J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer

This is the second year I’m participating in Blog Action Day, an event that aims to get as many blogs as possible talking about the same topic in an effort to raise awareness on the subject. It is fulfilling to feel that you have played a small part in raising awareness on an important social issue.

This year’s Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, so the theme for 2011 is my favourite ever topic: FOOD! I’m a shameless gourmand, and proud of it; I’m the kind of girl that lives to eat, to hell with fitting into that size 8 dress! I love food just as much as reading and writing and kung fu. I particularly enjoy trying new foods, dining out, discovering new favourite eateries, as well as the whole social aspect of a sit-down meal with close friends and family.

In my culinary journey, I have encountered some rather exotic — and a few downright strange — foodstuff. If you think haggis and escargot are exotic, you may be surprised to find they don’t make my top 7! (By the way, both are absolutely yummy if done well!)

So my topic for Blog Action Day this year is:

The 7 Strangest Foods I’ve Ever Eaten

No. 7: Shark’s fin

This is low on my ‘strange foods’ list because I grew up with it. It is also the one thing I refuse to eat now out of principle. I’m sure everyone is now aware of the inhumane shark finning practice, where finned sharks are thrown back into the sea to die a slow death of being eaten alive by other fish. Sadly, it is still a popular (and expensive) delicacy in Chinese restaurants all over Asia. Serving shark’s fin (usually in the form of a soup) is a symbol of wealth and status, and it’ll take a lot more campaigning and legislations to cut down on the booming shark’s fin trade.

My verdict: Stringy and crunchy, shark’s fin has absolutely zero flavour, and relies on good stock (made from crab and fish) to make a good soup. I see no point in having it in the soup. There is a gourd-like vegetable that has flesh of the exact same texture (in Chinese, it’s called mow gua: ‘hair melon’) that actually has some flavour that would make a perfect — and cheaper — substitute. But try telling that to wealthy Chinese people!

No. 6: Chicken feet

Normally stewed or boiled in soups, this may sound like a strange thing to eat: surely there is no meat on chicken feet? True, but there is skin and fat and cartilage, and when cooked well these just fall off the bone and are bursting with flavour! Another dish I grew up eating. The hubster, who’s never had it till he met me, doesn’t like having to spit out all the small toe bones, but I think picking the foot off toe joint by toe joint is part of the fun in eating it!

Note: We also eat goose feet this way.

My verdict: Tender and flavourful when done well, and will appeal to those who like chicken skin, as that’s pretty much what it is! Requires hours of cooking to tenderise, and can be tough when not done well.

No. 5: Durian

Yet another childhood regular. The only fruit/vegetable on the list makes it into no. 5. This infamous ‘stinky’ fruit is the bane of all Western tourists when they visit South East Asia. The Asian version of Marmite, some people just can’t get enough of it, whilst others pale at the smell, which have been likened to open sewers and stinky feet. I for one find that the smell is pleasantly pungent, like fresh garlic. Durian is high in vitamin C, potassium (like banana) and the amino acid tryptophan. However, it is also pretty high in sugar and fat (like coconut), so should be eaten in moderation.

My verdict: I LOVE durian! Whenever I go back to visit, Mom will always have some durian ready for me! The are hundreds of durian varieties, and they can taste sweet, creamy, and some slightly bitter. In general, I kinda liken the flavour to custard, but the hubster says it smells and tastes like cheese and onion! Definitely an acquired taste, but be careful: like asparagus, it makes your wee smell funny!

No. 4: Sheep’s tongue

This was one I’d never encountered until I had it at a Georgian (the country, not the US state) restaurant in London. It was served cold, like ham, and apparently tongue is a pretty popular dish in some European countries. The photo on the right is of a raw one, but the one I ate looked pretty much the same. Think all they did was boil it and slice it up.

My verdict: It tasted how I expected my own tongue to taste like: chewy, slightly coarse, and with a slight almost liver-y flavour. But perhaps it was just the method of cooking. I would happily try it again cooked a different way to see if it tastes any better.

No. 3: Pig’s ears

“Pig’s what?!” you may ask. You read right: pig’s ears. It’s not just a dog’s chew treat. Another common dish back home, pig’s ears — or to be more precise, the ears and the scalp — requires long hours of stewing to get it tender.

My verdict: This is one of my favourite foods! Again, if you like the skin on belly pork, you’ll love this! Even the hubster, who balked at it at first, now can’t get enough of it! I personally prefer the scalp, but if you like a layer of crunchy cartilage, go for the ears!

No. 2: Crocodile

I had this at an African game restaurant, where they served other meats like zebra (which I also had — tastes like a very tough steak) and antelope. It was a crocodile tail, bone segments intact, and was most likely roasted, and served with potatoes and vegetables. Apparently the tail is the best part of the croc, and the meat is whiter, more tender, and less gamey than other parts of the body.

My verdict:  I was prepared for something tough and fishy, and was pleasantly surprised when I really quite enjoyed this! The meat was tender yet firm, sort of the consistency of monkfish, and it was much less gamey than I expected. In fact, it tasted a lot like chicken mixed with tuna.

And now, for my number one strangest food…

No. 1: Balut (Soft-boiled foetal duck egg)

Yes, you did not read wrong: soft-boiled duck foetus. Apparently a Filipino delicacy, I was introduced to it by my ex’s mother, who was Vietnamese. It was my first meet-the-parents session, she didn’t speak any English, and in her broken, heavily accented Cantonese, she waved a pretty harmless looking egg at me, asking if I was hungry.

Then she cracked the egg into a bowl. Out gushed a torrent of bloody-brown liquid, followed by an alien-looking lump that landed on my plate with a gloopy plop.

My initial reaction was: “Ma’am, I think you should get another egg.” Inside, I was screaming “WT*?”

But I was eager to impress, and didn’t want to offend. I bravely dug in.

My verdict: F***. Never. Again. What was I thinking?? I started off by tentatively picking at the eggy bits, which tasted leathery like any overcooked egg, but then, having run out of egg, I had to tackle the foetus. It flopped about in my spoon before I took the plunge, and plunged it into my mouth. Oh. My. God. What was I thinking? The duckling flesh turned to mush in my mouth, with rubbery little bits of baby bones and duck bill, which I tried to spit out but was told “Eat it, it’s good for you.” I ended up downing it with a big glug of water, and surprised myself by not regurgitating!

Of all the stuff I’ve ever tried, this was the only one I regretted eating, and definitely deserves top billing as the weirdest food I’d ever had, and one that I’ll never try again!

So that’s it, my top 7 list. I hope you’ve found this post entertaining and perhaps a bit educational. I certainly enjoyed writing it! And it made me hungry — until I remembered the balut, that is!

But fun facts aside, let’s not forget the main reason for this blog post: the fact that, delicious or not, we sometimes take our foods for granted. Overfishing is depleting our oceans, intensive farming is using up precious land and contributing to global warming, people are increasingly eating more and more processed food, leading to a generation of obese kids with severe health problems, and of course, the fact that thousands of people are dying from famine.

So spare a thought for the hungry, and let’s all do what we can to help. Oxfam and Save the Children are both running appeals for the current food crisis in East Africa. Let’s try and each give what we can.

I leave you now with a couple of questions:

What is the strangest food YOU have ever eaten?

Which food-related problem worries YOU the most?

Tags: #BAD11, Africa, Balut, Blog Action Day, Donate, Durian, Famine, Fin, Food, Shark, Tongue

This entry was posted by J.C. Martin on Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 12:33 AM and is filed under Blogfest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.