On Food: Delicacies For The Strong Stomach
“Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
On Food: Delicacies For The Strong Stomach... How about snake for lunch?
I’m a huge fan of the Travel Channel and the escapades of Andrew Zimmern, Anthony Bourdain and a host of other talented, adventurous gourmands on that TV station. So the WP prompt on food brought back memories of oddities I’ve tried in my lifetime… It’s funny that I am now vegetarian but back in the day, I was as curious as the next person and when a bolder cousin dared me to try something new; albeit odd, I went for it. Yeah, I actually enjoyed eating snails and roasted termites. Flying termites are seasonal and gathered by lamp light in basins of water and then roasted with salt in large clay pots. Goats’ brains are made into a very popular and tasty dish with other ingredients that could be equally barf-worthy to people unfamiliar with the dish. As for frogs’ legs, the French still eat them and they aren’t bad at all.
Mini Recipe – Fried Flying Termites 😉
Gather them by lamp or candle light
Start a wood-burning fire outside
Dig up your metal or clay wok
Add rock salt to the mix and roast till crispy. Bon Appétit
I’m not sure why I bothered to try snake meat other than because I was eager to prove a point. I don’t like snakes and whenever I would come across even a garden variety on our farm, I would run off. One of my male cousins, Chuks, found a garden snake one day and killed it. Before we knew it, kids gathered, a small wood fire was started, and the bloody thing roasted to an oily, crispy treat. Pieces were handed out and when I refused, another cousin dared me to eat it and not wimp out. I tried it. The Snake was oily and I barfed.
On Food: Delicacies For The Strong Stomach... Puffer fish, anyone?
I am no Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods fame, but I can understand how foods are appreciated and tastes for certain foods are acquired by people around the world. For instance, I love hot peppery foods and can handle some pretty hot stuff. Another person may love raw meats and fish or other delicacies unique to their culture; even drinking sour milk is an acquired taste and while it makes one person wonder why, it makes another smile. What do you think? More below…
“The lion is most handsome when looking for food” Jalal ad-Din Rumi
On Food: Delicacies For The Strong Stomach... pass the frogs legs, will ya?
While I don’t mind trying new foods, I find Andrew’s escapades disturbing; some are so extreme. Also, what makes Andrew’s adventures disturbing to watch is the way the camera pans right, and then at close up, as he shoves another fried worm down his throat, rolls his eyes and smacks his lips. Excuse me, at least Anthony Bourdain shows sufficient disgust when he eats something off the chart; that way we, the audience, can commiserate as his grimaces and barfs off camera. Andrew will have none of that. He goes for the gold, and eats anything no matter what or where. Yikes!
The foods I mentioned and the ones I’ve tried are considered delicacies. Hey, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Is there something I’d like to try? The puffer fish? Now that would be daring… For now, I’d say no. Nada! What about you? What odd foods have you tried? What have you eaten that might make me barf? What more would you like to try? Do share! Thank you. 😉
This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Daily Post: What’s a food you’ve wanted to try? And adapted from a previous post on my other blog – Positive Kismet: Food Frenzy
Positive Motivation Tip: Food nurtures us gives us memories we hold on forever… be daring.
Related articles
- How Andrew Zimmern Cooks At Home (huffingtonpost.com)
- Lonely Planet Publishes A Moveable Feast: Life-Changing Food Adventures Around the World (prweb.com)
- Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (bookjourney.wordpress.com)
- Inspiration: A Perfect Meal… (eof737.wordpress.com)
- The Media Equation: Bringing Comfort Food to Print Fans (nytimes.com)
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos snake meat, pufferfish, frog meat, via Wikipedia.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
You sure eat strange things in your part of the world. 🙂
I live in NY! 😆 Jokes aside, people eat unusual things around the world…
It just becomes a way of life until a visitor from another part of the world shows up and announces how bizarre a common food is…
It’s all good. What odd thing would you try? 😉
Yikes SNAILS!~Ithe merethought of putting them in my mouth….yuck yuck yuck….brrrrrr yuck. My daughter lives in France and when I went to stay with the inlaws one Christmas a plate of snails was put in front of me….everyone just looked at me ….no, even for the sake of diplomatic relations I could not eat them. then came the Fois Gras…! I went hungry that night!
As long as they don’t tell me what it is first and it’s cooked ” chef” style, I’m game!
Or should I rethink that again. I have some stories of what my parents fed me when I was a boy because they were told it will cure my asthma but It’s gross for the regular viewers. Great post my friend. Thanks for the last comment.
I think I’ve heard of the asthma recipe you refer to… Did it work, at least?
It’s all a matter of taste 🙂
greetings – actually – from Freising, Bavaria, near Munich – the food is different in Bavaria, compared to other german regions; only McDonalds & Coca Cola are everywhere 🙂
Some consider them strange, but I really like brains, liver and ox tongue. Of course kangaroo is a favourite!
Like you, I’d be a no for the poisonous fish too – what if the chef got it wrong? No thanks! Snake? I think I’ll skip that too!
Funny, a friend from Zambia thought it terrible that we ate kangaroo. I asked if they ate antelope. Same difference, I said! 🙂
I think the Italians eat horse??? Anyway I can’t even contemplate drinking a few raw eggs stirred liquid,…I find the mere thought so nauseating..
Fruits, veggies, grains, legumes . . . my cup of tea
Eating anything that had a mother is not for me
Thanks for the termites recipe, exactly what I was looking for 😉
I still delight in shocking people by telling them that once I’ve eaten chocolate covered ants (I have, as a dare, and they weren’t that bad), but I’m dreading the moment when someone replies “Oh really? Wait a sec…here, a whole bag full, have it.”
Living in Greece, I occasionally get offered Greek delicacies like snails, stuffed or stewed offal, tripe and so on (and yes, I do think lamb’s liver is delicious), and I make a point of politely eating at least a small helping and praising it (once I found out how to – just as politely – decline a second serving). Yet I’m glad I’ve not been exposed to the whole range yet…
One of my ‘resolutions’ this year was to be a bit more adventurous with food. Emphasis on ‘a bit’. I prefer more traditional fare to exotic delicacies.
Ugh, I don’t think I would eat any of these delicacies… Very courageous of you to try them!
Sometimes I do find it hard to get into the right mindset :-/ But when I see the enthusiasm, pride and joy of the cook who presents me with these valued goodies, well, wouldn’t it be unkind to reject them? By the way, as a child I developed a technique of eating what I didn’t like: don’t chew too much, have a bit of bread with it and down it 😉
I don’t think I have ate anything too crazy…my mom ate frog legs as a kid because her aunt told her they were chicken legs until AFTER she had ate them….and she couldn’t tell the difference.
I admire your strong stomach!. I’m not as daring as you are when it comes to trying new food. I guess I got that from my dad. At home, mom and dad always cooked ordinary dishes. Even the famous “Balut” (a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell) here in our country is not something that I’m a fan of eating. Have you tried that one? 🙂
I couldn’t even look at the snake, had to scroll down really quickly so I could read your post. Then I saw the frog. Yuck!
My uncle used to bring eels home and cook them up but he could never get me to eat any of it.
I’ve heard that termites are full of protein. I guess it’s an acquired taste. Maybe if they’re crispy I could eat them if I convince myself they’re like fried fish, which I love, especially with the head attached. Some of my friends can’t stand the sight of it.
Having grown up in different parts of the world (quite like you, Eliz), you encounter many strange delicacies. I do like trying different things but I am no Andrew Zimmerman either! TRY the pufferfish–it’s quite delicious!
When I think that something looks or tastes weird, I remember that everything relative and that what I find normal, others may think weird, and vice versa. Thanks Eliz. Miriam