Sunday, September 07, 2008

100 Things You Should Eat (or Drink) Before You Die

Somebody pulled together a list of 100 Things You Should Eat Before You Die. Not sure why a lot of the things are one the list, but it's fun so I thought I'd go through it and see how I stack up.

100. Venison. YUM. I love Bambi, especially Bambi back ribs on the grill and my brother's Bambi bologna. (While we're on the subject of game, I've also had moose, elk, rabbit, squirrel, and snapping turtle. Also yum.)

99. Nettle tea. Nope.

98. Heuvos rancheros. Yum. I thought everybody ate these.

97. Steak tartare. Why? High-class raw hamburger is still raw hamburger.

96. Crocodile. No, but did try alligator. Didn't much care for it. But on the reptilian front, do love snapping turtle. It makes a great soup, and my dad used to cook it up in a tomato sauce.

95. Black pudding. Boiled congealed blood? I'll pass.

94. Cheese fondue. Yup. Yum. But too much work.

93. Carp. Essentially a big grey goldfish. Might have. See no reason to seek it out.

92. Borscht. Yum. Also make my own.

91. Baba ghanoush. Yup. Very tasty.

90. Calamari. Tried it. Don't see the big deal. Tastes okay, texture of a rubber band. Got fed a dozen varieties of squid in Korea and really, really tried, as a cultural adventure sort of thing, to learn to like it. But in the end, the Yuk Factor trumped all. I just can't stand anything with tentacles. (And there's no experience in the world like biting into what you think is an onion ring only to find out it's a squid ring. It's not an experience I'd care to repeat.)

89. Pho. Yum. But then I love Vietnamese food in general.

88. PB&J sandwich. YUCK! Relived childhood trauma. Why did my mother keep putting these atrocities in my lunch? I was a sophisticated first grader. I wanted liverwurst on rye. Which would, I supposed, have broken the family budget.

87. Aloo gobi. Possibly, though I'm not sure. I've eaten a lot of Indian food, and don't remember the names of all of them.

86. Hot dog from a street cart. I think so. I've eaten sausages from street carts.

85. Epoisses. A "pungent" cheese, the list says. Why would I want to put something in my mouth that smells worse than a dirty litter box? I'll pass on all stinky cheeses.

84. Black truffle. Never felt the need. I supposed I'd try one if somebody put it in front of me.

83. Fruit wine made from someting other than grapes. Yum. Also dated a guy who made his own wine and constantly experimented. He came up with a pina colada wine that would knock your socks off.

82. Steamed pork buns. No. Looks good, though.

81. Pistachio ice cream. Never tried any pistachio thing. Not even a simple pistachio. Never felt the need.

80. Heirloom tomatoes. Not sure. Not that big a fan of tomatoes.

79. Fresh wild berries. A favorite. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries, and strawberries whenever I can find them, usually annually if I'm in the US. Haven't had teaberries since I was a kid; I never manage to stumble across them when they're ripe.

78. Foie gras. Don't care for any form of liver (though I've tried chicken, duck, goose, beef, and venison). And don't approve of force-feeding animals anyway. So this one, barring some bizarre social situation I can't imagine myself in, will probably never happen.

77. Rice and beans. Eh. You can't avoid them in Texas. I don't see what the excitement is about.

76. Brawn, or head cheese. Despite the revolting name I'd have no objection to trying it. There's a variation in one of my dad's wild game cookbooks with the even more unfortunate name "jellied moose nose" that actually sounds kind of tasty.

75. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper. In Hell, perhaps. Which would mean not before I did.

74. Dulce de leche. Sounds good, but never tried it.

73. Oysters. Yum. As long as they're cooked. I make a mean oyster soup.

72. Baklava. Food of the gods. If it wasn't so expensive I'd eat it regularly.

71. Bagna cauda. Sounds good but never tried it.

70. Wasabi peas. Had to click the link to find out what they are. I like wasabi, but don't think wasabi peas would do anything for me.

69. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl. Yum. Lots of different soups in bread bowls, in fact. My favorite is broccoli and cheese.

68. Saltid lassi. Nope. But I have had soju (Korean rotgut) and ayrag (Mongolian fermented mare's milk). Actually, I was a regular soju drinker in Korea because it's cheap, mixes well, and gives you a quick buzz. And it's just polite to drink a shot with everybody else. I think I could have developed a taste for the ayrag had I been in Mongolia long enough.

67. Sauerkraut. I'm of German descent. And my friend's father-in-law makes the best homemade sauerkraut in the universe. I could eat it by the bowlfull.

66. Root beer float. I hate root beer, so why would I want to add ice cream? Though I did drink floats a lot as a kid. My favorite was orange soda with vanilla ice cream.

65. Cognac with a fat cigar. Did smoke cigars for a while, back when I was married, but only rarely. Had cognac once. They served it on a flight to Thailand. Would smoke a cigar again for effect. Would drink cognac again if given it. Don't understand why they're supposed to mix so nicely.

64. Clotted cream tea. No, but I drank a lot of milk tea in Korea.

63. Vodka jelly/Jell-O shot. In college.

62. Gumbo. Yeah. Hate okra so gumbo does nothing for me. Was never served okra-free gumbo and in fact before reading the linked article I'd been under the impression that okra was the definitive ingredient.

61. Oxtail. Yeah. It does make a good soup.

60. Curried goat. Goat yes, twice. When I prepared it, it was tough and stringy. But I had it properly prepared in Mongolia and loved it. Never had it curried.

59. Whole insects. No. No. No. No. No.

58. Phaal. Probably not. I'd have remembered a curry of deadly spiciness.

57. Goat's milk. I'm told I was given goat's milk as a very small child. I've had mare's milk -- not just fermented -- in Mongolia. It seemed kind of watery to me.

56. Single malt whisky. Yeah, back when I was still married to an alcoholic. Would as soon drink pine sap.

55. Fugu. No, but I have enjoyed the blowfish my parents used to catch when they went surf-fishing. But that's not the spirit of the thing, I think.

54. Chicken tikka masala. Yup. Yum. Indian food rocks.

53. Eel. Not by itself, but in bouillabaisse. Made it myself, enjoyed it, but it was a lot of work.

52. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut. Yeah. Don't know what all the excitement's about. But then, I prefer the cake doughnuts.

51. Sea urchin. No. Might try it if I was drunk enough.

50. Prickly pear. Yes. Picked them off my own cactus, in fact. Tasty but a lot of work for very little fruit.

49. Umeboshi. No. Would try if offered.

48. Abalone. Would love to try.

47. Paneer. No. Would try.

46. McDonald's Big Mac Meal. Yeah. In a pinch.

45. Spaetzle. My mom is German, so what do you think? I make it all the time and even taught my Korean friends to make it, along with sauerbraten and rouladen.

44. Dirty gin martini. Don't recall ever having had any sort of martini. Would try one if given one, but wouldn't pay for it because I doubt very much I'd care for it.

43. Beer above 8% ABV. Lived in Germany, went to fests, drank dopplebock. 'Nuff said. Though it took me a long time to learn to find beer palatable and actually perfer the cheap stuff.

42. Poutine. YUM! Got introduced to this in Korea, of all places, at a pub called Canada Buddy.

41. Carob chips. Yes. And carob-coated raisins and carob-coated peanuts. Prefer chocolate by far.

40. S'mores. I was a Girl Scout once! And we taught our Korean friends to make S'mores. They had no concept of cooking on a campfire until they started hanging out with us waygooks.

39. Sweetbreads. Sounds revolting.

38. Kaolin. Huh? Nooooo.

37. Currywurst. No. Though I had a zillion different kinds of wurst when living in Germany. I'd pick a different kind every time I went to the store.

36. Durian. Why would I want to eat something that smells so bad you can't eat it in public? Did see it for sale and my tour guide in Thailand offered to get me a taste. I won't eat anything I can't stand the smell of. But I have had mangosteen, langan, and rambutan, three very popular tropical fruits.

35. Frogs' legs. Had an opportunity but couldn't get myself to try. There's some visceral "yuk" factor I couldn't overcome. Which is odd because I've tried alligator and I love snapping turtle. Reptiles, yes. Fish, yes. Amphibians? Sorry.

34. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake. I live in Pennsylvania Dutch country, so yeah I've had funnel cakes.

33. Haggis. Technically, no. But I tried soondae, a Korean stuffed-squid dish that I'm told is basically haggis in a squid instead of in a sheep's stomach. It did nothing for me.

32. Fried plaintain. No. Would try if offered.

31. Chitterlings. No. No. No. No. No.

30. Gazpacho. Yum! Make it myself sometimes.

29. Caviar and blini. Yum! Bring it on!

28. Louche absinthe. Would love to try. Bought a tiny bottle of it in Spain just as an interesting souvenir and am considering drinking it, if I find an adventuresome soul who wants to try it with me. It seems dismal to drink absinthe alone.

27. Gjetost, or brunost. Looks pretty revolting. Might try it if it smelled okay.

26. Roadkill. No. But see no reason to reject a roadkill deer, moose, or other large herd mammal.

25. Baijiu. Would try it.

24. Hostess Fruit Pie. Snarked them down as a kid. Would eat one now if I had one but wouldn't seek them out.

23. Snail. Yum! But I had to be well into my cups the first time, in Paris. Had it again in Korea.

22. Lapsang souchong. Yum! My dad used to say that if you don't have any lapsang souchong you can just boil an old boot, and I agree with him, since it has a kind of leathery taste, but I like it. (Dad liked it too; he's the one who introduced me to it.)

21. Bellini. Sounds good. Never tried it but would very readily.

20. Tom yum. YUM! Fantastic! But then, I loved everything they fed me in Thailand.

19. Eggs Benedict. Yes. Very tasty, but too much work.

18. Pocky. They're called peppero in Korea, which actually celebrates November 11 (11/11) as Peppero Day. My students would shower me with lavish gifts of peppero. Tasty.

17. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. Sounds good. Sounds expensive.

16. Kobe beef. Sounds very good. I've had shabu shabu but don't know that it was with kobe beef.

15. Hare. No, but I've had rabbit and squirrel.

14. Goulash. Yum! My mom makes this pretty often.

13. Flowers. Have eaten rose petals and the yellow parts of immature dandelion blossoms. Would love to try other flowers.

12. Horse. Probably. Mom and Dad hinted during the 1970s (when eating horse as an alternative to supposedly expensive beef was all in the news) they slipped us some horse. But find the idea disturbing, like eating a dog, only not as much so.

11. Criollo. No, but they don't give you much to go on.

10. Spam. Yes. Don't mind it if it's fried a golden brown. And Koreans like to put it in various dishes. Wouldn't seek it out and usually try to avoid it, but will eat it if hungry enough. (And yes, Koreans really do love the stuff. They sell lovely, and very expensive, boxed Spam gift sets for holiday giving. It's surreal to Western eyes to see the lovely young Korean women in their elaborate traditional hanbok gowns hawking Spam.)

9. Soft shell crab. Dad gave me a bit of his soft-shell crab sandwich once. I'd much rather wait until the shell is hard and eat them normally.

8. Rose harissa. No, but it sounds pretty good.

7. Catfish. Tastes like mud. Spent all those years in Texas with catfish on all sides but never understood the attraction.

6. Mole poblano. Yeah.

5. Bagel and lox. Yeah. Prefer my bagel and lox separately.

4. Lobster Thermidor. Made it at home once. Liked it but considering how expensive lobster is I prefer not to drown out the taste with so many other things. A bit of melted butter with garlic and lemon is all you need.

3. Polenta. Love the stuff. Have it in the fridge right now.

2. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. Hate coffee in any form so would not try it.

1. Snake. Would try it. After all, I've tried alligator and I love snapping turtle. But stay away from my Loki! He's not dinner!

TOTAL

Yes: 47

Maybe or Something Similar: 16

Would try: 23

NO: 14

So I guess that makes me fairly adventuresome on the food scale.

Things that should have been on the list:

  • Kimchi
  • Yorkshire pudding
  • Ayrag
  • Potato sandwich
  • Wild mushrooms
  • Any kind of eggs other than chicken eggs
  • 4 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I'd say you're a *very* adventurous eater! :-) I've never even *heard* of most of those things, much less eaten them.

    But I do want to say this about catfish -- it can be bad, but if you take off that gray yucky part, it's actually a pretty clean-tasting fish. It's really the only way to eat it, but it's usually too much work for restaurants to do... or they just don't know about it.

    Kathy

    Christina Dunigan said...

    The homeless woman we'd taken in was forever cooking catfish. I got to where I was sick of the very smell, though in general I do like fish.

    ashli said...

    Corned beef brisket.

    Christina Dunigan said...

    Mmmm.... corned beef.

    And real Southern barbecue and Tex-Mex.

    German potato salad

    Korean style mashed potato sandwiches

    Indian potato sandwiches

    Now I'm getting hungry!