Writer's Block: Leftovers of leftovers

[tabular_rasa]

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I'm not sure which of these would be considered most unusual: sea urchin, eel, jellyfish, tongue, or tripe. I tried all of them for the first time on my first trip to Japan, when I was 16. (And with the rising popularity of sushi in the US, these do not sound nearly as scary as they did to people when I first told people about them at the time).



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With all of them, I followed the rule I've set in place for myself when trying new foreign foods: Taste first, ask later. This rule has served me very well. I enjoyed eel and tongue a lot before I was told what they were, and it only added to my enjoyment that I liked something that was stereotyped to be unusual or nasty. I thought sea urchin and tripe were pretty repulsive (I was at a cook-your-own Yakiniku place and thought the tripe was raw chicken until it wouldn't go opaque on the hibachi), and so I was only vindicated to find out they were something that sounded weird as well. I don't fret when I find out I've eaten something unusual-- and I certainly don't *get sick*-- because I've already tried it. I've already tasted, chewed, and swallowed it without a problem, and I might even have enjoyed it. I know how gross (or un-gross) it was to eat, and so why would I be affected by a formerly-held conception of how gross I imagined it to be?

The only thing I would be upset to find out someone had served to me is fugu, or pufferfish. While only restaurants with licensed chefs trained to properly remove the poison are legally allowed to serve it, accidents can happen. Amusingly enough, I live in the region of Japan famous for pufferfish-- and knowing how much everyone enjoys a good game of Let's Feed Weird Things To The Foreigner, the likelihood of a sample showing up at a business party or something is actually pretty high.

Edit (5:50 pm): Reading other people's responses to this post has made me realize how subjective weird is. I didn't even think to count squid or octopus, mussels, whole grilled fish served with the head and eyes, or the little dried fish so popular in Japanese snack packs. I've had all of those.

. . . and avocado, and onion. WTF is weird about avocados and onions? And meat, but they were a psychovegetarian. It takes all kinds . . .

Comments

[just-you-wait.livejournal.com]

Because it's like making out with a cow?

(I've had pig tongue)

And I absolutely love dried shredded squid.

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

But is that any worse than sucking on pig entrails when you eat a sausage? People usually don't flip over hot dogs.

Squid is good. Sometimes it gets too chewy and I get fed up with it, but most of the time it's yummy.