BootsnAll Travel Community

OK I found a thread for Favorite Food here but none for the worst food. So here's the question.

What's the worst food you have ever eaten?
Where was it at?
Could you get out of eating it without offending someone?

Mine was Zebra, in Zambia Africa. And as it was the first meat that some of these folks had eaten in awhile and they were sharing with me I had to eat it. I noticed that they were putting a lot of red stuff on it. I mean lots. I did as well and was gratified. It was a sauce so hot that it killed your taste buds. I mean this was horrible tasting meat.

So what was your bad experience.

What did the zebra taste like that made is so awful?

Reading your post reminded me of a book called A Primate's Memoir, by Robert Sapolsky--a bit where he makes fun of himself for facing his first ethical dilemma as a former vegetarian when some poachers give him a leg of zebra meat. His politeness and desire for cultural adaptability win out, and he takes it, but I can't remember if he talks about what it tastes like.

And I'm curious because I probably won't ever get the chance to find out for myself!

Aw, man, does it have to be just one thing? There's so much to choose from.

I found tête de veau (veal's head) to be pretty nasty, perhaps more because of what it is than how it tasted.

Barbecued snake on a stick in Cambodia was pretty gross too.

Naw just list whatever turned you off in your travels.

Zebra tasted like pure rotten garbage and the meat was fresh. I still have nightmares about that stuff.

Rotten shark meat, Iceland.

Hungarian speciality "Hurka", or blood sausage, is pretty damn nasty

Mystery meat, Battambang Cambodia

Still sporting the fur.
Uh, gross.

B-B-Q Rattlesnake - The guys I used to work with convinced me to go to a wild game feed with them. I tried some weird stuff - bear, mountain lion, alligator, but the worst was the snake. It was oily and tough - just plain nasty.

Being vegetarian, I've been spared the nasty meat experiences, but I got a free sample of durian candy in a mall in Borneo. I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for hours.

[mmmm durian... what mall was this, Haci Richard?]

Balut. It was disgusting. And i didn't even get to the chick embryo.

In the Philippines.

I couldn't help myself. I vomitted it out on the streets. People (my relatives) laughed at me. I don't think I offended anyone however.

I just wrote about my experience with a 10,000 year old egg in another post but I'll share it again.
I work in a Chinese restaurant and the owner and I were talking about crazy foods our parents used to feed us. Well he started telling me about the 10,000 year old egg and told him I'd try it. The next week he brought one in and I felt like I was on Fear Factor. It was black and shiny. He told me to eat it plain so I did. The smell of my breath alone, smelled like someone just laid a nasty one!! Needless to say I spit it out and rinsed my mouth out with vinnegar. Never again!!!

quote:

Originally posted by globalguppy:
I just wrote about my experience with a 10,000 year old egg in another post but I'll share it again.
I work in a Chinese restaurant and the owner and I were talking about crazy foods our parents used to feed us. Well he started telling me about the 10,000 year old egg and told him I'd try it. The next week he brought one in and I felt like I was on Fear Factor. It was black and shiny. He told me to eat it plain so I did. The smell of my breath alone, smelled like someone just laid a nasty one!! Needless to say I spit it out and rinsed my mouth out with vinnegar. Never again!!!

My buddy(an American) actually LIKES the things!

quote:

Originally posted by braslvr:

My buddy(an American) actually LIKES the things!

I think that's cool that as an American your friend picked up a taste for something like that. I find alot of Americans picky and freaked out when it comes to foreign delicasies. I'm usually pretty liberal and adventerous about eating such things (I grew up eating fish eyesballs, and pig blood stew for cryin out loud) but keep me far away from those eggs man!! Maybe if they didn't smell so bad?!

I like just about everything except beets and liver. But there is also one more thing that I can't stomach and that is Chorizo (or however you spell it.) When I was pregnant, just the smell of that stuff cooking sent me running for the restroom! What is it anyway? I'm afraid to hear the answer...

It's only sausage. And it tastes great!

I prepare beets in a way that make beet-haters love them.
I also can prepare liver in a way that will entice.

And I mix martinis that will beat your liver.

quote:

It's only sausage

Come on now Static, it's more than just innocent sausage. Why is it so oily? You fry it and end up with a half cup of orangey oil. Why is it orange? I know there must be glands and all sorts of weird stuff in there.

You can't possibly doctor up beets or liver so that I could tolerate them no matter what kind of secret recipies you have.

I do believe, though, that you can mix a wicked martini...

quote:

Why is it so oily? You fry it and end up with a half cup of orangey oil. Why is it orange? I know there must be glands and all sorts of weird stuff in there.

The oil is orange because of pimento. Only the cheap stuff has glands. When you buy chorizo from a butcher, it is innocent and not oily.

Pickled beets with feta are to die for.

quote:

Only the cheap stuff has glands.

This explains it all...my ex-husband used to cook it and he's the cheapest person I know!

Mmmmm. I'd kill for a Chorizo Torta right about now.

Worst food ever? The Leek and Bacon Quiche I made the other day turned out pretty vile. How could something so simple...

The absolute worst food ever is this pressure cooker soup that one of my host moms in France used to make. Throw a whole bunch of vegetables into a pot. Really -- any vegetables that you think might be good or that might be going slightly bad or that you wish to never again see. Zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, broccoli, onion, leek, tomato, beans, etc. Whatever you have on hand, put it in there.

Add water to cover the vegetables. Don't use any kind of seasoning; it ruins the taste.

Now seal the hatch and cook for an hour. Then blenderize it.

Serve it with a dollop of sour cream. Have a bite. As soon as your hostess looks away, feed it to the dog, who will simultaneously cower in fear and mock your feeble attempts at chivalry.

The phone will probably ring. When you return to your place at the table, somehow, the amount of soup in your bowl will have tripled, while the quantity in bowls of *everyone else* will have diminished significantly. They will smile at you as you silently curse them.