Interestingly Today
Hmm, a couple of interesting things to comment on today. We’ll start with the introspection-as I fully enjoy that...
I surfed over to my friend Bjarni’s blog today. He wrote about his expanding belly. It was funny and well written, but the reason I felt the need to write my own column on this subject is that...well...the truth is...that little picture of me on the right is not ENTIRELY unPhotoshopped. No, I’ll come clean...that photo was worked over by my seriously talented sister. I was sitting and waiting for my bath to fill yesterday and I found myself holding two handfuls of fat. At first, it shocked me. “Who’s is this?!” thought Our Hero. Suddenly, the fog of self-delusion lifted and I looked down to see that the fat I was holding in my hands was my own. If you didn’t know me as a boy, teenager, or 20-something, you won’t understand why this was such a shocking realization for me. All of my life I’ve been skinny as a bean pole. I was so skinny as a kid that there was a fair amount of anorexia jokes. But my laziness in the last 6 years has paid off with a sore back and an expanding waistline. What do I do now? Well, the back pain rules out jogging or any other impact sports. The deep-seated fear I have of men’s locker rooms keeps me out of the pool. I decided that what I should do is yoga. I started attending yoga classes when time permitted at school but I’ve missed a lot of them due to the required practical periods in school. I really like yoga and as soon as I get a mat and an instructional dvd I’ll start doing it at home. The yoga will help with the back pain and make me more limber and stronger. So, to this, I supplement the sit-ups and push ups that I’m starting tonight and we’ll see some improvement on the waistline.
The other thing that I came across today that sparked my interest was Paul’s comment a few entries down about eating dog. I like to think of myself as one who will try anything once. I’ve never had dog, but that’s because it’s never been on offer. It sounds, from Paul’s description, that I really missed the boat in a big way when I went out to visit him over there in South Korea. Now, for anyone who doesn’t know, the dogs are a special breed and they are raised to be eaten-they’re not slaughtering people’s pets. I was curious if anyone else who reads this blog has eaten dog. If not, what is the most unusual thing you’ve eaten-by international standards. I put in the ‘international standards’ addendum because let’s face it, normal to one person is strange to another. So, I start my list here:
Hákarl: rancid shark meat-an Icelandic “delicacy” the flavor of which is roughly what i
would expect from a mouthful of horse urine.
Silk worm: when in Thailand, do NOT do as the Thais! This little disgusting “treat”
filled my head with a flavor unlike anything I’ve tried before and it wouldn’t go away-even after a liter of Coke!
Guillemot egg: another one from the icy north. It’s weird but not the worst thing I’ve
tried.
Svið: sheep’s face-no, I didn’t eat the eyeball (though some people do). Too much work
for too little meat. It tastes like lamb, though...
Peeps: these are disgusting marshmallow chicks sold only at Easter and only in the god
ol’ US of A. Even people who like to eat a few teaspoons of sugar each morning
should avoid these evil little devils!
Sea urchin sushi: I believe I will never eat that again...even if I AM starving on a
deserted island!
I know that this is not a very impressive list and that many of you have stretched to further lengths. I’m really interested in hearing your input.
I surfed over to my friend Bjarni’s blog today. He wrote about his expanding belly. It was funny and well written, but the reason I felt the need to write my own column on this subject is that...well...the truth is...that little picture of me on the right is not ENTIRELY unPhotoshopped. No, I’ll come clean...that photo was worked over by my seriously talented sister. I was sitting and waiting for my bath to fill yesterday and I found myself holding two handfuls of fat. At first, it shocked me. “Who’s is this?!” thought Our Hero. Suddenly, the fog of self-delusion lifted and I looked down to see that the fat I was holding in my hands was my own. If you didn’t know me as a boy, teenager, or 20-something, you won’t understand why this was such a shocking realization for me. All of my life I’ve been skinny as a bean pole. I was so skinny as a kid that there was a fair amount of anorexia jokes. But my laziness in the last 6 years has paid off with a sore back and an expanding waistline. What do I do now? Well, the back pain rules out jogging or any other impact sports. The deep-seated fear I have of men’s locker rooms keeps me out of the pool. I decided that what I should do is yoga. I started attending yoga classes when time permitted at school but I’ve missed a lot of them due to the required practical periods in school. I really like yoga and as soon as I get a mat and an instructional dvd I’ll start doing it at home. The yoga will help with the back pain and make me more limber and stronger. So, to this, I supplement the sit-ups and push ups that I’m starting tonight and we’ll see some improvement on the waistline.
The other thing that I came across today that sparked my interest was Paul’s comment a few entries down about eating dog. I like to think of myself as one who will try anything once. I’ve never had dog, but that’s because it’s never been on offer. It sounds, from Paul’s description, that I really missed the boat in a big way when I went out to visit him over there in South Korea. Now, for anyone who doesn’t know, the dogs are a special breed and they are raised to be eaten-they’re not slaughtering people’s pets. I was curious if anyone else who reads this blog has eaten dog. If not, what is the most unusual thing you’ve eaten-by international standards. I put in the ‘international standards’ addendum because let’s face it, normal to one person is strange to another. So, I start my list here:
Hákarl: rancid shark meat-an Icelandic “delicacy” the flavor of which is roughly what i
would expect from a mouthful of horse urine.
Silk worm: when in Thailand, do NOT do as the Thais! This little disgusting “treat”
filled my head with a flavor unlike anything I’ve tried before and it wouldn’t go away-even after a liter of Coke!
Guillemot egg: another one from the icy north. It’s weird but not the worst thing I’ve
tried.
Svið: sheep’s face-no, I didn’t eat the eyeball (though some people do). Too much work
for too little meat. It tastes like lamb, though...
Peeps: these are disgusting marshmallow chicks sold only at Easter and only in the god
ol’ US of A. Even people who like to eat a few teaspoons of sugar each morning
should avoid these evil little devils!
Sea urchin sushi: I believe I will never eat that again...even if I AM starving on a
deserted island!
I know that this is not a very impressive list and that many of you have stretched to further lengths. I’m really interested in hearing your input.
posted by Our Hero, at 8:42 PM
2 Comments:
For those of you who don’t know, I have lived in Korea for ten years now and have traveled to several countries in the region. I think one of the greatest joys of traveling is getting to try strange and unusual food. I go out of my way to do so. As a result my list is rather long.
Hung-or (rancid stingray meat): - Korean entrée. It is considered to be a “delicacy.” I’ve always equated it more with what I would expect from a mouthful of cat piss.
Bon-digi (boiled silk worm): – Korean snack food. Kids just love it. It made me want to puke. I also had a hard time getting the “flavor” to go away.
Sea cucumber: Korean entrée - Served raw. Slimy on the outside crunchy on the inside. Yuck.
Squid: Korean entrée - Tasty cooked, but it’s like chewing bubble gum when it’s raw.
Octopus: Korean entrée - Tasty cooked or raw. It can be difficult to chew when eaten live.
Jellyfish: Korean side dish – Served raw. It’s nice and sweet.
Dog (The other red meat): Korean entrée - Grill it, steam it, fry it in sauce or put it in soup. It’s delicious.
Quail’s eggs: Korean side dish – Smaller and tastier then chicken eggs.
Pigs intestine: Korean entrée – Grilled, fried or in soup. Very tasty.
Pigs skin: Korean entrée – Grilled over fire. Yummy.
Sun-dae (Korean sausage made by soaking noodle’s in cow’s blood and stuffing them into a pig’s intestine): I’m one of the few foreigners in Korea who actually likes it.
Coagulated cow’s blood: Korean soup - It is put into the soup instead of meat – I can only describe it as meat flavored jell-o. Quite good.
Rabbit soup: Korean soup – tastes good but the bones are too brittle and you end up with shards of them in your soup.
Gol-bang-ee (snails in chili sauce): Korean side dish – Tastes good.
Umm, I’m getting hungry writing this.
1000 year egg (Fermented egg boiled in horse’s piss): Chinese side dish – I didn’t know what it was until after I ate it. Yuck. Not just the thought of eating something cooked in horse piss, it actually tastes bad.
Snake meat: Chinese entrée: It’s best when grilled but it can also be put into soup. Very good.
Blow fish: Japanese delicacy – poisonous if not prepared right. Not much flavor.
Wild Japanese boar: Japanese entrée – I had it in a miso (Japanese fermented soy bean paste) based soup. Yummy.
I know I must be missing a few things but that is all I can think of at the moment.
Bon appetite.
Paul
The first one, hung-or, sounds the same as one of the dishes that's served here at a festival in the end of winter called Thorlauksmass. I had somehow forgotten about that. That whole fetival is full of strange foods and they're all rancid:
skate
blood sausage: coagulated lambsblood and LOTS of fat all packed in an intestine.
Ram scrotum
liver sausage: again...liver in fat packed into intestine
tripe
the list goes on...
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