Did you ever eat exotic food?

No, my stomach is not capible of digesting many different kinds of food so I must be careful as to what I consume. However, in saying that, if I could I sooo would! Trying new things is always fun :D Unless it’s cat or dog, keep that AWAY from me!! :(

Yes! I think that is one of the best things about traveling. I like to eat what the natives eat, fancy and everyday foods.
I have tried kangaroo, bear, squirrel, rabbit, as well as seafood that was strange to me and also baking and other dishes that I had never had.
I won’t eat bugs or worms though, not intentionally that is.

@Wilma Bear?,isn’t that illegal?(I believe they’re protected species).

Some of the stranger things I’ve tried…

Chocolate dipped grasshoppers (kr; sort of like a crispy/light nutty taste), live octopus (kr; sort of like jellyfish – not much taste but a touch oceany, if that makes any sense, too chewy), live lobster (jp; very light and delicate with a sweet hint), horse (fr; sort of reminded me of farm raised pig), various organs across ph, jp, cn, and near home (heart [probably my favorite], brain [cow, monkey], tongue, kidney, liver [many different ones], stomach), pig blood (ph; really rich when cooked right); jellyfish (basically bland, or maybe i’ve not had it properly made), chicken eggs (ph, the crunchy one’s, I forget their name; salty, much better than the imagery suggests), tripe (a lot like what it was cooked in, a little tough but not as bad as you’d think). Alligator (I didn’t think it tasted like chicken, but then maybe it was because I knew what I was eating), snake (chicken), Others like @wilma said I don’t really count as exotic since I grew up eating some of them (obviously that’s a key when defining what’s exotic) bear @Doctor_D it’s legal where I live (restricted), but might vary state to state (it’s own very strong, greasy/gamey, taste), squirrel (squirrel, a bit like rabbit), rabbit (farm chicken), deer (probably closest to buffalo?), duck (duck), moose (more like wild beef if you can picture that), pheasant (sort of like wild turkey), wild turkey (turkey but much richer, nuttier), dove (chicken), buffalo (richer than beef), goose (stronger turkey and greasy, greasy, greasy)... All sorts of different ice creams that you don’t normally get (corn, bacon, crab, jellyfish for ex.)

For me I just love trying new things when I travel, I always eat local and try to get as much variety as possible. I’m open to most anything and have a pretty strong stomach. The roasted spiders in VN turn me off a bit though.

Rocky Mountain Oysters, which were delicious. One of the people at dinner was really enjoying them until he was told what they were and then he ran outside and threw up.

@Doctor_D Not where I live. Here there is a legal hunting season on bear.
As well as venison, ( I have a freezer full). Like @wonderingwhy, I’ve had all those game birds and moose, buffalo etc.

@wonderingwhy You’re so brave and adventurous!,thanks for your answer!.
@wilma I understand,Thanks for your answer!.

As long as I am confident that the sanitary standards of the food preparation and storage are adequate, I will try all kinds of exotic foods.

I balk at eating dog, cat, horse, snake, raccoon and rat.

I resist foods so spicy that they cause me pain.

I have eaten raw fish and beef. I’ve eaten rabbit, venison, lamb, alligator, bison.

I will try most things at least once and more often if I like them.

There are a lot of ‘normal’ foods that don’t sit too well with me. I’m not sure how I’d go with something exotic.

An exotic dish to others is just plain rudimentary dish for the locals. . . take for example sashimi, raw fish that can be used as bait for fishing, is typical fare in the orient. Haggis, a dish containing sheep’s ‘pluck’ (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal’s stomach is considered traditional Scottish dish.

Chitterlings, pig’s intestine, cooked in various ways can be found amongst recipe books from the US southern states.

As for me, yes I try everything once. . . . among them are frog’s legs, gator tail, rattle snake, moose, elk and reindeer steaks and suasages, fried crickets and roasted field mice. Raw eel, oysters, clams, squid and sea urchins. . . but a no-no to crabs due to allergic reaction.

If you’re in Denver, make sure to drop by the Buckhorn Exchange.

@njnvjobs The other looks delicious,but mice?. Thanks for your suggestion!,what they offer?.

@Doctor_D what does Buckhorn offer? . . . Check-out their website for menu and pictures of the dining room. . .one of a kind http://buckhornexchange.com

…and yes, big o’le field mice in Mexico . . some are comparable in size to some cats and rabbits…. taste like pork or game fowl .

I’m usually happy to try exotic food. I’ve eaten a fair variety of game but I intensely dislike organ meat (kidneys, livers, hearts etc) and I would balk at insects. I think I ate horse meat in a stew while I was in the Czech republic, but I’m not entirely certain. One pleasant surprise I had was pigeon. The meat is tender and surprisingly dark (like duck but less greasy), my only complaint was that at one point I chewed down on a piece of lead shot.

Yeah.

Raw horse meat (basashi – YUM!)

Live fish (sashimi, served with the fish’s gills still moving, other studff that I still can’t identify which was alive and wriggling as I ate. Sea urchin, wriggling octopus tentacles, etc…)

Fish guts in kimchi (I don’t recommend this – really odd texture)

Crocodile (didn’t like)

Giraffe (tasted like venison, iirc)

When I lived in Japan, I found that it was good practice to eat first and ask what it was later.

Zebra (tastes like pork) and antelope (tastes like beef) in an African restaurant in Dresden. And we drank cactus juice. The prices were quite reasonable for something so unusual.

Yes, once I ate peanut butter and decided not to try it again. I thought it would taste like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutella

but I was wrong.

@mattbrowne Peanut butter?,is that categorized as exotic?.

@Doctor_D – Where I come from, yes. Although globalization involves food as well.

When I first tasted Nutella, I thought it was pretty exotic!

I have eaten venison (not too exotic where I come from). I also grew eating things like blood sausage, head cheese, ham hocks w/sauerkraut.

I’ve also eaten crawfish, goat, javelina, elk, buffalo, raccoon, ants (chocolate dipped), assorted flying insects (from the back of a motorcycle)

All the time. I was fortunate to be born to a Korean mother and an American officer in the Army which has allowed me to live all over the globe experiencing all sorts of exotic foods.