Karl & Bonnie sent me some pictures from the Olympic venue illustrating the diversity of Chinese cuisine. Got me wondering.
What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten (keep it clean!)
We are a well traveled bunch and pretty adventurous. If you have experienced other cultures I'm sure you tried some local food. Even if you've never left the U.S. I'll bet you've tried something weird, somewhere. Why don't you share it in the comment section. I'd love to read it...and to share my most weird thing, go to the bottom of the following pictures to see one of me eating something my Thai sister-in-law made especially for me.
Western visitors are lining up to sample different Chinese foods.
Now that corn does look mighty tasty!
Now, here is a picture of me eating a fried cicada. Actually, with all the garlic and chilies all I could taste was spicy crunch.
And if you took off the legs before hand, even better.
See, doesn't that look tasty?Now...what have you eaten that can beat this?
++++++++++++
On a related note...are you aware of the U.S. phenom in swimming, Michael Phelps?
There is lots of discussion in the media about the number of calories Olympians
(namely Michael Phelps) need each day. 
His typical breakfast starts with three sandwiches of fried eggs,
cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and mayonnaise;
add one omelet, a bowl of grits, and three slices of French toast with powdered sugar; then wash down with three chocolate chip pancakes.
So, if you were required to eat
8,000-10,000 calories every day, what would you eat?
Personally, there would be incredible amounts of pasta and breakfast food in my diet!
How hard is it to eat 10,000 calories? I wondered if it's a lot less food than I was imagining.
In one sitting:
6 Triple Whoppers with cheese and mayo (7500)
2 King size french fries (1200)
1 large Oreo sundae strawberry milkshake (940)
2 packets of mayonnaise for fries (160)
2 packets of ketchup for fries (20)
Total: 9820 calories
I wonder how many calories this dinner would rake in:
- rolls with butter
- creamy dip with bread
- fettucine alfredo
- garlic bread
- cheesecake
- alcohol
Not that I would ever eat like that.....
4 comments:
I have had smoked sea lion in NW British Columbia, and on a "rustic" jungle tour in Ecuador in the early years of tourism in that country, cooking was done over an open fire and they wouldn't tell us what we were eating, although the concensus was that it was monkey! At least no one from the group was missing!
One day as a 11 year old in southern california I had 3 other brother's TRIED to make me eat something wierd and it almost worked until mom yelled at me.
My brother's picked up something in the yard,sunny morning,dry evening brought it into the house and said it was a powered doughnut.
mom yelled right before I was going to dip it into my milk,and said I havent bought any doughnuts in along time..WHEW that was close
Sun, August 17, 2008
Food with bite
Centipedes, crickets, starfish -- it's a matter of taste
BEIJING -- Once you've had the deep-fried scorpion, Peking duck just won't seem that exotic.
There are stories here that attract western reporters like flies to a dog-park trash can.
Crowded subway cars; day trips to the Great Wall; and all the things the Chinese will take a bite out of.
One newspaper editor in Beijing came up with a guide -- a wish list -- of things he hoped visiting reporters would not do while covering these Games.
It included using the words, "China's coming-out party," extensively quoting taxi drivers and dwelling on all the odd things that some locals will chew on.
But we all have an insatiable appetite and curiosity for something different and new.
We all want to brag that we have more daring tastes than adding a dash of hot sauce into our meatloaf recipe.
Which is how I find myself, as early evening arrives in Beijing, licking my lips and patrolling the "snack market" of Dong'anmen St. for something with a little bite.
Chinese officials -- unsettled over international images of their people chewing down on dog and donkey -- have closed down many vendors and put heavy restrictions on others.
But along the long line of carts which are still open for business, not too far from Tiananmen Square, visitors are finding meals to write home about.
Here, you can buy crickets, and whole eels from head to tail.
"Mister? You want a centipede, mister?" a young vendor asks, as he holds up the meal fit for a lizard king.
There are sea urchins and piles of silk worms, which explode like grapes in the mouth.
If you're looking for the "bee cocoons" or any kind of stomachs, they're here.
And you'll never look at cute sea horses quite the same again, after you've popped them in your mouth like once-living pretzels.
Everyone raves about the stir-fried pig liver, but few seem to be flocking to the pigeon.
Save room for sheep's penis -- something to get excited about at only $7.70 (Can).
Almost everything is stabbed on long sticks -- including fruit, frozen in ice blocks for dessert.
And almost all of the meat products, displayed like slick and glistening trays of jewelry, are tossed into boiling vats of oil.
Starfish, after a few moments in the pots, turn to crispy remains that crunch like taco shells.
In Beijing's finer restaurants you can find meals that sound like something you'd like to one day serve your in-laws -- including one called "Look for the Treasure in the Dessert Sand." It goes down well, until you realize that treasure you spent so much time searching the dessert for is really sheep gonads in curry. Even the "Essence of Golden Buggha" is nothing short of yak penis in a nice, light broth.
TREAT ON A STICK
But nothing -- short of dog, which can be still found but is in short supply -- goes down better than deep fried scorpion, served on a busy street.
Salted just the way I like by the young vendor, I pull the first of three small, eight-legged carnivorous arthropods off the stick and chew it.
Tastes like pork. Just the way mom used to cook it.
Why would Chinese officials worry westerners wouldn't have the stomach for this?
**********************************
This story was in today's Ottawa Sun. It seems to fit the category perfectly.
Once, at a BBQ party I noticed after the grill had been off for some time that there was one frankfurter left! Walked over , picked it off the grill...and bit into a common garden slug! I guess it had slithered it's slimy self there on it's own while the grill was just hot enough for dry the slime off. Yuk. This definately beats the bugs cooked in Asia and my Tony's "Day old chicks" in the Philippines! Thanks for the article from the Ottawa Sun. Interesting article...but did NOT whet my apetite!
Post a Comment