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Just back from a business trip to Malaysia and my colleagues there took delight in introducing me to Durian fruit - the taste and smell are difficult to describe, but it’s banned from nice hotels and the local subway on account of the latter. The durian chocolates we brought back for the office have been described (accurately) as smelling and tasting like there’s a gas leak!

Goes to show, there’s nowt as strange as the palettes of other cultures. Has anyone ever tried snake whisky or that pickled, rotten shark you get in Iceland?

Joost wrote:Just back from a business trip to Malaysia and my colleagues there took delight in introducing me to Durian fruit - the taste and smell are difficult to describe, but it’s banned from nice hotels and the local subway on account of the latter. The durian chocolates we brought back for the office have been described (accurately) as smelling and tasting like there’s a gas leak!

Goes to show, there’s nowt as strange as the palettes of other cultures. Has anyone ever tried snake whisky or that pickled, rotten shark you get in Iceland?

Palates.

I've eaten dog and sinew.

Also turned into ice cream and aggressively marketed

“Durian looks like shit, smells like shit, and tastes like shit. However, another reader had to add, One may try Durian ice cream. Then it smells like shit, tastes like shit, but looks like ice cream.”

I ate candied ants in Colombia, they sold them everywhere in Medellin and some places on the coast. In Bogota they also had a big jar of them in a really fancy confectionery shop. They were pretty crunchy.

I got grasshoppers or crickets or whatever they were in Cambodia. They were really disgusting. Not the taste or anything, just the knowledge that that is what you were eating. They were fairly meaty and juicy too so

The South Africans put ice cubes into wine.

Went to a market in Sulawesi where they had dogs, bats (wings separate), pythons. A taxi driver showed me the national Geographic about the Celebes crested macaque (selfie Monkey), apparently some Indonesian tribes eat those also.

I'd also add from a Western contribution, the Dutch Harring:



Actually quite nice in a white roll with onions.

Bullettyme wrote:I ate candied ants in Colombia, they sold them everywhere in Medellin and some places on the coast. In Bogota they also had a big jar of them in a really fancy confectionery shop. They were pretty crunchy.

I got grasshoppers or crickets or whatever they were in Cambodia. They were really disgusting. Not the taste or anything, just the knowledge that that is what you were eating. They were fairly meaty and juicy too so

The South Africans put ice cubes into wine.

A fellow PR bordie went to China a few years ago and showed me pics of them eating skewered and BBQed spiders and scorpions.

Mopani worms?

China also offers the delicacy of monkey brains, scooped from the skull of a live monkey fastened to a harness beneath the table with the head poked through a hole in the table.

We managed to eat it.

Mexican cuisine.

AUssies and kiwis put beetroot on burgers

Yuk

Ate scorpion one time. Initially tastes like black pudding but has a putrid after-taste. Scorpion rum is lovely though. You find that all over Laos. Probably just a gimmick.

That Durian fruit is alright, in spite of the smell. One that possibly isn't that rare but I never had it at home is guava fruit. My favourite thing to eat in Nepal. India I think would be the biggest producer.

Nolanator wrote:A fellow PR bordie went to China a few years ago and showed me pics of them eating skewered and BBQed spiders and scorpions.

Spiders

I wouldn't want one of those things near me at all. Leave it on the grill until it's well, well done.

Kiwias wrote:China also offers the delicacy of monkey brains, scooped from the skull of a live monkey fastened to a harness beneath the table with the head poked through a hole in the table.

We managed to eat it.

hermie wrote:One that possibly isn't that rare but I never had it at home is guava fruit. My favourite thing to eat in Nepal. India I think would be the biggest producer.

Very common in Latin America too, I'm not sure where it originated from but I think it's popular in the middle east too. In South and Central America they make it into a paste and then into jellies or sweets. They also eat it with cheese which is called bocadillo (I think), which I thought was pretty weird at first.

Nolanator wrote:

Bullettyme wrote:I ate candied ants in Colombia, they sold them everywhere in Medellin and some places on the coast. In Bogota they also had a big jar of them in a really fancy confectionery shop. They were pretty crunchy.

I got grasshoppers or crickets or whatever they were in Cambodia. They were really disgusting. Not the taste or anything, just the knowledge that that is what you were eating. They were fairly meaty and juicy too so

The South Africans put ice cubes into wine.

A fellow PR bordie went to China a few years ago and showed me pics of them eating skewered and BBQed spiders and scorpions.

I ate a tarantula in Cambodia. Was pretty inoffensive

Durian is disgusting. The streets of Bangkok reek of it.

Kiwias wrote:China also offers the delicacy of monkey brains, scooped from the skull of a live monkey fastened to a harness beneath the table with the head poked through a hole in the table.

We managed to eat it.

Jesus

I ate some crickets in Thailand and snails and frogs legs in France. That's about as exotic as I've got.

Bullettyme wrote:

hermie wrote:One that possibly isn't that rare but I never had it at home is guava fruit. My favourite thing to eat in Nepal. India I think would be the biggest producer.

Very common in Latin America too, I'm not sure where it originated from but I think it's popular in the middle east too. In South and Central America they make it into a paste and then into jellies or sweets. They also eat it with cheese which is called bocadillo (I think), which I thought was pretty weird at first.

Grows all along the KZN coast here in SA. We literally had 3 different types growing in our backyard.

Lovely fruit, but the seeds are indigestible. Eat too many and you rue visiting the toilet the next day.

Century eggs. Absolutely fúcking vile.

The locals will have you believe that durian smells like shit but tastes lovely. But I can’t get past the smell to try it.

At one point I worked in a place that had a night shift and the team would always have durian on a Friday night. Place still stank like shit on Monday morning!

Leffe wrote:Went to a market in Sulawesi where they had dogs, bats (wings separate), pythons. A taxi driver showed me the national Geographic about the Celebes crested macaque (selfie Monkey), apparently some Indonesian tribes eat those also.

I'd also add from a Western contribution, the Dutch Harring:



Actually quite nice in a white roll with onions.

1,2

CrazyIslander wrote:

Kiwias wrote:China also offers the delicacy of monkey brains, scooped from the skull of a live monkey fastened to a harness beneath the table with the head poked through a hole in the table.

We managed to eat it.

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

In Shanghai,
Pigs ear cartilage, sparrow on a stick rolled in MSG, eggs boiled in tea where a chick is actually growing.

Where I drew the line was in the Peace Hotel, fish lightly breaded and pan seared...served whole with slits cut by the chef down the body (like a continuation of the gills)...
.
.
.
.
the fish was still alive!

Durian is delicious. Smells like shit though.

Balut is interesting.

Durian is in season at the moment, we're eating it almost every day. Wonderful fruit.

Bullettyme wrote: The South Africans put ice cubes into wine.

Woman may put ice cubes into white wine to chill it...rarely.

Diego wrote:Century eggs. Absolutely fúcking vile.

They are not that bad, with anchovies they are great.

Farva wrote:Durian is delicious. Smells like shit though.

Balut is interesting.

Is not an adjective I would have used...

My next contribution is a snake restaurant in Tokyo, where they chop the head off a live snake and hang the body up by a bulldog clip to let the blood drain into a glass.

As you enjoy the glass of blood, the chef skins the snake and serves the flesh finely sliced as sashimi.

Kiwias wrote:My next contribution is a snake restaurant in Tokyo, where they chop the head off a live snake and hang the body up by a bulldog clip to let the blood drain into a glass.

As you enjoy the glass of blood, the chef skins the snake and serves the flesh finely sliced as sashimi.

Had the blood and bile in Hanoi. Then, as the oldest male I was handed a shot glass with rice wine and the snake heart...

Hong Kong wrote:

Farva wrote:Durian is delicious. Smells like shit though.

Balut is interesting.

Is not an adjective I would have used...

Foul is another adjective I considered.

Farva wrote:

Kiwias wrote:My next contribution is a snake restaurant in Tokyo, where they chop the head off a live snake and hang the body up by a bulldog clip to let the blood drain into a glass.

As you enjoy the glass of blood, the chef skins the snake and serves the flesh finely sliced as sashimi.

Had the blood and bile in Hanoi. Then, as the oldest male I was handed a shot glass with rice wine and the snake heart...

Sounds good.

zippy wrote:In Shanghai,
Pigs ear cartilage

That's quite nice I thought. I had it in some kind of cold noodle salad.

danny_fitz wrote:

Diego wrote:Century eggs. Absolutely fúcking vile.

They are not that bad, with anchovies they are great.

I only had them with cold tofu and spring onions. Not good.

Kiwias wrote:

Farva wrote:

Kiwias wrote:My next contribution is a snake restaurant in Tokyo, where they chop the head off a live snake and hang the body up by a bulldog clip to let the blood drain into a glass.

As you enjoy the glass of blood, the chef skins the snake and serves the flesh finely sliced as sashimi.

Had the blood and bile in Hanoi. Then, as the oldest male I was handed a shot glass with rice wine and the snake heart...

Sounds good.

Cooked snake tastes like chicken. But I coildnt imagine snake sashimi. Any good?

Sea Cucumber.
Basically a big f**king underwater slug.

Farva wrote:

Kiwias wrote:

Farva wrote:

Kiwias wrote:My next contribution is a snake restaurant in Tokyo, where they chop the head off a live snake and hang the body up by a bulldog clip to let the blood drain into a glass.

As you enjoy the glass of blood, the chef skins the snake and serves the flesh finely sliced as sashimi.

Had the blood and bile in Hanoi. Then, as the oldest male I was handed a shot glass with rice wine and the snake heart...

Sounds good.

Cooked snake tastes like chicken. But I coildnt imagine snake sashimi. Any good?

Surprisingly light flavoured flesh, lovely with wasabi and soy sauce.

This guy is very very brave.

Diego wrote:

zippy wrote:In Shanghai,
Pigs ear cartilage

That's quite nice I thought. I had it in some kind of cold noodle salad.

They eat that in Spain as well. Wouldn't be a massive fan.

Kiwias wrote:China also offers the delicacy of monkey brains, scooped from the skull of a live monkey fastened to a harness beneath the table with the head poked through a hole in the table.

We managed to eat it.

Hell, no.