Have you ever been confronted with a food you simply did not know how to eat?

Yes, but this new book I got from Serling Publishers, “To Serve Man”, should help me avoid any future awkwardness. ;-)

Dragon Fruit.

I worked at a farm for a while doing web and media for them. Had to photograph and write about everything, so lots of taste testing. First time they brought me a dragon fruit, I had no idea what to do with it.

It was great to photograph though.

The closest I come is artichoke. I wasn’t alone, and the people serving it to me told me how to eat it when they realized I had no idea what to do with it. Actually, the look on my face and lack of enthusiasm to dig in was probably a mix of being perplexed, and also not wanting to eat it anyway, because I already knew I didn’t like artichoke much.

I can think of other foods that I would have had no idea if someone was not there to tell me what to do. Like edamame pods, star fruit, and pomegranate come to mind.

One day back when I was an undergrad, I decided to splurge and pay way too much to buy a horned melon because I just had to see what something that crazy-looking tasted like. It was just a bunch of slimy seeds and I was pretty baffled when I cut it open (I was expecting a more “melon-like” experience). I’m not sure if the one I got was under-ripe, over-ripe or if it was how it was supposed to taste, but it wasn’t for me. I also wished I had my $5 back.

@Brian1946 Good one!

I’d agree with @JLeslie, pomegranates. Seafood baffles me at times, I don’t think I eat crab legs correctly and usually cut myself. haha!

My brother-in-law made a dish with mussels, something that our family had never had before. We all sat there looking at our food and each other until B-I-L dug in. And they were great!

A truck driver came into the truck stop shop where I was working , went into the restaurant and ordered up about 5 lbs. of King Crab legs, brought them out into the shop and shared them with me. The trick to eating them, he said, was to use needle-nose pliers. He had a pair that he used just for crab. (I used the pair out of my tool box.)

@kritiper Interesting, thanks. May look a little funny in a restaurant though…haha!

Not now, but when I was a kid – maybe 11 or so -I was served shrimp, but with heads and tails. I didn’t know what to do with it. My friend’s mom was kind enough to instruct me.

@KNOWITALL I suppose. But the next time you have crab, try it! When others see you eating with those pliers, they’ll all remark about how smart you are to have figured out such a superb way to eat crab.

I tried Perrier water, I didn’t know if I was drinking it right. I tossed it in the trash.

@kritper Haha I’d never live it down. Even in rural Missouri that would be an eyebrow raiser lol. Maybe at home though!

@RedDeerGuy1 my ex-father-in law called in “Derriere Water”