Variety of foods

grumpyoldman

grumpyoldman

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i always thought that here in the U.S , we had the widest variety of foods on the planet earth
but since i have been on this forum i am dumbfounded by most of the foods mentioned on here from all over the world
some of you folks eat things i never even heard of ,and the same goes for dishes that you make , some look interesting , some quite honestly look disgusting , but thats what you learned to eat and its as normal to you as southern fried chicken is to me
who knew things were so different from country to country
 
grumpyoldman said:
who knew things were so different from country to country
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That’s why I always liked that quote about how travel broadens the mind. You get out away from the familiar, and you learn a whole lot, or at least have the opportunity to, if you choose to embrace it.

And it works both ways…I guarantee someone somewhere is looking at something that’s just an everyday, maybe even boring, food item in the US and thinking, “Wow, I’ve never even heard of that!”

Back when I was cooking more hot foods and assembling less salads, I’d make a lot of things that I grew up with - just what I’d call church cooking or county fair cooking…those big heavy dishes that church ladies would cook, or would enter in the county fair displays.

I’d see other stuff on here and think, “My stuff is so boring. It’s just a ham loaf, whoopty-doo, but all this other stuff is so exceptional to me,” but then, I’d get a couple of remarks from people in other countries telling me my stuff looked interesting to them.

That’s what makes it so fun here, even if it’s something I wouldn’t necessarily make or eat myself, but just seeing it all, it’s like a trip around the world every day here.
 
Absolutely true!
First time I made pho (Vietnamese soup) I did it to please someone (American)
And man, it felt like my taste buds went on this rollercoaster right.
Salt, no sweet, no cilantro, no lime, no hot,...
Absolutely amazing and nothing like I knew or expected.

And I agree it is one of the things I like about this forum. Lot of people with different background, tastes etc
 
grumpyoldman said:
and the same goes for dishes that you make , some look interesting , some quite honestly look disgusting , but thats what you learned to eat and its as normal to you as southern fried chicken is to me
who knew things were so different from country to country
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I can think of several things you've probably eaten from Cajun country that look disgusting, but smell and taste great. The first one that comes to mind is dirty rice. Then, there's blackened food that looks burnt, but isn't when done properly. Gumbo isn't the prettiest either, especially gumbo z'herbes, nor is an etouffe. We just pulled jambalaya out of the oven. While that's not too bad looking, still isn't the best looking.

Biscuits and sausage gravy certainly isn't a great looking dish, nor is chicken fried steak with white gravy. Let's be honest, Brunswick stew is certainly not attractive and it can have ingredients in that a lot of people won't eat now, since it basically came about as a community party catch-all back in the day.

Chilaquiles are on par with dirty rice as far as looks. The birria I made for tacos recently is certainly not pretty, but it tastes darn good.

There's lots more dishes that aren't pretty, the above are just off top of my head, but taste wonderful. I've learned not to let looks alone keep me from tasting something.
 
medtran49 said:
I can think of several things you've probably eaten from Cajun country that look disgusting, but smell and taste great. The first one that comes to mind is dirty rice. Then, there's blackened food that looks burnt, but isn't when done properly. Gumbo isn't the prettiest either, especially gumbo z'herbes, nor is an etouffe.
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i have never even tasted even one of those !!!
i had a close freind there that was said to be one of the best cajon cooks around , but i wouldn't eat a thing he made if i didn't see what went in it with my own eyes , and yes some of what he cooked did look disgusting , but that doesn't mean others don't like it , i just wasn't about to eat it haha
 
grumpyoldman said:
i have never even tasted even one of those !!!
i had a close freind there that was said to be one of the best cajon cooks around , but i wouldn't eat a thing he made if i didn't see what went in it with my own eyes , and yes some of what he cooked did look disgusting , but that doesn't mean others don't like it , i just wasn't about to eat it haha
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Please don't take this in any way bad, but I truly feel sorry for you that you didn't try some of the great Cajun and Creole food in LA, especially since you were there for so long.

My DH worked on the oil rigs, saturation diver, for a couple of years back in the early-mid 80s. He quickly learned to love the food and Cajun music during his shore time.
 
I was probably a pretty conservative eater before I came to Venezuela, but I can tell you, I've tried some really wierd stuff over here and I love it.
The first time we went to Margarita Island, we sat on the beach and a guy wandered up with a bucket full of shells. "OOOHHH! ", said my wife, "OYSTERS!!" and promptly bought 4 dozen. I'd never eaten one before. Closed eyes, prayed I wouldn't get botulism, salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, etc. squeezed a bit of lime juice on top, down the hatch.
The following day, we had 8 dozen.
I also started eating fish because most restaurants were meat, meat and more meat, with one or two fish options. Sea bream, red snapper, catfish from the Orinoco, Chilean salmon, sea bass, barracuda, amberjack - just hit me with it.
And finally there came a time when I thought: "Ok - at least give it a try, and if you don't like it, then just don't eat it again"
Spices - any spice you like, especially if it includes chile peppers.
 
karadekoolaid said:
I was probably a pretty conservative eater before I came to Venezuela, but I can tell you, I've tried some really wierd stuff over here and I love it.
The first time we went to Margarita Island, we sat on the beach and a guy wandered up with a bucket full of shells. "OOOHHH! ", said my wife, "OYSTERS!!" and promptly bought 4 dozen. I'd never eaten one before. Closed eyes, prayed I wouldn't get botulism, salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, etc. squeezed a bit of lime juice on top, down the hatch.
The following day, we had 8 dozen.
I also started eating fish because most restaurants were meat, meat and more meat, with one or two fish options. Sea bream, red snapper, catfish from the Orinoco, Chilean salmon, sea bass, barracuda, amberjack - just hit me with it.
And finally there came a time when I thought: "Ok - at least give it a try, and if you don't like it, then just don't eat it again"
Spices - any spice you like, especially if it includes chile peppers.
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It's also funny what different people think of as "weird". I love oysters, always have. Raw, steamed, fried, baked, broiled, smoked, you name it, I love 'em. Love almost all seafood (with the exception of sea urchin) and not a fan of raw yellowtail, though I will happily consume most other raw fish (or cooked). Not a big fan of anchovies or sardines, though my DH loves them. They are too strong and oily tasting to me. Spices? Not a fan of "knock your socks off" heat but I do like most seasonings and spices otherwise. I tend to get heartburn for one thing, plus I think that sometimes strong pepper spices get in the way of other flavors at times.
 
karadekoolaid said:
My sister went to India 3 times, and spent the entire time eating omelettes and potato chips (crisps). I asked her why she hadn't tried the local food and she said "Oooh, no - it's foreign!" :hyper: :hyper:
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I think you know that's a typical Brit response, LOL. I do believe that in the UK they love curries and lots of Indian cuisine and forget where it came from!
 
Our ex SIL was a weird eater. He wouldn't eat anything with a cream or milk sauce, wouldn't eat cheese, except for pizza, cheese whiz, or those nasty, preservative laden cheese balls you can buy at Christmas. He'd only eat broccoli cooked by his aunt because it had to be just so and not deviated from exactly the way she cooked it. DD said I cooked it the exact same way, she was picky about broccoli too, but he wouldn't eat mine. We'd take them out to dinner and he'd often comment that what I was eating smelled good. One time, and I will never forget this because we were in a nice restaurant and his response was quite loud, he asked what I was eating because it smelled really good, garlicky, buttery, and it was served in little shells in a special dish. I told him what it was, the French name, asked him if he wanted to try it, and he answered "no, because you eat weird shit!" Anybody guess what it was? DD whispered to him what it actually was after his loud response and you should have seen the face!

They lived with us for a while after they moved to Florida from NOLA and were house hunting. I had to figure out how to cook meals everybody would like and usually ended up splitting sauces so Craig, DD and I could have cream and cheese sometimes, and he'd have a similar meal without the dairy.

We used to joke that if we took him on a vacation out of the country that he'd always be looking for a McDonald's.
 
grumpyoldman said:
i always thought that here in the U.S , we had the widest variety of foods on the planet earth
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The interesting thing about food in the US is that so much of it is food that is produced in the US - I mean grown, fished or in the case of meat, raised. Its probably not surprising as the US is such a large country with a variety of climate conditions, that a large range of food can be produced. The other two main influences from outside the US are (I suppose?) Italian cuisine (from immigration) and Mexican. I'm sure there are others. I know there is a French influence in Cajun cooking.

...unlike the UK. We have a history of importing food which goes back many hundreds of years and this means that many of us (not all) have very eclectic tastes. As an example, if you take a walk down a ready-meal aisle in a UK supermarket (or should I say aisles) you see dishes from all over the world. Clearly many people are buying these or these large aisles wouldn't exist. We are probably the world leaders in ready meal cuisine and some of them are really rather good. Very few these days contain additives.
 
medtran49 said:
I was eating because it smelled really good, garlicky, buttery, and it was served in little shells in a special dish. I told him what it was, the French name, asked him if he wanted to try it, and he answered "no, because you eat weird shit!" Anybody guess what it was? DD whispered to him what it actually was after his loud response and you should have seen the face!
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I’m going to go for
escargot.
 
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