The Friday Fillip

I’m always amazed at what people don’t eat — or do eat. It’s fun to introduce your kids’ friends to artichokes, and mango — and even in one case lamb! It’s even more fun to find a food that’s new to you, something that can happen a fair bit if you live in a big city in this great immigrant country of ours.

Here’s a list of 100 eatables that “everyone should sample” — the Omnivore’s Hundred, according to Jill and Andrew of Very Good Taste — and the task is to tick off all of the items you’ve tried, even if only once, and even if with long teeth. Let us know by way of a comment which remain untested for you. (My own list, with items tried [73] bolded, is here.)

I’ve got a couple of items I’d add to any list of my own. I think nettle tea might go off, and chicken feet (in garlic and black bean sauce) would replace it; real caviare to replace clotted cream tea; Timbits instead of KrispyKreme (natch); mango for phaal (don’t know what it is, anyway); and knish for Hostess Fruit pie… Oh, and the malt whisky would be from a $300 bottle. What would your substitutes be?

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Comments

  1. Amusing list! I wonder if we could come up with a vegetarian version?

    While I am not a strict vegetarian (I am actually a pescetarian), I stopped eating meat before having tried such things as lamb, venison or goat, and am unlikely to now.

    I have had discussions with friends as to whether reptiles (crocodile, frogs legs) would qualify under my diet. I remain unconvinced that they would.

    Things like soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, tofu, tempeh, TVP (textured vegetable protein) or quinoa might be some replacements for the meat items. As with any of the items above, you would want to eat them cooked by someone who knows what he or she is doing!

    This is making me hungry! Happy Friday. :-)

    Cheers,
    Connie