In lieu of the e-drama I started in the Korean dog thread, I got to thinkin'...which is dangerous.
I've eaten some weird stuff in my 35+ year stint on earth. Being a die-hard carnivore, most of my odd meals have at one time walked, crawled, swam, flew or slithered around.
Different cultures around the world obviously have varying views on what, or more specifically, what is NOT taboo to eat.
Lest we who have "sinned" cast the first stone...I'll start with where I grew up, SW Ohio. I'm a hilljack by birthright, and man...my people eat some weird stuff! "Rocky mountain oysters" aka deer nuts. Yup. Tried 'em. Ick. If they were fried I probably would have liked them, though. Hell you could deep fry a cat turd and put it on a stick and I'll like it. Anyways...I also have eaten a few critters you can find in the woods out back. Squirrels, rabbits, and I even had possum once in a stew. Deer are cute. They are also delicious. I've also had elk, moose, and caribou when travelling out west. Yum. My actual favorite meat is wild boar. Down south I've eaten turtles, frogs, alligator, and bit the heads off of pounds of crayfish.
As an adult I lived for quite some time in a community that was 80% Asian, and the friends I met there got me to eat a bunch of stuff I never would have imagined. I never had dog or cat, but I have it on pretty good authority the food grade version of dogs are available for personal consumption deep down in the Asian market community. **NOTE** The following info is straight from my friend's lips, when I asked him about it. He's from mainland China: Yes, dogs ARE eaten commonly in Asia, not just Korea. Old habits die hard, as they say, and dog consumption in this country is generally confined to those who are newer arrivals to our country, and usually only among those from more rural areas. Even in Asia, Fido the family dog is safe at home or on the farm. Consumable dogs are bred like any domestic food animal we have here. Rumors that crazed Asians kidnap dogs in Golden Gate park are patently false. Fluffy missing? Li or Tran are NOT grilling her up on the Weber. Even here, the rare practice of dog eating has it's own sources that ARE NOT the pound or the dog park. /end rant.
O.K., done ranting, the odd stuff my Asian friends introduced me to were not weird by what they were when they were alive, but more so how they were prepared. For instance, most of us have had frog legs. Yum. The first time I ordered "fried frog" at a local Chinese place in San Fran I was taken aback when the owner came out with a bucket and said "which one"? In the bucket were about 8 HUGE Bullfrogs, bigger than my hand. "That one", I said as I pointed, "He looks sad anyway!" 10 minutes later I had a big ole plate of fried frog bits with garlic and black bean sauce. It was awesome. They eat most of the frog, not just the legs. If you get fish, it generally has a head. Fish never look happy when you're eating them. The other thing I got to love out there was raw stuff. Sushi, sashimi. I know it sounds gross, but it's awesome and very, very good for you. Raw lobster served on a bed of ice is unbelievably tasty, and a TRUE natural aphrodisiac ::wink, wink::.
Other weird crap I've had is BBQ'd goat, cooked in a traditional Mexican way where it's cooked in an underground "oven" of sorts. It was awesome. I've also had rattlesnake, bear, and savage duck.
So let's review:
Mammals I done 'et:
Squirrel
Rabbit
Pussum
Deer (nuts and all)
Elk
Caribou
Moose
Bear
Wild Bore
Goat
Cow
Pig
Birds:
Chicken
Turkey
Pheasant
Game Hen
Quail
Duck
Spotted Owl (just kidding)
Reptiles/Amphibians
Snake
Turtle
Frog
Alligator
Fish:
Most
What weird stuff have you eaten?
I've eaten some weird stuff in my 35+ year stint on earth. Being a die-hard carnivore, most of my odd meals have at one time walked, crawled, swam, flew or slithered around.
Different cultures around the world obviously have varying views on what, or more specifically, what is NOT taboo to eat.
Lest we who have "sinned" cast the first stone...I'll start with where I grew up, SW Ohio. I'm a hilljack by birthright, and man...my people eat some weird stuff! "Rocky mountain oysters" aka deer nuts. Yup. Tried 'em. Ick. If they were fried I probably would have liked them, though. Hell you could deep fry a cat turd and put it on a stick and I'll like it. Anyways...I also have eaten a few critters you can find in the woods out back. Squirrels, rabbits, and I even had possum once in a stew. Deer are cute. They are also delicious. I've also had elk, moose, and caribou when travelling out west. Yum. My actual favorite meat is wild boar. Down south I've eaten turtles, frogs, alligator, and bit the heads off of pounds of crayfish.
As an adult I lived for quite some time in a community that was 80% Asian, and the friends I met there got me to eat a bunch of stuff I never would have imagined. I never had dog or cat, but I have it on pretty good authority the food grade version of dogs are available for personal consumption deep down in the Asian market community. **NOTE** The following info is straight from my friend's lips, when I asked him about it. He's from mainland China: Yes, dogs ARE eaten commonly in Asia, not just Korea. Old habits die hard, as they say, and dog consumption in this country is generally confined to those who are newer arrivals to our country, and usually only among those from more rural areas. Even in Asia, Fido the family dog is safe at home or on the farm. Consumable dogs are bred like any domestic food animal we have here. Rumors that crazed Asians kidnap dogs in Golden Gate park are patently false. Fluffy missing? Li or Tran are NOT grilling her up on the Weber. Even here, the rare practice of dog eating has it's own sources that ARE NOT the pound or the dog park. /end rant.
O.K., done ranting, the odd stuff my Asian friends introduced me to were not weird by what they were when they were alive, but more so how they were prepared. For instance, most of us have had frog legs. Yum. The first time I ordered "fried frog" at a local Chinese place in San Fran I was taken aback when the owner came out with a bucket and said "which one"? In the bucket were about 8 HUGE Bullfrogs, bigger than my hand. "That one", I said as I pointed, "He looks sad anyway!" 10 minutes later I had a big ole plate of fried frog bits with garlic and black bean sauce. It was awesome. They eat most of the frog, not just the legs. If you get fish, it generally has a head. Fish never look happy when you're eating them. The other thing I got to love out there was raw stuff. Sushi, sashimi. I know it sounds gross, but it's awesome and very, very good for you. Raw lobster served on a bed of ice is unbelievably tasty, and a TRUE natural aphrodisiac ::wink, wink::.
Other weird crap I've had is BBQ'd goat, cooked in a traditional Mexican way where it's cooked in an underground "oven" of sorts. It was awesome. I've also had rattlesnake, bear, and savage duck.
So let's review:
Mammals I done 'et:
Squirrel
Rabbit
Pussum
Deer (nuts and all)
Elk
Caribou
Moose
Bear
Wild Bore
Goat
Cow
Pig
Birds:
Chicken
Turkey
Pheasant
Game Hen
Quail
Duck
Spotted Owl (just kidding)
Reptiles/Amphibians
Snake
Turtle
Frog
Alligator
Fish:
Most
What weird stuff have you eaten?
