What WOULD'NT You Eat?

This article comes from the newsgroup Alt.recipies. It was written in the early 90’s and The email addresses of the posters have been edited out. So if you see “I” its not me. Good reading and eating. I HAVE A THEORY that many (all?) cultures invent a food that is weird or disgusting to non-initiates as a sort of a "marker." The kids start out hating it, but at some point they cross over and perpetuate it (perpetrate it) on the next generation. Then they nudge each other when foreigners gasp. Many cultures pride themselves on their alcoholic drinks, as in "white lightning," mai-tai, tequila, pulque, chong, vodka, schnapps, and so on. You are accepted if you can match their prowess. Sometimes one group disparages another for their eating habits, as in the word "Eskimo" (eater of raw meat) resented by the people whose name for themselves is "Inuit." I believe the food laws of Middle Eastern cultures have more to do with distinguishing your group from the neighboring groups than with health concerns or sacred scriptures, which adapted to the cultural norms. Foods don't make it onto this list just because they are generally unpopular. President Bush hated broccoli. So what? Foods on this list have some status as a cultural marker. Sometimes it's a tough call. For example, "donuts" (doughnuts, originally "oly cakes") are distinctly American, and I've met many French people who despise them. Americans are actually unusual in eating so few parts of an animal, so the fact that, say, the French eat brains isn't really a cultural marker. The marker is that Americans don't! Don't bother to respond "But lots of people like X"... that's exactly the point. That's why "X" is ON the list, not off it. See also the entry below for FRUITCAKE. Don't bother to respond "But this food is also located in..." Yes, important food immigrates even faster than language. Chile peppers and potatoes are are nearly ubiquitous, now. Here's the list so far. it's arranged roughly geographically, going east from longitude 0 England warm beer, blood pudding, jellied eels, Spotted Dick (LMAO), liver and lights, kidney pie, brawn Scotland - haggis, Irn Bru Sweden - sylta (head cheese) Denmark- yule brod (ale brod) skipsol Norway - lutefisk Netherlands - salted horsemeat sandwiches, raw salted herring, peanut butter sauce on french fries France - escargot, tripe, frog's legs, bleu cheese, roquefort, steak tartare, brains, truffles, camel's feet, boudin Spain - criadillas, morcillas European Jews schmaltz, gefilte fish, kishke Germany - limburger, bierkase, blutwurst Italy - Cynar and Campari liqueurs, carpaccio, cibreo, song birds, gorgonzola Greece - retsina Sicily - ricci di mare Sardinia -(?) maggot-cheese (I want none) Mediterranean - Sheep's head. The whole thing, cooked and skinned. Includes the eyeballs. Cheese (what a concept!) octopus, cicada, octopus and squid in ink Russia - borscht, kvass, caviar Africa - blood fresh from living livestock, grasshoppers, okra, fufu, gari Central Asia - kumiss (fermented mare's milk), yogurt, sheep fat China bird's nest soup, sea cucumber, jellyfish, rat, snake, drunken shrimp, jelled blood, bear paws, cho do fu, tiger testicles, owl soup, thousand-year eggs, sa kuo yu toe, fish flotation bladder, bao bing (shaved ice), pork uterus, camel (and cow) tendons, oyster sauce Tibet - yak milk (rancid), tea with yak butter Southern India - blazing curry Burma - a MAE oo, ngapi-jaw Hong Kong? - monkey brains Southeast Asia - durian, fermented fish-paste, dog meat, snakes, ngapi-jaw, bull penis, sour candies Thailand - kapi, grasshoppers Indonesia - blachan, dog-meat restaurants Malaysia - ice kachang (SHAVED ICE) Philippines - baalut, bagong (fish paste), diniguan Australia - Vegemite, Marmite, kangaroo, witchety grub, beetroot Papua- New Guinea sago worms Korea - kim chee, silk worm grubs Japan - fugu, natto, sashimi, shiokara, tofu, miso, uni, mountain potato, seaweed, takosu, takoyaki, tempeh, crickets, unagi Hawaii - poi, SPAM Musubi Alaska - blubber, stinkheads U.S. in general - Spam, chewing gum, iceberg lettuce, bread, beer U.S. Northwest - geoduck clams U.S. West - prairie oysters, fried pork rinds, blood-rare steak, rattlesnake U.S. Midwest - White Castle Sliders, Jell-O Salad, fruitcake, American Cheese Food Product, such as Velveeta, in Fried Cheese Balls, Cincinnati Greek Chili U.S. South - grits, crawfish, hog maws and snouts, etc dropped fowl, chicken feet, chitterlings, iced tea, ramps, turkey deep-fried whole (fried EVERYTHING) chicken-fried steak U.S.- East souse, pork loaf U.S.- Northeast scrapple, cod liver oil, pumpkin pie, raw oysters, lobster, fiddlehead ferns Canada - sugar pie, poutine, orielles de Christ Mexico - tequila worms, menudo, habanero & jalapeno peppers, mole, chichirrones (CHITTERLINGS), ceviche Brazil - gari Agentina - Morcillas Iceland - hakarl