Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Food List

I've seen this on Sarah's Lemon Life and Blackbird's Say La Vee. It made me hungry just to read theirs. Updating my version took a long time and now I'm hungry again, but Ernest has kindly made popcorn for us.

1)Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you have eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at Very Good Taste linking to your results.

I thought I loved food, but there are a number of things I haven't tried yet. I only crossed out a few, mostly because of too much spice (which equals indigestion) or the fact that it was intestines. And then there's durian. I've been warned.

If I've copied a description, it's from Wikipedia.

1. Venison - Many times. Delicious!
2. Nettle tea - why?
3. Huevos rancheros - How much Mexican food have I eaten in my life?
4. Steak tartare - I think beef carpaccio is close enough.
5. Crocodile - Does alligator count?
6. Black pudding - is this like the blood pudding that my Norwegian aunts made in the old days? Fortunately they had no access to blood after I was born. I would taste it once, just to say I did.
7. Cheese fondue - I've had 2 fondue pots in my life.
8. Carp - I think this is a fish I haven't met yet.
9. Borscht - maybe once? I do love beets. I have beets in the fridge for tomorrow night. I may roast them with some potatoes and carrots.
10. Baba ghanoush - I love middle eastern food (belly dance parties!)
11. Calamari - Especially the little ones that have their tentacles, at lunch at the Enterprise. Much tastier than the flat white slabs.
12. Pho - Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup. If I lived anywhere near a Vietnamese restaurant, I would be eating it right now.
13. PB&J sandwich - Yes, but I dislike peanut butter.
14. Aloo gobi - I didn't recognize it by name, but the description is: dry Indian curry with potatoes, cauliflower and spices. I make something similar at home but it is is a little wetter due to the white wine I throw in (a recipe from Sunset Magazine).
15. Hot dog from a street cart. NYC, way to go! First thing I ate there, in 1988.
16. Epoisses - "a pungent unpasteurized cows-milk cheese." I'll try it once.
17. Black truffle - Would if I could.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - Elderberry.
19. Steamed pork buns - Mmm, pork. [Shut up, Homer.]
20. Pistachio ice cream - Not my favorite.
21. Heirloom tomatoes - Caprese.
22. Fresh wild berries - going back to childhood, picking wild strawberries on my uncle's farm in Minnesota.
23. Foie gras - does liver pate count?
24. Rice and beans - On every plate of enchiladas verdes at Rose Cafe.
25. Brawn, or head cheese - Another one of those things the Norwegian Aunties loved. Head cheese is not that bad. It's better than pickled pigs feet, which is another odd thing they made me eat.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet Pepper- "one of the hottest peppers in the world." Nope. Not for me.
27. Dulce de leche - Ugh. Caramel. Do Not Like.
28. Oysters - preferred raw on the half shell or Rockefeller if I have to have them cooked. .
29. Baklava - Oh, yes. Philo, honey, walnuts. My teeth are screaming with delight.
30. Bagna cauda - "a warm dip typical of Piedmont, Italy. The dish, which is served and consumed in a manner similar to fondue, is made with garlic, anchovies, walnut or olive oil, butter,red wine vinagar and sometimes cream. The dish is eaten by dipping raw, boiled or roasted vegetables, especially cardoon, celery, cauliflower, artichokes, peppers and onions." I want to eat this! And then brush my teeth really well afterwards.
31. Wasabi peas - in a bowl of mixed crackers
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - Best at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. A last resort at Disneyland in New Orleans Square when the sit down restaurants are too crowded. 33. Salted lassi - I think I've had it. An indian yogurt drink.
34. Sauerkraut - Mostly on the aforementioned hot dogs
35. Root beer float - At a local restaurant, they end your dinner with a root beer float or a liqueur (see 36). I usually choose the liqueur.
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - the Cognac but not the cigar.
37. Clotted cream tea - can I go to England?
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O - I'm not a bar kind of girl, but I wouldn't turn one down.
39. Gumbo - Palace Cafe!
40. Oxtail - I should stew some.
41. Curried goat - I had goat tacos, but not curried, at a birthday party next door with our former neighbors' Birria. It was good!
42. Whole insects - I might have had a chocolate covered ant at some time in my life.
43. Phaal -"the hottest generally available dish from Indian restaurants." I will pass on this. I can't deal with extremely spicy foods.
44. Goat’s milk - yes, and cheese.
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more - Whiskey, but not THAT expensive!
46. Fugu - No, but I would try it. Once.
47. Chicken tikka masala - I love Indian food.
48. Eel - Sushi, cooked with a teriyaki glaze. Tasty.
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - D'oh!
50. Sea urchin - Sushi. Smelled like a bad tide. I won't try it again.
51. Prickly pear - In a Margarita in San Antonio, Texas in 1993.
52. Umeboshi - a sour, pickled fruit from Japan. Hmmm. Ernest did not have one on his trip there this summer.
53. Abalone - I had it in a restaurant. The Handy Husband described pounding it with a hammer way back when, when it was plentiful.
54. Paneer - saag paneer, an Indian spinach dish.
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - At age 10 I had to beg my mother for my first Big Mac, instead of the tiny hamburger. She thought I couldn't eat the whole thing. She was wrong.
56. Spaetzle - In my college days, there was a little Swiss/German restaurant a few miles away whose Sunday special was veal ragout with spaetzle. The ultimate comfort food.
57. Dirty gin martini - Dirty is with the olive juice? I'm not up on my martinis. Except for the pomegranate ones.
58. Beer above 8% ABV - Uncertain? Perhaps under the influence at the time.
59. Poutine - "French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy, a fast food staple in Canada." If it doesn't stink or burn me, I'll try it.
60. Carob chips - uck. Give me real chocolate any day.
61. S’mores -. Classic camping food.
62. Sweetbreads - When I was 12ish, my dad took me to a restaurant in San Francisco called Cafe Du Nord which was very continental, and we had sweetbreads. I don't remember what they tasted like. The menu for the current Cafe Du Nord seems nothing like the one I went to.
63. Kaolin - This is CLAY! If it is what's in Kaopectate, yes as a child because my mother made me. I would have rather had the diarrhea. Take Immodium instead!
64. Currywurst - "a German dish consisting of hot pork sausage (German: Wurst) cut into slices and seasoned with curry sauce." Sure, why not?
65. Durian - NO! NEVER! The Handy Husband experienced durian in Singapore. It was not pleasant. I think even Andrew Zimmern could not stomach durian.
66. Frogs’ legs - Frank and Ernest both like them, too.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Beignets are the best.
68. Haggis - When in Scotland... It's stomach, not intestines.
69. Fried plantain - We made this at home. Frank had an English project in sophomore year, when they read "Things Fall Apart." His project was a cookbook of African recipes and he had to have made at least 3 of them. By a lucky twist of fate, the local market had plantains that week. We also made a chicken curry and Lorenco Marques Prawns. Check out the Congo Cookbook.
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette - Intestines? No thanks.
71. Gazpacho - A cool thing on a hot day.
72. Caviar and blini - Caviar yes, blini no
73. Louche absinthe - "no evidence has shown it to be any more dangerous than ordinary liquor." Send me to France.
74. Gjetost, or brunost - more of the strange Norwegian food forced upon me in my childhood. Why isn't lutefisk on the list?
75. Roadkill - Can it taste worse than lutefisk?
76. Baijiu - "a Chinese distilled alcoholic beverage." If I'm ever in China....
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - Grade school.
78. Snail - Ernest says they taste better in France. The ones in my yard taste the worst (thanks a lot [sarcastically] for the backyard snail recipe, Sunset Magazine).
79. Lapsang souchong - Probably at the Japanese Tea Garden when I was very young.
80. Bellini - MMM.
81. Tom yum - hot and sour Thai soup. Wonderful!
82. Eggs Benedict - My favorite out-to-breakfast meal.
83. Pocky - Sticks!!!!
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant - If I ever got to one, I would try it. Again, send me to France!!
85. Kobe beef - in a burger.
86. Hare - close enough to rabbit.
87. Goulash - I make a nice goulash, if I say so myself.
88. Flowers - Yes.
89. Horse - If in France, I would.... Not where I live.
90. Criollo chocolate - Is it Mexican?
91. Spam - SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM I Love Monty Python SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM
92. Soft shell crab - Again at the Palace Cafe, home to all things Cajun and Creole and inCroyable.
93. Rose harissa - "a North African hot red sauce" This is a maybe depending on how hot it is. I like a little spice, but not overpowering.
94. Catfish - All the time.
95. Mole poblano - Surprisingly, with all the Mexican food available here, I have not had mole. Must remedy.
96. Bagel and lox - ever since the New York Bagel Factory in college.
97. Lobster Thermidor - I prefer the plain tail.
98. Polenta - pre-cooked. I haven't made it myself.
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - I've had many coffees, so probably.
100. Snake - I think so. Or I might be confusing it with the alligator.

5 comments:

Nora said...

Interesting list. What is durian?

Jen said...

As a Scot, I need to correct you on haggis. Haggis IS intestines and whatever bits of a sheep are traditionally left over, stuffed into a stomach. So you don't actually eat stomach, you jut cut stomach open.

And yet if you don't think about what it actually is, it just tastes like spicy mince.

Count yourself lucky I didn't give the usual answer Americans get which is that haggis is a little-known creature with two legs longer than the other two so it can run round mountains.

Louise said...

You're a much braver person than I am.

Vanessa said...

I keep saying I'm going to do this list. I'm afraid I've hardly tried anything in comparison to you, adventurous one!

Noodle said...

I am so stealing this. Very cool!