Weird Meat
February 24, 2006 3:22 PM   Subscribe

Hello and welcome to Weird Meat(.com).

I've eaten dog, cat, rat, cockroach, camel penis, bee larve, scorpions, spiders, night hawk, and pre-born duck embryo without feeling ill. Can't say the same for Taco Bell or McDonalds.

Also see Ox Knee and One Day Old Chicks for more wonderful articles documenting the Weird Meat experience.
posted by benhugstrees (44 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
aaand it's meat day here on the blue, I have heard anecdotically that there is a certain % of the population that will eat anything, and that is how we discover edible things that don't at first seem editable.
posted by edgeways at 3:44 PM on February 24, 2006


I wish you added the "editable" tag.
posted by 327.ca at 3:45 PM on February 24, 2006


I normally don't like blog posts, but this is awesome.

(Actually, I believe the Belgians are the only ones making good beer on the European continent.)

And the guy has good taste in beer too!
posted by slogger at 3:54 PM on February 24, 2006


Yuk. I have been to Khao San Road in Bangkok, however, and can verify the strange and wonderful fare of street vendors there. Never touched any of it myself, but my travelling companion spent an entire drunken evening sampling the street.

Did break down and try a Witchetty grub once though. It was actually kind of tasty, although it took a bit of mental preparation to actually eat it.
posted by elendil71 at 3:58 PM on February 24, 2006


I like my beaver covered in sour cream.
posted by Mr_Zero at 4:02 PM on February 24, 2006


You might also enjoy Steve Don't Eat It if you liked that.
posted by Sharcho at 4:07 PM on February 24, 2006


MeatFilter!
posted by mathowie at 4:08 PM on February 24, 2006


I've eaten pre-born duck embryo in Vietnam; funny thing is, I positively hate regular eggs - so the duck embryo bit in the middle actually went down the best...
posted by runkelfinker at 4:26 PM on February 24, 2006


I recall that in 4th grade all the children in my class were given cow tongue to eat without being told what it was. Then there was this kind of "gotcha!" from the teacher. Unethical, I think.
posted by beerbajay at 4:31 PM on February 24, 2006


A buddy of mine said that in the philippines you could buy whole barbequed monkey squewered on a stick. He said it looked just like a human baby, cooked.
posted by 445supermag at 4:34 PM on February 24, 2006


The ox knee looks damn good to me, but then I like cartilege — or any connective tissue, really; beef tendon pho is one of my favorite things in the world.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:37 PM on February 24, 2006


Beef tongues are ok, have to strip the tough outer layer first, though. Stewed pork tongues are even better, and no stripping required.

Cow hearts are tasty and have an interesting texture. Chicken and rabbit hearts are good, too. Kidneys and lungs take a lot of preparation but it can be worthwhile. Many cultures enjoy the various stomaches and intestines of both cows and pigs.

Beef marrow (and marrow in general) from the long leg bones? Heaven in soup-form.

Have had brain before (can't remember if it was beef or pork), had a very nutty flavour.

I'm not a big fan of terrestrial insects, though - but I'll try anything from the ocean (there are lots of wierd looking but extremely tasty marine arthropods).
posted by PurplePorpoise at 4:59 PM on February 24, 2006


"I'll try anything from the ocean ... "

The most adventurous I ever got with seafood was sea cucumber, at a Chinese restaurant. It was exactly like snorting back a big ball of phlegm and then swallowing it instead of hocking it out.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:05 PM on February 24, 2006


Cockroach isn't meat. It's shellfish.

posted by jfuller at 5:13 PM on February 24, 2006


Childs play to anyone who has ever been to a Cantonese restaurant. Eating a boiled chick fetus from the egg surely beats having to chew the grisly skin and muscle from the bone of a severed chicken foot?
posted by fire&wings at 5:19 PM on February 24, 2006


Raw.
posted by fire&wings at 5:20 PM on February 24, 2006


I'm curious about why he's living in Shanghai and why he went to Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia. Is he on vacation? Working? School? He talks about going to different countries like he's just driving into the city.
posted by stavrogin at 5:37 PM on February 24, 2006


fire&wings -- chicken feet, once you get past the visual, is no more or less nasty than eating chicken skin. There's not much muscle there and just a bit of cartilege. For dimsum, I'd eat it like popcorn.

Balut on the other hand has a ... ripeness that is closer to organ meat and you're very much aware, as your jaws crunch through beak and feet that you are eating a whole chick, brains and all. Cracking the shell also yields an amniotic broth that's a bit of an acquired taste, so in general, the experience is a lot more involved than just munching on chicken feet.
posted by bl1nk at 5:59 PM on February 24, 2006


You had me at "amniotic broth."
posted by fire&wings at 6:07 PM on February 24, 2006


What is wrong w/you people!

As I return to my Wise potato chips.
posted by notreally at 6:35 PM on February 24, 2006


Ox tongue. The dish that tastes you back.
posted by ninazer0 at 6:43 PM on February 24, 2006


The supermarket around my street sells a lot of live animals. Everyday there's something new. Last week, I noticed turtles. Yesterday, big green toads. The other day at a Cantonese restaurant where we went with customers, I realized you could pick the snake you wanted to eat.

While shopping for Christmas presents, I noticed a shop selling deep fried scorpions.

In my home town (different country), people will tell you that during the war they ate cats and told me it tasted just like rabbit.

The funny thing is that the horse butchers are a disapearing kind, but I've seen people enjoying horse meat a couple times.

I'm glad to be a vegetarian.
posted by NewBornHippy at 7:35 PM on February 24, 2006


A friend of mine from China once told me "If it has feet and it's not a table, or wings and it's not an airplane, we'll eat it."

I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but this stuff seems less like food, and more like a dare.
posted by Gamblor at 8:01 PM on February 24, 2006


I've had chicken feet in Thailand, entirely by accident.

But I was a dirty backpacker with not so much cash, so I chewed and smiled. Thank you, Surrathani (your oysters were one of the best things I'll ever eat, hands down).
posted by bardic at 8:23 PM on February 24, 2006


If you're into this sort of thing, Deep End Dining is a much better site.
posted by laz-e-boy at 9:44 PM on February 24, 2006


t'was a brave man what first et an oyster.

I ate a frog once, but it wasn't for epicurian reasons, nor was it to impress anyone. As the years go by, I'm more and more glad I had no witnesses.
posted by sidereal at 9:45 PM on February 24, 2006


Balut is one of the least palatable foods I've ever tasted.
Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I couldn't find anything on here about placenta (human), which is a rare treat for the adventurous carnivore.
posted by Demogorgon at 10:05 PM on February 24, 2006


You had me at "amniotic broth."

fire&wings, omg, ROFL!!!

benhugstrees, WAY cool FPP, thank you! I'd always wondered about bizarre food, didn't have the guts to try any in the East. Loved the descriptions and pictures, vivid.

I've eaten yummy goat's brains in Crete. Frog's legs here in NYC. Whole slurpings of escargots in garlic butter. Raw sea urchin. Sharks' fin soup.
posted by nickyskye at 10:15 PM on February 24, 2006


Bite me.
posted by StickyCarpet at 11:21 PM on February 24, 2006


http://www.rhymer.net/New%20Folder/spiderboy/spider-eating.jpg
posted by obeygiant at 11:37 PM on February 24, 2006


Yuk. I have been to Khao San Road in Bangkok

And spent many a dissolute night on the products of the snooker hall...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:02 AM on February 25, 2006


I've not eaten anything exotic like that, but I've never gotten sick eating at Taco Bell or McDonalds. So who's the wuss now?
posted by moonbiter at 4:14 AM on February 25, 2006


maybe benhugstrees but benchewstheshitoutofotherstuff
posted by pracowity at 8:33 AM on February 25, 2006


I will admit to being a huge chickenshit.
I could not stomach the vast majority of this stuff.
It's probably mostly about presentation, but still.
posted by papakwanz at 9:07 AM on February 25, 2006


Yum, whale vomit!
posted by clevershark at 9:17 AM on February 25, 2006


I've eaten chicken feet in Xian, China; dried squid jerky, fried grasshoppers, fried ants, fried june bugs in Bangkok, Thailand; pirhana and other strange fish in Manaus, Brazil; horse in Vienna, Austria; lengua (beef tongue), menudo (beef intestine soup), beef brains, frog legs, crawfish, escargot, uni (sea urchin), alligator, rattlesnake in Texas and elsewhere. Everything on my list tasted good to me, with the exception of menudo (a little chewy), chicken feet (not wholly unpalatable but not a favorite) and squid jerky (gross, in my opinion).

I like to immerse myself as much as possible in local cultures and, for me, that includes eating foods that might seem bizarre to most. There's probably not much I wouldn't try at least once in the proper cultural setting.
posted by syzygy at 9:35 AM on February 25, 2006


I eat dried squid at least once a week syzygy, it's great.

I haven't eaten much gnarly stuff (besides fast food in bygone years), but my favorite exotic in seoul is san-nakji, a live small octopus, cut up on yr table and eaten while wiggling.

It's delicious, but you gotta dip it in sesame oil if you don't want it grabbing yr teeth (or tonsils?).
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:20 AM on February 25, 2006


I got hooked on escamoles in mexico.

like...meatcorn.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:00 AM on February 25, 2006


Hey me too! I love beetles! Yum!

I’ve gone for quite some time on just grubs and ants, drinking out of running streams, etc, with no ill effects.

I had a taste for some McDonalds about five years ago and had a big mac - felt sick for about three days.
What does that tell you?

I still eat brains and eggs. Tongue is good too - not that exotic.
Friend of mine’s wife made octopus for me - tried to freak me out.
We have octopus every year for Christmas.

Hell, even Chthulu looks tasty to me.

Haven’t eaten at a Taco Hell in some time either.
Huh.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:24 AM on February 25, 2006



I haven't eaten much gnarly stuff (besides fast food in bygone years), but my favorite exotic in seoul is san-nakji, a live small octopus, cut up on yr table and eaten while wiggling.

I like eating weird stuff in general, but from having seen video clips of it that's the one of the few things I wouldn't give a try. It seems like the octopus is actively resisting being eaten. *shudder*
posted by juv3nal at 3:26 PM on February 25, 2006


Well, let's see, I've eaten jaguar in the Amazon, and number of other strange creatures served by the locals. In the Philippine Islands I ate dog--great story there. Snake in the Mojave, strange little fish-like ribs. Once while studying survival, I ate a rat and a chipmunk. Chipmunk sucks, but rat, ummm good, sweet meat, like, well think lunch at your local Chinese restaurant.
posted by BillyElmore at 3:27 PM on February 25, 2006


Joseph Gurl: I eat dried squid at least once a week syzygy, it's great.

Now that you mention it, I recall eating some dried squid that was pretty tasty. I purchased it in a gas station between Bangkok and Kanchanaburi. It was flavored (lime?) and edible. The squid jerkey (6th picture in the series) I didn't like was given to me by a street vendor. It was unflavored and not something I'd try again.
posted by syzygy at 11:33 PM on February 25, 2006


The street vendor's squid jerkey is featured in the FITFH, not the sixth picture in that series of photos.
posted by syzygy at 11:37 PM on February 25, 2006


heh -- just rechecking this thread after getting back from a long weekend. since we're all comparing edgy gourmand dick sizes ... I used to eat balut on a weekly basis as part of a healthy breakfast. So, when you've grown up with it, everything else is anticlimactic. Though, turkey and stuffing flavored potato chips in Canada are downright queer.

But, yeah, other weird stuff. Soups and stews with pork blood were pretty common. Beef tongue was a staple dinner dish, as well as oxtail, tripe, menudo, the various sundry hearts of domesticated animals, fish heads, deep fried pork skin, etc.

Past childhood ... antelope, rattlesnake, alligator, escargot, frog's legs, boar, ostrich, bison, dried squid, haggis, reindeer, pigeon heads, chicken feet, octopus, urchin, abalone, durian fruit. My greatest regret is that I passed on an opportunity to try rotten shark and puffin in Iceland.
posted by bl1nk at 8:02 AM on February 28, 2006


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