Friday, August 22, 2008

Omnivores Unite!

Do you consider yourself an adventurous eater? Want to give Anthony Bourdain a run for his money?

I was brought up with a father who eats anything from cow stomach (tripe- (KirkK, thanks for the clarification!) to pig ears . Gross, I know. As a child, I was mortified by my father's feasts, and secretly hoped he wasn't some kind of scary beast. Love ya Dad! Now I suppose I'm glad I grew up in such an environment. I am willing to try anything at least once, though I admit that I've regretted it a few times

(i.e. chicken feet = bad idea).


I saw this post on Cate's Sweetnicks, and thought it was a fun post for a Friday afternoon. The Omnivore's 100 is a list compiled by Very Good Taste and includes foods that Andrew thinks every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list of foods ranges from the mundane (PB&J sandwich) to the totally obscure (at least to me - Lapsang souchong).

Try it out and let me know how adventurous your taste buds are! See anything I must try? Have anything you'd like to add to this list?

Here's the simple rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (I'll try anything once, remember!)
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

If I counted correctly, I have 62/100!

Omnivore's 100
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (does Boone's count? :)
19. Steamed pork buns (a staple in our house growing up)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (I'd go back to SF just for this experience)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I may have eaten rattlesnake, but not a big mac meal!)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (sometimes a daily treat)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (ooh, I grew up with these as a snack! Hubby has never had them. Weirdo).
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (I'm no horse lover but this one kind of scares me!)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (rattlesnake sausage!!)

24 comments:

Aggie said...

OMG tripe is cow's intestines??? I've had tripe before...many times as a child...I don't think I ever really knew (or asked) what it was!!!!

I like this post!!

KirkK said...

Hi Sharon - I believe tripe is acutally from one of the 3 stomachs of the cow. Nice list, I'm surprised at how many things I've consumed. I think I need to go on a diet. You sure are an adventurous eater.

Sharon said...

Aggie - well, it's cow stomach as Kirk points out below. Either way, gross in my book :)

KirkK, thanks for the clarification. Foie Gras is next on my list!

Larissa said...

I will eat many of those things, but the thought of black pudding frightens me.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

You're on the good way to get to the 100! There are so many foods in the list i don't even know what they are, maybe because of translation. I would try most things, except for live animals!

grace said...

ick--how could eating chicken feet be anything other than a bad experience? you're a braver woman than i. :)

sarah said...

Wowza. I'm so picky, there's no way I'd make it past MAYBE ten things on the list. As in, the most normal things there. 62 is really impressive!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

You're definitely an adventurous eater!! :0D

Aggie said...

intestines, stomach....ICK! I don't want to think about it anymore...:)

Anonymous said...

You've tried many more of these than I have!

MrOrph said...

Well Sharon, when you and hubby get to the ATL, I'll be sure to have a snifter of King Louis and a fatty from my humidor waiting for the both of you.

Sharon said...

larissa - to be honest, I'm not sure what exactly black pudding entails but I can imagine it's nothing I want either.

clumbsy cookie - There's definitely quite a few things I'm not sure about either. If you go to the original post, he has links to the wikipedia definition for a lot of the foods.

grace - it will go down as one of the worst decisions of my life. Everyone else at dim sum was doing it, I thought why shouldn't I? ICK ICK ICK!

sarah - a PBJ is considered exotic in some cultures so don't you worry!

veggie girl - I say I'll eat anything once, but it doesn't mean I've liked it all!

aggie - yes, let's think of nice things like ice cream :)

noble pig - I was surprised at home many things I'd eaten of the list!

mrorph - now that sounds like a deal :)

Sweet Treats by Dani said...

looks like u have been pretty brave... I could never think about eating some of the things on this list... hahaha

vanillasugarblog said...

Ooooo girl you are daring for not crossing anything out.
Head cheese scares me!
Hold me

Cate said...

Ok, now that I know exactly what tripe is, I can assure you I won't be tasting it any time soon.

Unknown said...

You gotta try scrapple. It sounds gross but it's suprisingly delicious. I just had some beef scrapple this morning on toast with a little yellow mustard. Quite good. FI prefers it with jelly, though.

Prudy said...

Oh, I've had chicken feet when I was a missionary in Chile. Not good, no sir, not good at all.

That Girl said...

I like you because we have a very similar score!

Anonymous said...

oh man - my dad is also pretty adventurous in his eating. me, not as much, but i would have eaten anything as a kid! and yes, it is weird that your husband has never had pocky!

tigerfish said...

I'm one who does enjoy chicken feet!
*going to do the test now*

Unknown said...

i love inner parts of cows including stomach etc...even brain! hoho

i hated chicken feet, but the red ones normally found at yumcha joints kinda grew on me :)

gosh, you will absolutely love foie gras, babe! hehehe

Jenny said...

Great post! I am so not an adventurous eater! Give me my basics and I'm a happy girl!

Lauren said...

Oh god that picture of chicken feet brings back terrible memories of Friday afternoon when I went to lunch with a coworker at a Chinese buffet, and she ripped into those chicken feet...so much popping and bones and ughhhhh so gross.

jOoLz said...

Lapsang souchong is a type of tea.

I totally stole this meme :)