showers). Isn't it dandy!? Squeemish about eating a placenta? Just read this woman's story. I think it was published in Good Housekeeping a few years back, right next to the Martha Stewart is an angel arcticle...
*shudders* And these women are breeding...
Since we all know the jokes thrown around about certain cultures eating dogs, I figured I'd throw in a few recipies for those who are curious. Who's laughing now?
Dog Soup
For those of you in prison or who have been in prison, perhaps you're familar with Pruno? Oh...no...probably not...if you're reading this, it means you're still alive. All I have to say is...WTF...isn't anyone watching these stupid assholes? Then again, I suppose this is a good way to cleanse the gene pool...nothing like a good case of botulisim to take care of that. Good grief.
Baluut brings new meaning to "hide the egg". A fertilized egg of some fowl, that is. You've got to bury it too, let it incubate for a bit, then scoop out the half grown embryo with a spoon. Yum Yum! Baluut here!
And just for laughs, why don't you take a look at the FDA Handbook. This will tell you how many flies eggs are allowed to pass through your tomato juice or how many roaches can be legally cooked into your twinkies. Heh...
Neighbors goats pissing you off? Are they jumping on your car and eating your roses? No worries. You can thank your neighbor for being such a responsible live stock owner by serving them some Goat Head Soup. That might get the point across. Make sure to leave the eyeballs in...they're the best part.
And just for shits and giggles, everyone needs to go check out this site and this one for a few good laughs...
Well, that's all I've got for today. If you have any gross food stories to talk about, I'd like to hear them!
Take care!
Posted by Zoso at May 16, 2004 12:47 AM