Disturbing foods you can't stop eating.
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 - 7:43pm
I like to think I maintain a relatively normal diet. I'm not one of those people who limits their food intake to raw grains or uncooked vegetables, for example. And I've got reasonable boundaries--although I'll try just about anything once, I'm not especially adventurous.
Still, every so often I find myself hooked on a product or food that in many circles would be regarded as just plain wrong. Here are some examples:
Chinotto. It's an italian soda, made from cola-like herbs and the juice of some kind of bitter fruit. I think it tastes kind of like a mixture of Coca-Cola, Robitussin, and bitter orange peel extract. My wife, however, describes its flavor as a mix of rotten orange juice, toothpaste, and maple syrup. And yet I crave it. There's only one store in the city that sells it, and I might be the one person in the city that buys it, but there you go.
Fisherman's Friend lozenges. A co-worker game me some of these a while back when I had a head cold. They seemed to help. Later I discovered that they kept me from falling asleep during long, boring work meetings and presentations (kind of like smelling salts). Now I'm eating them just because, even though their flavor is indescribably noxious. Who in their right mind decided to mix Menthol, Capsicum, Eucalyptus Oil, Natural Licorice, Sugar, and Tragacanth? And what the hell is Tragacanth?
Secret Aardvark habanero hot sauce. I discovered this at a local cafe and loved it. When I found it at the nearby hippie grocery store I bought four bottles, then proceeded to eat only foods that I could justify smothering in its fiery goodness. Last year my wife contacted the manufacturer (they're local) and got me a whole case--25 bottles--for Christmas. I'm a little embarrassed, and disturbed, to admit it was gone by July. I've built up a pretty good tolerance to the burning now, but in the early weeks I had to force myself to eat through the pain. I've always liked hot sauces (Tabasco and Tapatio, mainly), but this is painfully hot. It's also incredibly delicious.
My guilty pleasure junk food is Pork Rinds. It's one of those weird cravings that I get 3 or 4 times a year.
Ha! That was the only thing I had I could think to post.
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Pizza Hut breadsticks.
All the nutritional value of cardboard and about the same flavor, but that marinara sauce does something magical to them that makes me hungrily devour a box or two on a disturbingly regular basis.
Pickled herring. My grandmother was Finnish.
I like the kind that come pickled in sour cream with onions, I eat them on Triscuits.
Being cajun by heritage, there isn't much I won't consider eating, if its cooked well. Food is well, you know, food, but things I enjoy that bug other people are boiled crawfish, boudin, liver, raw oysters, and calamari. None of these things bug me, especially in the northwest where everything is harder to get, except for good oysters. If I'm in an authentic Mexican joint I'll order lengue, I ate cuy in Ecuador, ceviche when I can get my hands on it, I really like a good Paella w/ little octopi in it (for some reason the tiny octapi freak people out more than other foods, but the shock value doesn't really enter into my enjoyment of these things. I eat them because they taste good. Speaking of which, it has been too long since I've had an oyster shooter. Time to fix that.
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Durian
I just found a farmer that grows it domestically..... stinky happiness. The cat hasn't stopped complaining for 3 days
Century Eggs
The wife can't even handle knowing that they're in the kitchen...
I have more favorite foods from the offal category but these are usually enough to have people shun me
Those damn Starbursts they sell at Blockbuster
Seconded on pork rinds. Horriffic foods on several levels, and yet, I find myself coming back to them 2-3 times a year.
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I eat anything. When I was a kid, I used to eat Hershey Bars with the wrappers on them.
Now my worst indulgence is maybe lamb fries when I can get a good batch.
shihonage wrote:
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Dude...you pretty much summed it up.
I shop at a few local korean markets. Those durians are so interesting from a distance and so rancid up close. They keep them in an almost-freezer and they still stink.
And century eggs - I almost talked myself into trying one in Taiwan. I had it on my plate and took it back to the table but could not do the deed. It was too foul, and I'm a pretty adventurous eater.
MrDeVil909: I feel it necessary to point out that there are drug resistant strains of most STDs. Especially in developing nations.
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...and people thought I was crazy for that.
Pickled herring is fantastic!
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Chinotto is awful stuff. I had one sip and it was easily the worst tasting food or beverage I've ever had.
I happen to like mountain oysters (cow testicles), but that's usually a mental issue with people rather than a taste issue.
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I can vouch for these as well. The Hut's marinara sauce beats the heck out of their competitors.
None of them could compete with the sauce that Little Caesar used to soak their hot wings in, though. Screw the meat, I'd just sop up the juice with Crazy Bread and call it a meal.
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Bleah, never could stomach pork rinds, even worse when I knew what they were made from.
Now years ago back at NIU most pizza places delivered and had a most wonderful breadstick derivative called a pizza nugget. Those were irregular chunks of baked dough with a cup of marinara sauce. They almost never tasted the same way twice or were fully baked, but they were oh so good.
These days it seems that I can't stop with the raw fish, spicy tuna rolls are this month's winner. Of course the martini knock-off made with sake helps too.
Wiki's Century Egg page linked me to Balut, which actually made me gag. I don't know about anyone else here, but something about that particular 'delicacy' seems inherently wrong.
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Boiled beef tongue. I actually haven't made one in years, because my wife freaks out, but I love the stuff. Especially cold & sliced on a sandwich.
"Raise high the black flags, my children."
-- Gebhard von Blucher.
Just curious, what is lengue? This is when I start to feel like an ignorant of my own culture.
I think he means lengua.
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Damn straight. I can't see it being disturbing though, but perhaps culturally different. For midsummer it's tradition to eat pickled herring with new potatoes, sour cream and usually some chopped chives sprinkled on top. Since it's so simple to prepare I eat it every now and then.
While on fish and traditions, we usually have lutefisk some time around christmas. Served with potatoes and a white sauce with (dark) mustard it's probably one of those things that you either love or hate. It's usually a once a year kind of thing for practical reasons, but I always look forward to it.
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Yeah... I googled it with no luck. Cuy seems pretty unattractive in the pics I could find, and everything else you listed seems perfectly normal to me.
/edit.... looks like my question was answered before I posted
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Thanks. I guess it's barbacoa de lengua then, I can't recall any other food made from a tongue.
Filet mignon.
Hrm, seriously, I am such a picky eater, I can't think of a single "disturbing" food that I eat. I only eat boring food.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Yup I meant tongue. I can't spell terribly well even in my native language.
*Legion* wrote:
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Pag's made the best ones. You could also get a cheese sauce for 'em.
Personally, I'm a big fan of sardines. I usually pick out the spinal cord, though. And I love braunschweiger, limburger, and onion sandwiches. That'll keep the wife away.
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Balut is simply wrong. The first time I ever saw someone eat it, it was a little mature. I'll stop there...
Yeah, we Norwegians enjoy fish soaked in lye as well.... for some reason.
SCANDINAVIA!
shihonage wrote:
PSN: BoogleGWJI'm pretty tame compared to you guys, but a deep fried Snickers bar is disturbingly tasty. Also hot dogs, caviar, and Yoplait. Yeah, I'm a man and I eat Yoplait, wanna fight about it?
I'm still waiting to get inside something, so for the moment, it's been very much "poke around the ravine." - rabbit
Mine's not that bad..Just Chinese take out. But I eat it a lot.
Garlic Ribs.
Ribs (pork short ribs, I think)
deep fried in sugar and salt with garlic...and sugar... and salt.
also sometimes staples.... and sometimes the garlic is blue..
and sometimes the entire staff is high.
It's pretty good.
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