Oddest Food You’ve Eaten

[ThisLadyHunts]

Definitely Sea Squirt:
About 20 years ago I was fresh out of culinary school & working as a Chef at a fairly high end Japanese restaurant. I was the only round eye in the kitchen, all the other chefs were from Korea & Japan. We would get fresh shipments of huge fish (tuna, salmon, etc) every few days, it was amazing to watch and help them break it all down & definitely learned a lot there.
Anyways, one time they ordered in "sea squirt". The head chef, Jun Sun, was the only one that spoke halfway decent engrish & told me that they were all excited because it is considered a delicatessen in their countries and not always available fresh, especially in the States. He also said that they are an aphrodisiac by saying they will give you "big power", while making a gesture with his arm that left no doubt what he was referring to lol. Needless to say, this early twenty year old kid was intrigued.
The day it arrived everyone was rushing to get prep done before dinner service started so that we had a little bit of time to eat some of these. Once finished, they all crowded around and were absolutely throwing these things down dipped in Gochujang, a fermented red chili paste that I personally think is delicious.
When I came around the corner they called me over there to try some & it was suddenly all eyes on the round eye guy while I tried it. It has been over twenty years, so visual memory isn't the best, but I will NEVER EVER EVER forget the taste lol.
I remember them being similar to a snail in roundish shape but no shell, gray bluish color, with a darker spot in the center. They did not look appealing at all, but being a hardcore foodie, curious & a cocky early twenties fresh out of school with my fellow co workers all looking on, I wasn't about to not eat it. So I grabbed one, dipped it in the Gochujang, popped the whole thing in my mouth like they had been doing & started chewing.
I remember it being slightly tough in texture but had decent flavor, when I started chewing it all went downhill from there. About the second chew it popped in my mouth, releasing the most absolute vile fluid I have ever tasted to this day & these were fairly large so there was a ton of it. If I had to compare it to something, I would guess it tasted like vile rancid sea water with a million fish turds in it. I instantly gagged causing an eruption of hysterical laughter while they continued gulping them down; not to be outdone I did not spit it out and reluctantly gulped it down with a hard swallow. That was definitely both the weirdest & nastiest thing I have ever eaten, and ever hope to eat. Anyone else ever tried these nasty little suckers?

P.S. - Great thread

Wait a minute...you haven’t finished the story!

Did you ever end up experiencing the Power of the Bigness? If so, did it last longer than four hours? And was it one arm or both?

Please don’t leave us dangling!

[SaltwaterSlick]

wait a minute...you haven’t finished the story!

Did you ever end up experiencing the power of the bigness? If so, did it last longer than four hours? And was it one arm or both?

Please don’t leave us limp!

:d fify...

[tdwinklr]

sucking juice out of boiled crawdad heads, actually pretty good.

and octopus, the little baby ones are good too.

[breederbuck33]

I'd try just about anything. I haven't had many opportunities to try weird food though. I see some of you consider octopus and stuff weird, but I like it! I think it is very bizarre that us Americans will find deer heart, liver, and things of that nature nasty or weird and refuse to eat it. Then walk in their pantry and grab a can of Vienna sausages, or a slice of bologna. I like bologna, but I've got no idea how Vienna sausages are a thing. I couldn't even eat one when my taste and smell was gone because of COVID. I was gagging from the texture.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I'd try just about anything. I haven't had many opportunities to try weird food though. I see some of you consider octopus and stuff weird, but I like it! I think it is very bizarre that us Americans will find deer heart, liver, and things of that nature nasty or weird and refuse to eat it. Then walk in their pantry and grab a can of Vienna sausages, or a slice of bologna. I like bologna, but I've got no idea how Vienna sausages are a thing. I couldn't even eat one when my taste and smell was gone because of COVID. I was gagging from the texture.

Well, that's it! I'm done with you! Here I thought you was a good ol' East Texas boy, but you done gone dissin' Viennie sausage!! That's it! Errbody round East Texas knows Veinnie saussages is just round steak in a can!!

[300rem7]

MREs

[breederbuck33]

Well, that's it! I'm done with you! Here I thought you was a good ol' East Texas boy, but you done gone dissin' Viennie sausage!! That's it! Errbody round East Texas knows Veinnie saussages is just round steak in a can!!

I know! I should be ashamed and move to California, but I can't help my sensitive pallet!

[Duckologist]

Well, that's it! I'm done with you! Here I thought you was a good ol' East Texas boy, but you done gone dissin' Viennie sausage!! That's it! Errbody round East Texas knows Veinnie saussages is just round steak in a can!!

Stand up steaks!!!

[Oleman]

While in Viet Nam. Ordered frog legs. When the meal came, the frog was whole. It was determined the frog was actually a toad.

[Hooverfb]

Jelly fish in china. Was actually fairly good, just was in vinegar with some salad greens. That's the only thing I've eaten there that made me sick afterwards.

[wellingtontx]

Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers

[Texar]

I'll try and have tried just about anything if I was around when someone was fixin it.......rattlesnake, menudo, racoon, turtle, calamari, freshwater muscles, , garfish, etc.

Y'all brought back some good memories talkin about squirrel brains. My Pappaw who was raised in Louisiana, loved them and would waste nothing on a squirrel in some dumplins.

We were raised squirrel hunting with a .22 and my dad expected us to head shoot them to save the meat and it always made my Pappaw mad cause we were ruining the best part!!!

[meltingfeather]

Hiking in Switzerland we kept passing massive banana slugs on the trails. I thought escargot is a delicacy in France and there must be a bunch of meat in there, so I picked a bunch up and brought them back to camp to clean and cook.
Cleaning them was a MESS. They hit the whoop *** switch on their slime glands the second I put a blade to them so I was covered in clear gooey crap by the time I was done. Sauteed them in butter with salt and pepper and tried one on a cracker before deciding to put them in my spaghetti.
This was the late 90s when I had everything figured out.

[Laketex]

22 year old fruit cake. My grandma made one for each of her grandkids when they were born and froze them. On their wedding day, we were expected to serve it next to the wedding cake. Fruit cake is nasty anyway, but 22 year old fruit cake is pretty gnarly stuff. But we choked a few bites down and smiled for grandma. When she passed, there were still a few fruitcakes for the not yet married grandkids in her freezer. Nobody wanted theirs and they all got thrown out.

[Tryton]

My uncle always cooked pig ears. He would boil them in seasoned water for a while and go to town on them. They looked like pig ears and tasted like pig skin covered cartilage. I don't know what the appeal was.