Food Disgusting At this time, Tomorrow’s Delicacy?

Food Disgusting Nowadays, Tomorrow’s Delicacy?

by David Russell

Of the 137 hubs I’ve posted in the past 14 months, including 30 country chapters from my book “A La Carte” (Tales of Meals and Drink Digested From 55 Years of International Travel), a 22 week series spelling out steps and missteps we took during the self-publishing of our first children’s book “Pop Pop’s Magic Chair”, plus blogs of children’s poems and stories and many other blogs about unusual adventures and happenings as we traveled the globe, the two postings which drew an immediate huge reader response were both foods oriented.

Seeing so many new Hub members signing on with an initial interest in Food items as well as reading the many food stuff oriented stories from Hubbers I follow regularly, I began to wonder, are we Hubbers a unique group or just a microcosm of the world about us? Or, is it that writing about food is such an easy subject because in one form or another we’ve been eating since birth, with the major difference in our diets being what we eat because of where we were born and where we currently live.

At the turn of the century, people were born, lived and died in a limited area. As we traveled, I noted this significant difference. If a family lived in industrialized city such as in Europe, a bride tended to live with their husband’s family and work in the home. In Asian farm communities, grooms normally lived with the wife’s family, bringing a new, young worker to aid the aging parents in the family fields.

Today, that all seems to have changed. Young people now want to work where they can learn a skill and earn real money doing it. Aiding them is the ease of transportation which has enabled many to live thousands of miles from there place of birth, bringing with them long standing traditions including preferences in food.

In the introduction to “A La Carte”, cited is “An American Doctor’s Odyssey”, a book written in the 1930’s by Doctor Victor Heiser, after returning from visits to Islands of the Pacific where he traveled researching disease patterns. To earn tribal cooperation, Heiser often participated in feasts with chieftains where strange “delicacies” were the order of the day including bugs and crawlers thought especially tasteful by the islanders and after a while, by Heiser himself.

Discovering new foods and tastes is even more prevalent nowadays. What we once considered abhorrent, even disgusting is considered acceptable nowadays. Consider, Shark’s Fin Soup, Buffalo Burgers or Rabbit, though I believe most of us would still consider fish served live and flopping about in a Tokyo Sushi Bar or Monkey Brain soup in Thailand far from average tastes.

In Africa, for example, we were introduced to and learned to eat with relish Snake, Hippopotamus, Zebra, Crocodile, Wildebeest and a few nibbles I’d rather not mention. Actually, in recipes I read daily from Hubbers who I’ve become a fan of, there are dishes I’d think twice or thrice about, before biting in.

At any rate, here are links to the 2 recipes which surprised me by the number of readers they attracted. The first is SAMBAR. In India Sambar is considered an every meal side dish.

SAMBAR was introduced to us by a mother and daughter in Kerala, Southern India. My recipe posting brought comments from readers globally, including some 50 Hubbers in India. Here’s the LINK to Sambar: http://hubpages.com/hub/SAMBAR-A-South-India-Favorite

“Chapulines” quite literally are Grasshoppers. This recipe from French-trained Chef Ruiz is served as an appetizer in his Oaxaca restaurant. I had two helpings. Put up with, please, my tongue in cheek introduction to the recipe he gave me. One day last week, 86 Hubbers clicked on “Chapulines” which had originally been posted in August. If you missed the recipe, here’s the LINK to Chapulines: http://hubpages.com/hub/Recipe-de-Chapulines

There are many other delicacies from the prospective of our Southern California kitchen, we’d consider unusual, except that as my wife and I traveled the world, in different countries we were often served them, thought there as ordinary. Many I mention in “A La Carte”; Tales Of Food stuff & Drink Digested From 55 Years of International Travel (Russell-D). Examples include Turtle Soup with the Turtle still in the Shell, Gecko Filets and Larks. We’ve also feasted on crisped Dragonflies tipped in hot dripping Chocolate.

Obviously, every fish, animal, insect and plant on Earth has somewhere satisfied someone’s food need and taste preference. To prove the point, try this. Google “Strange Foods” or “Disgusting Foods”. You’ll see Master Chefs preparing Earthworms, Madagascar Cockroaches, Cattle Eyeballs, Tarantula Spiders, Sea Horses, Silkworms, Beetles, Cicada, Lizards, etal to be served at a New York Explorer’s Club Fund Raiser. Even Snake Sushi. Who knows? Foods we consider abhorrent nowadays may grace our grandkid’s plates and palates in years to come.

To sum up, here’s a poll of his top 10 choices amassed by a Guru of Weird Foods. Though I downloaded the pictures, sanity prevailed because even I thought some were just too gross for a general audience. But, if you have a strong stomach and a curiosity Google “Disgusting Foods”.

10. (A TIE) A Fried Small Animal Brain Sandwich or Baby Octopus sliced & served live (Tokyo).

9. Haggis. Scots Love it, Scot hate it.

8. Rocky Mountain “Oysters”. Them that’s been there, know.

7. Stuffed Camel. Stuffed live for months, killed and grilled.

6. Hakart. Fermenting Shark or Fermenting Salmon.

5. Jellied Moose Nose.

4. Fugu. Puffer Fish. Sliced wrong, it could kill you, (Tied) Bat Paste. Prepared wrong, it could kill you.

3. Casu Marzu (Sardinia) Cheese with live Maggots. Outlawed.

2. Boodog. (Outer Mongolia) Goat hung upside down and bled out. Then all bones burned out. Roasted. Eaten with blood drink.

1. Fertilized, Incubated Duck Eggs opened and served with the developing bird still inside (Philippines and Viet Nam).

Since Hubbers come from everywhere on the globe, many may think these foodstuff choices quite ordinary. I’m also certain that there are Hubbers who can tell us of other foods which we here in the States would never even conceive of eating.

Got foods to add? YOU ARE INVITED TO SHARE!!!!