One Man's Disgusting Food is Another Man's Delicacy

In a class I am taking, the instructor invited us to tell the most disgusting food we have ever eaten.  The responses were interesting and enlightening.  I've just got to share!

Dog Head Soup:  Do not Google images of this one if you have a delicate constitution or if you just love Fido.

Goat with the skin on: Ghana, Africa.  Does this include the hair?  There's a dish called "smiley" that is a roasted goat head, and the lips pull back into a smile.  "Hello, I'm so happy to be your dinner tonight."

Haggis (recipes linked to the captions)

 

Looks tasty like this--but this is not a true haggis! It's a vegetarian copy. 

Does not look so tasty like this 

Seal Meat (only legal in US if accidentally caught in fishing nets) It was quite greasy.

Cricket (She found it frozen in her garage. Sounds risky to me.)

Dinner, anyone? 

Guinea Pig (Guatemala? or maybe it was Guam?) It's a delicacy in the country she found it in.

Grad Student Gumbo--a combination of white rice, chicken noodle soup, and Ramen.  Might have gone down easier if they cooked them separately.

Anchovy Pizza.  He'd never had it before, and he got a little worried when he overheard the employees talk about how bad the anchovy smelled. 

Looks innocent enough...almost.  

Cajun Crawfish

This picture would not sell me on crawfish, but if you just have to have it, there are sources. 

Might not be so bad if you hide it in enough pasta.

Sheep's Feet. (Sort of like Pickled Pigs' Feet?) 

Want some to cook for dinner?  

They don't look much better cooked. 

Anything she had to cook for herself. I've made a few cooking mistakes, but I can safely say most of my food is not disgusting or even unusual. 

Spicy Italian Vegetable Dish.  May I suspect Okra as a culprit? 

Periwinkles. The snail, not the flower. 

The snail. 

The flower, also called Myrtle.

Pate. The French kind. Goose Liver.  

Swedish dish that is kind of like a fish aspic, from her description.  

This one is apparently Hungarian, but it fits the concept.

Undercooked hamburger, courtesy of an American fast food place.

Escargot--mostly tastes like butter and garlic. 

Venison Heart--a little chewy, but tasty!  Somehow just the idea that it was the heart bothered her.

Cow's Tongue--It's not the flavor, it's the texture. And the fact that you know it's the tongue.  In fact, I grew up eating cow tongue and deer tongue, and the way you cook them makes a big difference.  They boil out most of the flavor and get kind of mushy, but roasting them leaves them too tough. The answer:  use a pressure cooker.  And peel off the white outside skin before you bring it to the table. Then it looks much like a roast beef and is very tender.  Eat it hot, though; it's kind of greasy when it gets cold.

Deep Fried Rice Cakes--which might not have been so bad but she fried them after the entire high school wrestling team had deep-fried all the weird things they could think of.  She said it was terrible and made her not want to eat again for a while. 

But one lady said a weird food that turned out delicious was Maple Bacon Funnel Cakes. Sounds yummy to me! 

Unfortunately, there's no recipe at the site I found this...

 

AARP Q&A on Water

Q. Do I really need to drink eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy?  I just can't seem to drink that much water!

A. No. There's no scientific evidence to support this often repeated advice. The institute of Medicine's food and Nutrition Board, which develops dietary guidelines, concluded that most healthy people can meet their need for water by letting thirst be their guide. You can get fluids from a variety of sources, including fruits, vegetables, juice, milk, coffee, soda and even beer. But if you're over age 65, you exercise strenuously, you live in a hot climate or you find yourself sweltering in the middle of a heat wave, try to drink extra fluids. --Nissa Simon  (AARP Bulletin, June 203, Vol. 54 No. 5)

How did my friend lose 50 pounds in eight months and is this a real picture?

This is my friend's before and after picture. Yes, it's real. Admittedly she is posing and has her hair styled for the second picture, but it's still a striking difference.  I saw her at the halfway point and the difference was noticeable then.  She says now she is the same size she was in tenth grade!  Talk about inspiration!

Last summer I borrowed a little jacket for my son's wedding. She says she doesn't want it back because it no longer fits her.  So yea, I look more like her before picture.

This has been inspiring me all week!