Has anyone ever had chitterlings (aka "chitlins")? Versions of them are popular in Latin America and Asia. Here they're just a slave tradition that black people perpetuate ''even though we aren't slaves any more''.

Kishkes, from Ashkenazic Jewish cuisine, are based on the same principle, only made from the innards of cattle instead of pigs (pork parts wouldn't be kosher) and stuffed.

Chitterlings (the small intestine of domesticated animals like pigs) are Latin American and Asian food? Since when? Funny, this troper is fairly certain they're a traditional British/European food, a remnant of the times when people used ''every'' part of an animal they had butchered. In Germany, the term for them is ''Kaldaunen'' or ''Kutteln''.

Ditto. In Spain they're called ''callos''.

This troper calls them "delicious"!

This troper who's never had them before is thinking they sound like crispy fried sausages without filling...

This troper has never known any black people who eat them, just her (whitewhitewhite) maternal family.

Actually, eating them is more like eating rubber or a bunch of chopped-up tentacles, they are chewy and pretty bland. If they come in a good sauce, they are not bad - but it is definitely a case of "our ancestors had nothing else to eat, but why should we eat it?"

In Chinese culture, intestines and other innards are often served, even in modern restaurants inside big cities. Pork intestines are often marinated in soy/5 spice broth or fried, livers roasted or sliced and used in soups, home style. This Troper also enjoyed rooster testicles, unborn chicken eggs (which is basically a mild tasting yolk inside a thin membrane, fatty goose intestines (a delicacy of roast goose restaurants in Hong Kong), to name just a few.

If I recall correctly, it was Chris Rock who noted how much "Soul Food" is in fact "What Massa Let Us Eat." It is argued that a great many 'delicacies' elsewhere in the world originated under similar circumstances (sushi as survival rations for Japanese fishermen for example).

Not exactly. That would be onigiri (that's different dishes, by the way, onigiri are made without the vinegar) and they're not actually limited to fishermen. And sushi really originated as a way to preserve fish by pickling it in a vinegared rice. But then people just loved the taste of the rice itself, and fish became more of a garnish.

Actually, in many cultures have a tradition of eating offal and so called "nasty food" independent of history of slavery or oppression. In the old days, if you kill a pig/chicken/cow, its not a frequent event and so you use all the parts available and preserve the parts you cannot finish right away for tough times. Some of these traditions are carried over to the modern age. Limited resources, more than slavery, has driven the offal-eating traditions. Then there is the fact that offal is often delicious. For example, fatty goose or duck liver, known as foie gras, has been enjoyed since Ancient Roman times.

File under here the urban legends of laws saying prisoners/apprentices/students/day labourers are not to be fed salmon or lobster more than X times per week.

That legend is actually true. Lobster was considered a bug and not proper food way back then. If they only knew how much they go for these days....

Speaking of disgusting food from the United States, if anyone ever offers you Rocky Mountain Oysters ''do not eat them''. They are not oysters. They are, in fact, testicles. From a bull, usually.

Quite on the contrary, if you are offered Rocky Mountain Oysters, by all means order seconds. They're awesome. Don't let squeamishness turn you off of this incredible dish.

Though if the second serving contains "oysters" that look considerably smaller than the first one, please ensure the torero ''did'' survive that corrida you just saw.

When this troper's mother was in college, she waitressed at a restaurant that served Rocky Mountain Oysters. One ignorant diner asked if they were on the half-shell. His friend leaned over and whispered what they actually were... the guy freaked out.

Ditto "prairie oysters." Possibly the squickiest part of all is that they're not taken from bulls that have been slaughtered, but simply castrated. So the animal whose testes you're munching on is likely still alive. Yeah.

There's a delightful scene in Steve Hickenboch's ''Holmes on the Range'' where a bunch of farmhands are castrating the young bulls to create this year's crop of steers; they consider this a high point because of the resulting mess of prarie oysters.

Aren't prairie oysters a kind of hangover cure? Raw egg yolk, vinegar, pepper, tomato juice and Worchester Sauce tossed into a cup and then swallowed in one gulp? Might be a case of Name's The Same...

That's a Bloody Mary, isn't it?

The Bloody Mary tends to have vodka in it. And no egg yolk or vinegar. It may be used as a kind of hangover cure, if you believe in hair of the dog.

Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang wanted to bring dried reindeer meat into space, but NASA banned it because it would {{squick}} the American public. He had to take dried elk (moose) meat instead. Then again, this and horse meat aren't disliked because of their foul taste, but because some people have sentimental views of these species.

Just for the record, reindeer is really delicious.

Just what is the big idea about forbidding reindeer meat? What do Americans think reindeer are raised for? To draw sleds where everybody has a car and/or snowmobile? No-one would sing a word about Rudolph if the Nordics didn't eat the animals for dinner.

Surströmming is a Swedish food people are liable to find disgusting for non-sentimental reasons. It consists of fermented Baltic herring, and has a very strong smell.

It's banned on the airlines, as decreased pressure on the plane can burst the cans. And the last thing you need on a plane is a leaky can of rotten fish.

In defense of the people who invented the stuff, it should be noted that the water in the Baltic Sea is brackish, getting closer and closer to fresh water the further north you go. So with salt being an expensive (and exotic) commodity, the locals had to come up with an alternate method of preserving their food, and fermenting it turned out to work. It's really ''not'' rotten - it just smells that way.

Another Swedish (and Norwegian) fish speciality which seems custom-made to induce {{Squick}} is ''lutefisk'' - dried cod softened in lye and water. Has the taste and texture of fish Jell-O. Thankfully for most foreigners (and Minnesotans), both surströmming and lutefisk are highly seasonal dishes.

It does not have the taste and texture of fish Jell-O. It has the taste and texture of ''rancid'' fish Jell-O. This is an important distinction.

This editor is a Minnesotan. He likes to describe Lutefisk as "something Lutherans eat... as penance for their sins."

Didn't Garrison Keillor beat you to that?

Exact words are (in a character's words, but still): #QUOTE# Every advent, we entered the purgatory of ''lutefisk'', a repulsive gelatinous fishlike dish that tasted of soap and gave off an odor that would gag a goat. We did this in honor of Norwegian ancestors, much as if the survivors of a famine might celebrate their deliverance by feasting on elm bark.

Another one to chalk up to sentimental views: rabbit. It's delicious!

Not always for sentimental reasons. While apparently once popular in Australia it is no longer possible to find. Though they're getting more resistant every rabbit in Australia carries the disease myxomatosis. It was deliberately introduced to the Australian rabbit population to reduce their numbers and simultaneously took it off the plate. No one wants to eat diseased meat.

Which is pretty stupid, since the Myxoma virus doesn't affect humans, and most wild rabbits in Australia are by now immune to it anyway. Admittedly, a rabbit suffering from this disease develops gross skin tumors and depending on species pneumonia and haemorrhagic fever. But who eats wild rabbits these days? As with all wild animals, you should worry more about internal parasites like Trichinosis.

Absolutely possible to find, it's usually imported.

Besides, why worry about Rabbit when you can have Kangaroo, Emu, Beetle Larvae, MORE Kangaroo, Tortoise (in some of the off-coast islands and surrounding nations, Snake... I could go on.

Rabbit is highly subjective even amongst those that like it. This troper has heard everything from "TastesLikeChicken" to "No, it's way better than chicken."

Chalking up another one for sentimental values: dogs, a cheap delicacy in Northern China and Korea, one step away from infanticide in the Western World. However, unless someone tells you what the meat is beforehand, you will probably confuse it with beef.

Ask me about his trip to London and Paris in March 2011. In Paris we stopped in at a cute little place called La Bonne Franquette for dinner one night. I could rave on about the Escargots and the Boeuf Bourginon. However, before desert, all 30 people at the table were subjected to this wonderful Brie. It smelt like it was left out for 30 days. You think that's bad, it tasted... Well, let's just say calling it Foreign Queasine is being nice. I remember I couldn't even swallow the whole chunk in my mouth, so I ran to the bathroom and spat the rest out and flushed it down. Then again, a yummy French style chocolate cake followed.

Capybara is normally eaten during lent in Venezuela (the Church considers it a fish thanks to a conveniently misleading report from 16th century missionaries) and in Peru it is not unusual to eat guinea pigs.

This troper's dad told her about a pet rabbit he had as a child. One day he came home and his dad had cooked it for dinner.

...Why? If it died of natural causes (such as illness), it is far less likely to be safe to eat than if it was slaughtered. And if it was slaughtered... It was a pet! (Unless you mean it was during a period of famine, and it was that or starve. Not that I'd wish famine on anyone, even retroactively, but ''please'' say truthfully that it was...)

I'm probably just telling myself this to restore my faith in humanity, but maybe they were raising it for food and the troper only thought it was a pet...

This Ecuadorian Troper also eats cuy and guinea pig (and finds it delicious). It's not unusual to squick the exchange students with this food...Oh, Jack you must absolutely eat cuy! To be fair there a few Ecuadorian who are squicked after seeing a fried rodent on their table.

Likewise you can eat Beavers. They live in water, so they must be a fish, and therefore permissible.

They also have a scaly tails.

Mmm... Beaver...

The Other Wiki says there are projects underway to introduce guinea pigs as a meat animal in third-world African nations, since they're easy to raise, take up minimal space, and of course breed like rodents.

For decades, British schoolchildren have been either disappointed or relieved to learn upon their arrival in France that frogs' legs and snails are ''not'' commonly eaten.

Fried frog legs are something of a specialty in parts of southeast Louisiana. They're much better than they sound, tasting like a pleasant mix of chicken and fish; same goes for alligator meat, too.

Gator tail is really good. So is turtle, actually. Salty though.

Fried frogs are also a traditional dish in certain parts of Italy.

The grapevine snail, a large brown garden snail, is eaten in Germany, though not as often these days. This troper would rather eat snail stew than a raw oyster.

Frogs' legs, maybe not, but snails are pretty common. This troper doesn't think they are much more disgusting to eat than seashells...but would still be perfectly happy to ditch the snails and just eat the delicious garlic butter that goes with it.

Other French dishes that may traumatize British schoolchildren: the ''tripes a la mode de Caen'', basically stewed beef stomach, and the ''tete de veau'', which translates as "calf head".

Tripe (which is basically the same food as the first of those two and even shares the name, bar pronunciation) is pretty common among Britain's older population, such that it is likely that most British kids have at least ''encountered'' it, if not directly partaken thereof themselves. Incidentally, this troper wouldn't eat it if his life depended on it. Same goes for black/blood pudding. Or the head of any animal you could name.

This French troper has never quite understood why people find the idea of eating frogs so disgusting. Or rabbits (which are way more common, by the way).

The French in general are every bit as resourceful as the Chinese when it comes to eating everything possible -- take a look at a French cookbook written in France (like ''I Know How To Cook'' or ''The Complete Robuchon''). Add enough wine and mirepoix, and a French cook could make a tasty ''daube'' out of a pair of rotted-out Doc Martens.

Rabbits aren't disgusting, they're cute and fluffy and cuddly. It's the same aversion as dog or horse meat.

Stick it on a plate. As long as it's the flesh, and there are no eyes or heads to stare accusingly at me while this troper eats, it's all good.

This Troper has no problem eating "cute" animals. The fact that they're adorable while alive and absolutely delicious when cooked only doubles the love that I have for them.

I don't find frog's legs disgusting, but their smallness makes me wonder if it's practical. Wouldn't it take more energy and time to prepare them than it would be worth nutritionally? I can't say much being from the country of doughnut-bacon-cheeseburgers with mayo, but I've always wondered about the logic of going after small creatures for food. How is this worth it nutritionally? I understand a cow. A cow is big and can feed many people. A frog, not so much. This is also my problem with insects; it just seems like a lot of effort for very little payoff. I'm not squicked; I'd gleefully try both crickets and frogs legs because I've heard they're great. But I don't really "get it", so to speak.

Not so for Louisiana-style frog legs; bullfrogs are friggin' huge.

Kimchi, a spicy Korean dish similar to sauerkraut, is fermented cabbage laden with spices. Few non-Koreans appreciate that precise combination of spicy and aromatic.

Technically speaking, Kimchi is a blanket term for a variety of pickled vegetables, the spicy cabbage version being the most common. Other varieties include spicy pickled greens, pickled bean sprouts, pickled potatoes, and, well, pretty much any other vegetable you can pickle. Kimchi isn't necessarily spicy.

What are you talking about? I'm from a white family, and we all eat Kimchi, and many of my friends, of all ethnic backgrounds, like it. It's just pickled and spiced, no grosser than sour kraut.

I'm not Korean either, and I actually prefer Kimchi to sauerkraut. Sauerkraut is just, well, sour; Kimchi's flavor is more complex and less likely to induce tongue revolt.

This troper is American, white, and a smidge finicky about her food sometimes, so when she got hyperactive over kimchi one of her friends mistakenly thought she was talking about "some kind of candy".

This troper is Korean, and he'd like to tell that two of the most common kinds of kimchi are napa cabbage and turnip. And there are three types of them; spicy (the most common), "white" (not spicy), and watery (fermented in water, could be spicy or not spicy).

Kimchi has gained plenty of popularity outside Korea in recent years. It's ubiquitous enough in Japan that some Japanese have mistaken it for their own (forgivable mistake; Oriental societies have experimented with seeing what they can get away with fermenting for centuries, and Japan is no exception whatsoever... see below, for instance). Rumors that it boosts the immune system have made it a big seller in many parts of Asia during some of the past years, what with all the pandemic scares.

This troper had a Japanese roommate with a Korean best friend. Coming back to a room smelling distinctly of kimchi and not knowing what it was was ''horrible''.

This troper's Korean mother sometimes makes a soup consisting of spicy kimchi, cubes of tofu, and bits of meat, usually beef, sometimes pork, sometimes whatever cuts of meat we forgot in the back of the freezer. The heat of cooking, combined with the bitter/spicy of the kimchi renders the meat safe to eat and quite tender too.

Natto, of course! The Givemeblood fansub of ''MagicalPokaan'' describes it as "Japanese fermented soybeans with a sticky, slimy texture, an appearance similar to excrement, and a terribly pungent smell and taste".

A similar variety exists in Korea, where people eat it boiled in stews and call it ''cheonggookjang''. Seems like the thing actually tastes better when cooked in stews.

This North American troper has eaten natto, and found the taste quite pleasant. Very reminiscent of a well-aged cheese (which is also something of a cultural/acquired taste). The texture however, was pretty much intolerably slimy, and rendered it effectively inedible. It's worth noting that natto is far from universally popular even in Japan.

This Troper has a favorite Japanese place, where the chef would put chopped kimchi and natto together as a dish. I was squeamish at first but the owner offered me a taste (wrapped in a sushi roll) and i was hooked.

Corn smut is usually considered a pest in most of the United States, rendering all the infected grains useless. But in reality, if you cook them while still tender, smut-infected grains have an earthy, mushroomy taste. Got any doubts? Ask any Mexican how ''huitlacoche'' tastes like.

Interesting the entries for natto and corn smut are right next to one another. SchlockMercenary gives us smutto, a delightful excursion into the nature of the blending of cuisines. Or an argument for segregation. Lampshaded by the ever-insightful Sergeant Schlock: "And you just automatically give this to people who say 'number two.'"

Lo and behold,someone actually made it.

It doesn't help that huitlacoche comes from the Nahuatl for "raven filth". Then again, the Aztecs considered maize stalks parasitized by huitlacoche to be a ''good'' thing. In fact, they'd often cut the bases of some maize to make it ''far more likely'' the fungus would get in. Truth be told, the major reason macro-agriculture loathes huitlacoche outbreaks, no matter how few stalks actually get hit, is because the processors break the fruiting bodies and spread the pitch-black spores over the entire harvest. Said spores are almost impossible to clean away, and render the cobs ''much'' uglier, and so pretty much unsalable. Maybe if they had the foresight to manually seek out, cut down, and harvest the fungus-hit stalks, ''then'' mass-harvest the rest...Then again, the usual scale probably makes this untenable.

Apart from ''polbo á feira''/ ''pulpo a la gallega'' (boiled octopus slices seasoned with paprika), ''sepia a la plancha'' (grilled cuttlefish) and assorted seafood delicacies, Spanish cuisine also offers ''criadillas'' (bull testicles), ''callos'' (cow stomach) and ''madejas'' (sheep's intestines, wrapped around thin slices of its stomach).

Brought from Spain and seasoned with local spices, Mexico has its own version of ''callos'' called ''menudo.''

Boiled octopus is a common seafood dish in Europe. Now, eating the poor creature ''raw'', its tentacles chopped up while it is still alive, as they do in Japan and parts of Southeast Asia... Just No. This troper has seen numerous comments about how the suckers of the still-writhing tentacles cling to the teeth.

Not Japan, Korea. As Anthony Bourdain AND Andrew Zimmern demonstrated. This troper find it inoffensive.

Similar to the above, the people of the Spanish Caribbean, particularly those from the Dominican Republic, have a dish we call "Mondongo." It's essentially every part of a cow's digestive system, including the stomach and intestines, rather chewy, and in this troper's Dominican opinion, particularly tasty.

Sounds similar to "Andouillettes", which are tripe sausages popular in Normandy, France. They taste like a cow's stable smells.

Mämmi is a traditional Easter food in Finland. Its colour and texture resemble something produced by a person with bad case of diarrhea, and at least for this troper, the taste is quite unpleasant, too (not as bad as one might expect, though).

It's common to sprinkle some sugar or pour some milk on mämmi.

Mämmi tastes great with vanilla ice cream, the taste becomes slightly milder and more refreshing.

Durians are gigantic fruits native to Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. While many people from those parts enjoy them, just about an equal number don't. To the point where durians are banned in buses, airlines and hotels, among other places. The smell of durian can best be described as pulverized zombie feet folded into rancid excrement, though Andrew Zimmern, mentioned above, once described durian as tasting like "rotten, mushy onions".

Note that this is only the smell. The taste is lovely. Anthony Bourdain calls it "like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory." The bans are all due to the awful smell.

Stephen Fry describes the durian thus: "A stench straight from Satan's anal ring, but a taste from an angel's sugared nipple."

Odd, because both times I've tasted Durian it's tasted like rotten, mushy ass. Of course, the fact that the second tiem I tried it it was formerly frosen and the first time I tried it it was in Instant Pudding form may not have helped things.

There is a common joke among Chinese about someone smelling a gas leak, only to find out upon investigation that a neighbour is eating durian.

A former coworker of mine claims to have stunk out an entire Singapore hotel's ventilation when he took a durian back to his room.

Similarly, ''balut,'' a snack food in the Philippines. Basically, it's a fertilized duck egg that's hardboiled just days before hatching, so that you can see and even ''eat'' an almost fully-formed duck fetus.

Speaking of queasy Filipino food, how about Dinuguan AKA "Chocolate Meat"? It's only nicknamed that because it just ''looks'' like it's in chocolate. It is really a very savory stew of blood and meat simmered in a rich, spicy gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili and vinegar. Yum!

This troper is Filipino, and laughs at the ''FearFactor'' balut-eating segment, yet he can't bear to try dinuguan.

British black pudding (or blood pudding, blood sausage) is sometimes cited as a cause of this in foreigners, especially Americans. It's actually quite nice - but then there's the example which squicks out even the British, a seriously considered government plan after WW2 to use excess (human) blood in the blood banks to make black puddings to ease the food shortage...

Oh come on. I call BS on this one. Blood has a very short shelf life, so any excess would be lost as natural wastage. Also, blood is separated into packed red cells as one product and plasma - which contains the coagulative agents needed to make black pudding successfully - as another. Not even to mention the ''massive'' taboos on cannibalism in European culture. Urban myth, and then some. Although, I would be happy to be proven wrong if you have ''any'' evidence whatsoever...

I quite enjoyed it when I went to Scotland. For me, it wasn't so much the blood that grossed me out. It was the congealed fat.

For the record, the traditional recipe calls for pig's blood.

This is common dish in Sweden too. It is said it was born out of necessity, as the oft starving populace looked for ways to use ALL parts of the farm animals...

Blood sausage and similar dishes do exist in many countries.

It doesn't get any squickier than casu marzu, friends. It's hard to believe that the Sardinians consider this a ''delicacy''.

To quote the below article, ''it's banned in the one place where people actually want to eat it.'' We can't make this stuff up, folks.

Okay, the description of the food itself is bad enough, but the article also states that the maggots can launch themselves up to fifteen centimeters when disturbed... that you have to shield your eyes while eating... and that if you don't want to eat the maggots live, you can stuff the casu marzu in a plastic bag and listen to the maggots jump around trying to escape - when the popping stops, they've all suffocated. (I'm not sure I want to go to bed now.)

In addition, there is some risk of enteric myaisis, or intestinal larval infection. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhoea. Piophila casei larvae are very resistant to human stomach acid and can pass through the stomach alive, taking up residency for some period of time in the intestines and causing stomach lesions and other gastrointestinal problems. The larvae have powerful mouthhooks which can lacerate stomach linings or intestinal walls as the maggots attempt to bore through internal organs.

What's truly hilarious is the statement that "Casu marzu is believed to be an aphrodisiac by local Sardinians." We '''really''' can't make this stuff up, folks.

6 most terrifying foods in world, an article from Cracked.com. It includes Balut and Cazu Marzu, but actually explains what they are, how they're made, and has four other hellish concoctions people are actually willing to put in their noise hole.

Similarly, the blog "Steve, Don't Eat It" covers the author's adventures in queasine. Entries include huitlacoche and natto, among other horrors (caution: language is in PG to PG-13 territory and may be {{NSFW}}).

Cracked revisits Queasine in this article. Though the {{Squick}} isn't so much that the foods are disgusting; the methods to prepare the dishes are what place them in this trope (and possibly NightmareFuel). This Chinese troper (who has eaten and enjoyed nearly everything mentioned in the following entry and quite a few of the other items in this section) prays that #1 on the list is fake; it's that sad.

Unfortunately, it's real, and exists (can't say it's "popular" or "common" by any stretch) in China. Except that, as mentioned, part of the fish is fried (the head, gills, heart, etc., are left alive and flopping while the lower 2/3rds are cooked). The vast majority of native Chinese won't touch it, but apparently enough will that it is served in some places.

The original intention of doing it this way is to demonstrate freshness. You know its fresh when its still moving. In days before refrigeration, it would be important.

I think they're referring to the donkey being eaten alive, which sounds too horrifying to be real.

Chinese foods: Those black preserved eggs; stinky tofu (not bad once you get past the smell and apply the right sauce); various organs of cow, pig, and chicken; seaweed; swallow nests; the list goes on. The old joke goes that if it has legs and isn't a table or has wings and isn't a plane, a Chinaman will eat it. Or did it specify Cantonese? Those people eat things other Chinese consider odd.

It's specifically the Cantonese. And not as common as you'd think. Like a weird speciality dish in America (think chitterlings or pigs feet or pork rinds or something). You can get it, but many people wouldn't go near it with a bamboo pole. None of the Guangdong locals this troper knows have ever eaten dog or cat or snake or whatever before...and had to be talked into going with him to try some.

This troper is Cantonese. We have a proverb "If its back points to the sky (basically anything that cannot walk upright) is edible". So yeah....

Some Chinese food would be quite palatable if it wasn't for the smell, like fermented bamboo shoots.

Chicken feet... Just Chicken feet and FROG LEGS served with a lot of toad. *shudders with horror*

Chicken feet are quite tasty, actually.

For added {{Squick}}, consider that the birds' nests in bird's nest soup are made from ''saliva''. Eat up, kids!

Consider also, that cooked swallow's nest by itself has no actual taste, and so aside from the alleged health benefits it's enjoyed only for its texture.

Its very good for your skin.

A similar saying goes that if it flies, swims, or crawls, it'll be found in a creole dish.

This troper was watching an InSearchOf type show talking about the ''"Lousianna Swamp Monster"''. They agreed with me that it must not be real... there are no cajun recipes for it.

Similarly, there is a common joke that Japanese food is whatever didn't run away fast enough. Or, more likely given the geography, swim away.

When this troper went to China, she saw something called snake wine. It's essentially dead snakes in wine. But wait! It gets worse. She also saw GIANT MILLIPEDES the size of her forearm and huge killer wasps in wine as well. Apparently, these people have a giant hive and they pick up the dead wasps to drop in their wine. They use it for medicine. Dunno if they drink it or not though.

Haggis. While the meal itself doesn't taste that bad, knowing what it's made from has been known to cause people to lose their appetites. As a friend of this troper put it: "It's good, just don't watch them cut it for you."

When celebrating Burns' Night with some friends with university a few years ago, one of them timidly asked what went into a haggis. This troper replied "The heart, lungs and liver of a sheep, mashed up and boiled in its own stomach". The girl is now a vegetarian.

The strange aversion to offal always left this troper dumbfounded. Why eat one part of the sheep, but consider other revolting?

It should be noted that the sheep's stomach has been omitted in haggis production for quite some time now, with sausage casing used instead. Still plenty of lovely internal organs (and the frequently forgotten, but very important, oatmeal, suet and onions) though!

Depends on where you get it from. Both times this troper has had it, it's been made in a sheep's stomach. However, in the United States, they aren't allowed to use the lungs because the FDA doesn't consider lungs to be food.

More horrors from the Ashkenazi kitchen: p'tcha/galla, the gelatinous abomination that has caused thousands of Jews to wish they were Sephardi.

From ''Cherokee Cooklore'', a mostly safe cookbook but for the following gems:

Blood Pudding (catch blood, salt it, add fat and pepper, and boil.) The British Isles version has oatmeal in it, making it theoretically similar to haggis, and it's rather tasty, but ThisTroper couldn't get past "ew, I'm eating an oatmeal blood clot".

Russian version substitutes buckwheat for oatmeal and add intestines for casing, making it a sausage.

Yellowjacket Soup (actually, it's the grubs. I imagine getting the grubs is more distasteful than eating the soup.)

Fried Cicada (Doesn't sound too bad, until you've taken a really close look at a cicada.)

Opossum (the author remarks that most people can eat only a little of this dish, on account of the grease content of possum meat.)

American popular culture likes to make fun of British Cooking. We remain somewhat mystified by this, coming from a culture that mixes sweet and savoury in quite a frankly {{squick}}-inducing fashion.

Speak for yourself. French toast loves bacon.

Don't forget the pancakes and sausage with lots of maple syrup. Mmm!

Reginald D Hunter; "You know that any country that invented Marmite started trying to make food taste good after everyone else." Stephen Fry; "This is coming from a nation that has Spray-on cheese?"

Spray-on cheese was at one point rumoured not to be allowed in the food section of British supermarkets due to our equivalent of the FDA deciding it didn't contain enough food, and was in fact closer to floor polish.

Yeah, well, only the British Isles could have bred Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, and Nigella Lawson. With the stuff you guys try to pass off as authentic British cuisine, you need high-octane talent like that to make up for it.

You consider them talented? I consider them overpaid obnoxious toffs who murder traditional British recipes and patronise and condescend against anyone who, heck, might like to cook food ''their way''.

"The English are a curious people; they have a hundred religions, and only one sauce." - Voltaire

In all fairness, our mockery has more to do with the names of British dishes than the dishes themselves. *snerk* Spotted Dick. *snerk*

The sweet and savoury thing wasn't so much a squick as bafflement when, on my first visit to America, I was presented with what appeared to be my main and dessert on a single plate and faced with the assumption that they be eaten simultaneously. However, I didn't take long at all to get over the culture shock.

A popular Spanish delicacy is Concha Fina, a shellfish resembling an oyster. What's so gross about that? It's served and eaten ''live.'' Just squirt a lemon on it and when it starts to wriggle, pour it down your throat.

This Troper is Spanish, and had no idea this dish existed until now. And wants to throw up.

The best scallop this troper ever tried was alive just seconds before it was cut from its shell. It's easier to get it out if you kill it first, though.

Freshly opened seafood is always the best. Why do you think they have the oysters unopened in front of you at a oyster bar? this troper used to live in Boston and i watch them open, put it on a bed of ice and i slurp. From open to down my throat under 30 seconds.

Speaking of, oysters are commonly eaten raw and live, at least in the USA.

Speaking of live seafood.... Ikizukuri. See it here if you're mad enough. Brought to you by Cracked so probity not safe for work. Or anywhere else for that matter.

This troper has the fish variation AND the lobster variation. Same principle with the lobster: fresh cracked and sliced for the sashimi. The legs and the antenna of the lobster would still be moving when it reaches your table.

A drink, actually, but same basic idea. From Southeast Asia: Kopi Luwak, which is coffee brewed from coffee beans shat out of an Asian Palm Civet. I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Speak for yourself. It's widely-considered to be the best coffee in the world and as TheOtherWiki notes, it's the most expensive in the world.

This troper has tried it and found it to be delicious, despite its origins.

Water roaches from Southeast Asia.

The essence alone can cost up to $100/ounce, due to the rarity of the beetle.

Roasted tarantulas, from South America.

Roasted locusts glazed with honey actually sounds tasty.

Honey locust is another name for the carob bean. St. John couldn't eat bugs, as they are unkosher under Levitical law.

Check that one again. Locusts are among the only kosher insects. Mainly because they hop and fly rather than crawl in the dirt.

Honey itself can get a little icky if you think too hard about the production process.

Centuries ago, insects were eaten in Europe, too (they're related to crustaceans like crabs and lobsters, so why not), although this went out of style. Since the 1990s, a few speciality restaurants (one in Paris) have tried to bring edible insects back into the public mind. There's even a line of colourful (and transparent) lollipops for children, with various dead insects and scorpions inside.

Those are also popular in China. I stared at them in all when I saw a friend of mine eating them. Then again, I've never been all that squeamish.

Care for a chocolate ant?

A lot of species that were once eaten in Europe in centuries past have dropped off the menu: bear, swan, mole, squirrel, beaver. Beaver was actually classified as fish by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages (it swim in water, right? Close enough), so that monks were allowed to eat beaver during Lent.

Oh, the AccidentalInnuendo.

There's a butcher in southern England who sells squirrel meat, in an attempt to revive tradition and to offer incentive to hunt the American Gray Squirrel, a foreign invader species which was introduced to England and is threatening the native population of red squirrels.

For "is threatening" read "has pretty much wiped out"...

And the Walkers Crisps 'Do Us A Flavour' contest features Cajun Squirrel as one of the six finalists. While there are no actual squirrels involved in the recipe, if the flavour is successful it might encourage people to try the real thing.

Sushi still seems to be a squick factor for some, even after the invention of the California roll (which contains cucumber, avocado, and *cooked* imitation crab meat). A step up from sushi is ''fugu'' made from the potentially toxic blowfish, which about seven restaurants in the United States are licensed to serve at any given time. Most squickworthy of all is probably ikizukuri -- sashimi made from ''live'' fish, served with the heart still beating.

Sushi is very mainstream at this point, and anyplace near the sea has hundreds sushi restaurants. I've always preferred to have my sashimi alone with rice on the side, and I have never found it slimy. Trust me, high quality salmon sashimi has a natural almost buttery taste, and Tuna has a very steak like texture.

Apparently this is really bad, it's the third time it's been mentioned on this page. :P

Note that sushi does not necessarily mean RAW fish. It merely means fish wrapped in rice. Sashimi is raw fish. Properly cooked, sushi is delicious. Uncooked, a bit slimy and with bad texture. Still pretty nice. (Tempura sauce makes ANYTHING tasty!)

Uhm, no. ''Makizushi'' is fish (most regularly) wrapped with rice and then kombu seaweed. ''Nigirizushi'' is a slice of fish on top of a rice block. They're both still sushis though.

If your sushi is slimy then you've been had -- the fish (or rice) is already old and probably unsafe to eat. Also, technically sushi doesn't mean fish at all -- it's just rice with sweet vinegar. Raw fish is just a common garnish.

And if you get poisoned from eating it? Well, That Other Wiki says that treatment involves being fed with ''charcoal''. Still brave enough to eat?

Then you'll die a rather pleasant death: fugu poison is somewhat narcotic and gives you a high while slowly killing you.

If it helps any, charcoal is a common treatment for poison - it's great at absorbing harmful substances. (See ''The Anubis Gates'' by TimPowers, where a character survives being placed in a poisoned body by devouring several pieces.)

To summarize, Fugu is made from the flesh of the blowfish, whose skin and liver--but not the muscles--contains Tetrodotoxin(the one Haitian shamans used to make zombies), a neurotoxin potent that a pinprick's worth of the stuff can kill you (and the death is rather nasty too: it slowly paralyzes peripheral muscles from your fingers and toes until it reaches your diaphragm, whereby you slowly chokes/asphyxiates to death. It does not affect the CNS so your are conscious throughout the ordeal, can it can take you 12 hours or more to die, there is no antidote, so treatment involves hooking you to a respirator until the toxin degrades). HOWEVER, being liscenced to prepare fugu in Japan takes 4 years of training, and the final exam involves the chef preparing a blowfish and then ''eating'' the results. So it would probably be fair to assume that your fugu chef is always competent.

Also note that ''a well made'' dish of fugu contains a ''little'' bit of poison, just enough so that your face goes a bit numb, if the paralysis starts radiating down, do get a doctor.

On a related note, this troper loves sushi, but can never stand ''wasabi''. It looks like a paste and might've been made from some-sort-of-a-radish, but it freaking TASTES LIKE MARKER INK. Oh, and it's hot too.

The "wasabi" served in Japanese restaurants around the world are often fake, just ground up common horseradish with green dye. The real stuff comes from Japanese horseradish, which the chef would shave/ground with a paddle made with coarse snake skin and usually already applied to the sushi (specifically nigiri) pieces he serve you. High end sushi places dont really give you the plate for soy and a green lump since the chef is supposed to have perfected the flavor before it landed in front of you.

Real wasabi doesn't attack your mucous membranes with as much gusto either; it provides a pleasant, lingering sweet-hot taste.

Hawaiians, for some reason, love poi. It's a purple paste made from pounded root that looks and tastes just like wallpaper paste.

The taro root (which poi is made from) is also a Chinese vegetable which is popular for Cantonese winter stews. Its not served pounded into a paste though.

Some even like to leave it out to "ferment" (mold) for a few days for a more sour flavor.

Hawaiian poi, thankfully, is an aberration -- it's made all over the south Pacific, but only in Hawaii do they ferment it.

Coddle, a traditional Dublin dish made with boiled bacon, pork sausage, potatoes and onion is popular with the Dubs but has left others shuddering in horror on hearing about it. It is served absurdly hot and tastes delicious.

This American troper wonders how on earth anyone could shudder at that. She is practically drooling.

I know. Maybe it's because the Irish make up the second largest ethnic group in the US, but that sounds delicious.

Probably the person shuddering is a cardiologist. This dish does sound tasty, though.

This Yank would like to know what the hell the American troper 2^ is talking about!? You don't ''boil bacon''!

You do. Most smoked bacon in the world is boiled (or at least parboiled) before smoking.

Let's not forget hákarl. A traditional Icelandic food, it's shark that's been buried and left to ferment for up to three months, then dug up and dried for another four to five. I've read that it smells and tastes strongly of ammonia.

Ammonia smell is from ''original'', unfermented shark -- it's a peculiar feature in Icelandic sharks. The whole fermenting stuff was actually invented to reduce ammonia content in shark meat to barely unpalatable and not actively poisonous levels.

And at least it won't kill you outright like some other northern dishes.

If you ever hear how soy sauce is made at home, you'll probably never eat it again.

Eh, what's a little mold, yeast, and a crapton of salt between friends?

Sweet soy sauce has palm sugar added :D.

If this squicks you out, you may want to stay away from wine, beer, and yoghurt as well.

Step one to creating pressed duck: strangle a duck to death to avoid losing any blood... hey, where are you going? We haven't even mentioned the duck press!

Seeing as you haven't mentioned it I will. The duck is roasted with a selection of the choicer innards (the liver, heart and kidneys) plus all the blood still in it, fillets of duck are cut and added to your plate, and then the heart, liver, kidneys and the remainder of the carcass is crushed in a solid silver press, the blood and juices added to Armagnac in a chafing dish and served over the fillets as a sauce. And the filleting, crushing and sauce-blending is done at the dining table so the guests can rejoice in the sheer spectacle of it all, whether they want to or not. You can find a recipe, press and all, in "From Julia Child's Kitchen".

And let me tell you, its DELICIOUS.

I guess not too many people kill and clean their own turkeys, or make their own real giblet gravy, these days. It's practically the same damn thing, just with a duck.

That makes that line in {{Ratatouille}} where Skinner threatens to put Linguini's head in a duck press even more squicky.

Nobody has ever mentioned chilli pepper yet? In South East Asia (particularly Indonesia), they use this to create a chilli paste called "sambal". These vary from "more sweet than spicy" to "running around the camp for a week (in search of a toilet)". Oh and by the way, the last quote is from TheAgency tv-series.

To put it in perspective, this troper served a quarter teaspoon of it to his South Indian roommate's uncle, and even he (accustomed to South India's hot spices) had difficulties handling it.

On the other hand, this Sumatran troper has difficulties adjusting to living in Java because the sambal is not spicy enough.

PBS TV chef Ming Tsai appears to be obsessed with the stuff; any time he needs hot sauce, he goes for the sambal.

In Australia you can get Emu, Kangaroo, Camel and Crocodile steak.

Um, yum? This American troper is somewhat curious as to why those are on this list.

The Australian aversion to eating kangaroo is actually something of a problem, since changes made to the outback's ecosystem have caused the kangaroo population to explode far beyond natural levels, and alien crops such as beef and mutton are harmful to the environment.

The recent Russian ban on the kangaroo meat import due to some technicality (it's a staple in sausages) is rumored to cause a stir due to fears that it will lead to the aforementioned environmental problems. If we are to believe some sources, Russia imports up to 70% of all Australian 'roo exports.

Aversion? Most people this (vegan for strange reasons) troper knows would jump at the chance to try some 'roo. The stuff is quite healthy too.

Don't forget Vegemite, it is basically a salty yeast extract that is a by product of alcohol manufacture!

Many Non-Australians find it foul. That's mainly because the first time they try it, they are given a spoon full of it to down, normally as a prank. Unless you've become accustomed to the taste, you don't want to be downing a whole spoon of it. It whacks a punch.

Kangaroo and emu meat doesn't taste that must different from chicken or beef, tbh.

'Roo is similar to a lean beef, but more of a gamey taste. Try 'Roo sausauges for an introduction.

Kangaroo doesn't taste bad, but the meat's rather dry even in the best circumstances, so it's best to have some good sauce handy to go along with it.

Century eggs are basically eggs that have rotted for a few months, which turns their yolks green and their whites brown. People eat them.

They aren't rotted, they're lye-pickled. It does't make them less visually unappealing and soapy, though. See lutefisk above for similar lye-pickled stuff.

When cooked, it tastes extremely benign. This Troper when living in Boston has a favorite Malaysian restaurant. They serve the black egg as part of a mixed appetizer plate. The owners know i live the stuff so every time i come by he would send a whole plate (a couple of eggs, sliced) over. I enjoy making my friends eat it. Eventually it become a sort-of initiation ritual: If you want to be our friend, eat a slice of black egg.

I'm a Canadian born Chinese who used to hate century egg until I actually tried it now I think it's effing delicious. Try it "raw" with soy sauce or cooked into a congee. Though there is a sour taste if eaten along with sweet stuff like Coke. Seriously, it's probably the least "weird" weird food us Chinese eat.

Queasine often ensues when Swedes, Danes or Norwegians try to replicate Viking-age or Stone-age cooking. This troper was involved in an outdoors attempt that involved pre-grilled meat (to prevent the worst-case scenarios) with vegetables that was wrapped in salad and put on a bed of glowing coal in a hole in the ground and then covered with soil. Needless to say, the end result tasted like a mouthful of meat-smoked dirt.

This sounds to this New Englander troper like a Lobster Bake gone horribly wrong.

Kiviak is an Inuit delicacy which is made by cutting open a seal, stuffing it with a few dozen seagulls, and burying the seal in a shallow grave for as long as a year or two. You think this sounds bad? Wait until you find out how you eat it - you extract a seagull out of the seal, rip out its tail feathers, and suck out the fermented, liquefied innards through its ass.

There is a special sub-section of Chinese cooking known as 'live cuisine'. It involves taking an animal - say, in this case a fish. You carefully cut the fish so it's paralyzed, gather the internal organs in a bundle and wrap them in cotton, put a damp towel over the head of the fish, and fry it in a wok. Once the body is cooked, you serve and eat the fish. Which, after all that, is still alive.

Four times.

Barbecued, or deep-fried, rats, anyone?

Including rat-onna-stick.

IT's A RAT FLAIL!

Squirrels are a major delicacy in the Appalachian mountain area. Especially the brains.

Stuffed pit-roasted deer carcass. Mmmmm...

That sounds absolutely delicious.

Yeah, sounds like you're describing a Deer barbecue of some sort, which sounds fantastic. what are you, british?

Two words: Foie Gras. Especially when you read about the horrible ways the ducks are prepared.

Actually, force feeding is not painful for ducks, so this troper doesn't think it's any more barbaric than factory farming. And Foie Gras is one of the most delicious foods there is, period.

I'm not so sure the result is much fun, though. This troper saw a comparative photo of a normal duck liver and a foie gras liver. Normal liver: dark and glossy. Foie gras liver: pale and ''very'' dry-looking. Are we sure the duck wasn't suffering some sort of pain from a now malformed liver?

The ducks are extremely unhealthy, physically deformed (their livers protrude from their skin) and presumably in horrible pain.

Geese naturally gorge during winter, unsurprisingly, and seasonal foie gras has been successfully made out of free-range geese. The ''gavage'' process was developed, apparently, as a way of getting foie gras year round.

Foie Gras has a long and treasured history that stretched back to Roman times. It is This Troper's top 10 favorite food.

Cruel, nothing. I've seen ducks being gavaged, they literally ''run'' to the person doing the force-feeding when its time, mouths open and necks straightened out and everything. There's nothing more cruel about foie gras then there is about any sort of carnivorous food production.

Huhu grubs from New Zealand, apparently they taste like chicken or peanut butter.

Two words: dubbelzoute drop.

There is more than one kind of salted liquorice. The less salty kinds, such as munten, are actually quite delicious (if you like salty stuff... don't read into that too much). On the other hand, double-salted liquorice can get stuffed.

The best types are the "salmiak" licorice, which is processed with ammonium chloride, and gives a strong ammonia taste. The stuff is both completely foul and disturbingly addictive.

I used to eat boullion cubes like candy, as a kid (surprisingly, my blood pressure hovers around 112/80). I absolutely ''despise'' licorice though, so dubbelzout is out.

This (German) Troper imports licorice from Denmark because German laws forbid the sale of licorice over a certain ammonium chloride level (which Danish licorice easily tops). Which goes to show that the law has no idea what's delicious.

Just about any food where animal blood is the main ingredient.

Kiwi-fruit skin. It's a fruit with fur, and quite edible.

With the added bonus of looking like an orphaned testicle. Is good, though.

Oh, the skin is edible? I've always eaten it anyway because I'm too lazy to skin it, but people tend to look at me funny.

Kefir is a gelatinous dairy product from the Caucasus mountains, with a texture like stringy lumpy yoghurt. It's alleged to help you live longer, but considering that real kefir contains dozens of strains of ''living'' bacteria and fungi -- so very lively that a lump of kefir, kept moist with milk, will actually ''grow larger until it divides like an amoeba'' -- it might not be worth it.

I'm pretty sure they're all of the benign variety. Or did you forget that ''we'' have more than a few strains of bacteria in our digestive systems?

Yoghurt is the same, didn't you know? They just filter the bacterial goo before packaging, just like all commercial kefir makers do.

Also, it's incredibly common to eat other types of fungi straight (or on salad or on pizza or...). Personally, I find the live kefir "grains" delicious, so it's good for me that I can grow it so easily.

The song "Alouette", which you may have learned in French class, and originated from Canadian fur traders, is about plucking out the feathers of a lark in preparation too cook it. "I'm going to pluck your head, and your heart, and your lungs, and your brain, until you're a bloody torso." {{Squick}}?

Chinese drunken shrimp - ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. You get the LIVE shrimp in a really strong liquor, and eat 'em still alive. Gee, I wonder if any cannibals ever tried that tactic.

I dont know where the above troper experienced it, but when This Troper had the same dish, the shrimp is fed the liquor in a glass pan and then killed by cooking it in the liquor (flambe, if you would) so they are cooked.

I've seen a variation at a barbeque. You cut the top off a can of beer, put live shrimp in the can and put it on the grill until they're cooked. I didn't have any since I was a kid and afraid of alcohol, but it sounded delicious.

Interestingly nobody mentioned BRAIN so far. Yes. There are people that eat brains. Not so much anymore, because of diseases.

Well, we just call them "zombies". (They are still people. Just dead. Or not.)

In southern China (Cantonese), there was an old wive's tale that if you eat brains, you get smarter (or get better grades because of enhanced brain power). Its the same reason people eat penis and other sexual organs in China, because the apparently the belief is to eat the part that you want improved, part-for-part.

Mmmm.... Kuru....

Actually pretty common in the southeast United States: pork (pig) brains. I've seen these cans in several large chain grocery stores; never tried it myself, but I'm told brain has a slightly gritty texture, and is ''extremely'' greasy.

This troper has eaten brains (yes, from a can) and has never noticed grittiness. Then again, they were scrambled. With eggs.

Also not uncommon in Germany - as any Northern German will tell you when Braunkohl (lit. brown gabbage; kale) season rolls around. The cabbage is served with a sausage made of BRAAAAAAAAAAINS.

There is the famous Spartan black soup, about which foreigners said it was probably the reason Spartans didn't give a damn about dying in battle. Spartans said you had to swim in the ice cold Spartan rivers before eating it, and which Gulliver tasted, and could not get down a second spoonful. Not surprisingly, the recipe didn't survive.

Kopalhem, a Chukchi and Nenets "delicacy", related to the aforementioned kiviak, probably takes the cake. It is basically a meat preserve, consisting of large lumps of fatty reindeer or whale meat buried on the shore and left for several months. Cold and the anaerobic conditions prevent rotting, so meat decomposes slower, via enzymatic autolysis and some anaerobic bacteria. The crown goes to this dish because, unlike most other entries here, which are merely just disgusting or simply unfamiliar, kopalhem is ''actively poisonous'' to everybody who is not used to it. This is because putrefying meat gives off higher amines, mainly putrescine, cadaverine and neurine, which could be acutely toxic to the uninitiated. The arctic nomads, who use such techniques to preserve their meats, could eat it because they are usually given small doses of it since infancy and thus developed tolerance to the toxins.

And the taste isn't really good too -- smelly, rancid and soapy.

Try explaining Camembert to an American - it's a delicious cheese covered in an edible, quite tasty type of mold.

Wait, what? It's just about like Brie, but a bit more sour tasting.

You don't need to go as far as America to find people who abhor the idea of mouldy cheese. This troper is British, and won't venture further than cheddar, red Leicester or mozzarella as far as cheeses go. If it smells like feet or looks off, it should be thrown away. Don't get me started on cottage cheese (aka baby sick - which is more or less what it amounts to...curd and whey), either.

Or the German dish of Mett - raw minced pork meat, served with onions, pepper and salt, preferably on a rye bread roll. There are even Germans who view this with suspicion; others love it. A similar dish (but with more ingredients) is sold in neighbouring countries as 'Filet Americain'.

In This Troper's hometown, it's called "Firemen's marmalade". And it's *delicious* .

British Stilton is a "blue-veined" cheese. The blue veins are... mould,grown from spores added at the time of production. Then: #QUOTE#At about 6 weeks of age each cheese is pierced with stainless steel needles to allow air to enter the body of the cheese and activate the blue cheese mould and so commence the magical veining process.

This troper doesn't mind the mould as much as the unholy amount of salt they add when making it. Broccoli and Stilton soup ''is'' delicious,though.

Finnish liquorice; to quote the Japanese; "tastes like toilet!" It tastes and smells like ammonia, and is one of the most delicious liquorices this tropes has ever eaten.

This troper can testify that sliced, pickled jellyfish is delicious.

''Soucril'' is a dish commonly served in the region of Antananarivo, Madagascar (and possibly other parts of the island). It's delicious, if you manage to get your mind off the fact that you're eating a soup made with various vegetables and ''thinly sliced bull penis''.

This Australian troper, should he go to New Zealand again, will have to try some possum (which is to Kiwis like rabbits are to Australians). If pressed, he may consume horse (though he has never had to, and never ''has'' in fact, though he's less {{squicked}} by the ''idea'' than most of his kind). Lesser example - he has eaten escargot (that is, garliced snails) and found them to taste like squid - yummy.

For that matter, this troper will never understand why people are so {{Squick}}ed by squid. It's pretty yummy, particularly when fried with the right herbs and spices.

This troper's friends were absolutely repulsed when they found out that Braunschweiger (one of her favorite foods) is pig liver sausage. Conversely, her English mother is completely squicked out by biscuits and gravy- to the point where it's almost a running joke.

Mmm. Braunschweiger. ''* Homer Simpson drool* '' That's been a favorite of mine since...well, since not too long after I passed those first few diaper-wearing years. Also, did your mother initially know that British "biscuits" are equivalent to American "cookies", ''and'' vice versa? If not, that would explain the now-running joke.

Not quite. The biscuits I'm talking about are more scone like in nature. Oh, and she ''still'' can't understand doughnuts for breakfast either.

, * This troper can eat ''balut'' like nobody's business. But ''dinuguan''? I'm Filipino, and even ''I'' go "fuck that!"

My mother's native Filipino; when I asked her whether she ate ''balut'' when she was younger, she got this queasy expression on her face. Granted, it might be because her family used chicken and not duck eggs (she doesn't eat any products made from chicken except flavouring, broth etc.), but she ''has'' said that she wouldn't want to eat it.

This may be due to a cultural reason: Balut is considered in some areas to be for men only.

In Norway, whale and seal meat is available even if some foreigners find it repulsive (the entire charismatic megafauna thing again), reindeer are kept for the meat, and horseflesh is sometimes eaten, usually as part of dry sausages.

There's a reason for 'the megafauna thing'. Whales don't reproduce fast enough to maintain a harvestable population for industrial purposes.

Horsemeat is quite popular in the world, and is indeed best for the cold-smoked dry sausages.

Newsflash - all reindeer are ultimately kept for meat in all the Nordic countries. That's the primary reason they are raised. They're cheap to keep too, feeding themselves for the whole summer. The whole thing about pulling sleds is just a minor side benefit, especially in the days of cars and snowmobiles. There wouldn't be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the Americans if we Nordics didn't eat the damn things. Guess when they are often eaten? Christmas.

Though that's a modern thing - the Sami (Lapps), like most nomad herders, mostly kept their animals for milk and its byproducts. Killing off more than a few of each herd each year is inefficient, and if you are an inefficient nomad you starve to death. Nowadays, however, reindeer herding is modern ranch farming, like beef cattle.

Not quite - though it's getting more common. As mentioned above, traditionally, and still quite often, the reindeer are actually set free into the forest for summer. They are then herded back together when the first snow comes as a joint effort by all the herders in the area, who recognise their own by their ear-marks, and keep them in for the winter months. The tradition isn't very old - only about 300 years. Before that most of the reindeer were wild, and were just hunted by the Sami, who kept only a few tame individuals around.

There is something called ''kakashere-pörkölt'' in Hungary. The literal translation to English for that would be ''rooster's balls stew'' (the pun possibilities using a different word...).

A favoured delicacy in the vicinity of the Hungarian city of Miskolc is... ''sour cherry soup'' ! Well, that's not so bad...

It ''isn't''.

Hungarian food. If I really wanted to squick out tourists I would cook our traditional "pig slaughter" beakfeast... It's main ingredient is the pig's blood. And I'm surprised that noone mentioned "pacal" yet. We tend to eat most internal organs. First rule of "peasant cooking": Waste not!

Iceland has hákarl, which, prepared traditionally, is shark that has been decapitated and gutted, buried under a layer of sand and stones for 6 to 12 weeks, then cut into strips and hung for several months. The end product reeks of ammonia. In an episode of ''The F Word'' host Gordon Ramsay ate some with stomach-turning results.

The shark is simply one part of traditional Icelandic queasine, which is traditionally enjoyed at least once during the Icelandic "Thorri" season (late January to early February. Other items on the menu include; ''sviúasulta'' (lamb head-cheese), ''lundabaggi'' (jellied sheep fat), ''sviú'' (singed whole sheep heads) and ''hrútspungar'' (pickled ram's testicles).

The French are known for eating horse (though the Italians consume the most per head), frogs and snails, and dog is actually regularly eaten some places on the continent, at least in Slovakia. In some parts of Italy, fried frogs are a traditional dish.

There's only one village in Slovakia, where slaughtering dogs annualy for a special dish is common - Valaská. Some rural areas in the Czech republic have the same weird tradition, but instead of dogs, they use ''cats'' (humourously covered-up by referring to cat meat as "roof rabbit steak").

Many cultures include offal in their traditional dishes, but there are fewer ones that would consider bird saliva and shark cartilage as expensive delicacies.

One of the cultures that ''does'' serve bird saliva and shark cartilage is Japan, where they are known as the less Squick-y swallow's nests and shark fins. However, cayenne pepper is NOT exotic and in fact EXTREMELY spicy. And can cause hilarious and hard-to-cure hiccups.

Many Americans are {{squick}}ed at a favorite British meat pie filling: steak and kidney. Black Pudding (a sausage made of blood and fat) garnered a similar response.

Blood sausages are a staple in a surprizing number of countries.

In Finland, blood pancakes and (in northern regions) soup with potatoes, pork and something made out of blood, beer, rye and spices. The latter is extremely ''LoveItOrHateIt'' dish.

In the Philippines, Balut probably doesn't taste bad, but I suspect the main {{squick}} factor is the fact that it's a duck fetus. And there's ''dinuguan''. The main ingredients are pig's blood and intestines. It's more like a spicy stew than some outlandish blood-broth, but the "pig's blood" part can still cause squeamishness. Also, the blood is ''black.'' And not for that purpose.

We eat ducks, and we eat eggs, why should we be squeamish about an intermediate step?

From foreigners I've talked to, it has more to do with the fact that the chick inside the egg is fully formed (with beak, feathers, and closed eyes) that looks as if it's begging you not to eat it. Doesn't bother me, though.

Never having had it, I imagine it would be annoying trying to eat the meat off the bones. A full-grown duck is big enough that it wouldn't be a problem. I didn't like fish for a long time just because the spikes were annoying; I imagine this would be worse, since the bones would be harder. Or do you just eat it whole, bones and all?

Similarly, one of the principal ingredients of the Balinese dish ''lawar'' is fresh pig's blood.

Honeypot ants. They're a type of worker that just chills out on the ceiling of the tunnels, storing food in its butt section. Generally they only live in the desert, they get to be about the size of grapes, and some people eat them, the food is some kind of sweet nectar or something.

Those ants are known to be eaten by Australian Aboriginals, along with witchetty grubs, a favourite for {{Squick}}ing out other Aussies.

Lemon ants are eaten in Ecuador. They're extremely small rainforest insects that actually do taste faintly of lemon.

Chinese consider cheese to be "rotten milk".

Considering that many cheeses are the result of bacteria breaking down proteins and sugars in milk, it's not that unreasonable of an assumption to make.

This is doubly bad, since many southeast Asian cultures are not all that big on milk to begin with; Europeans are a bit of an aberration in that they (usually) retain the enzymes allowing them to digest lactose past infancy.

The Chinese have 100-year-old egg as a delicacy, we've got nothing on them in the rotten food department there.

Only they are neither 100-years-old, nor they are rotten -- they are pickled in straw and lye for several months. Though they are indeed something of an acquired taste, just like another lye-pickled "delicacy" -- Norwegian ''lutefisk'' (dried cod, reconstituted and cured in soda lye water), which Norwegians themselves jokingly call "a penance before God".

Want to watch someone used to 100-year old egg squirm? Ask them to eat the egg and immediately drink Coke. Ghastly.

"Sweetbreads" (internal organs like the thymus gland and pancreas) aren't considered acceptable by ''most'' Americans except regionally, and then seldom at the same time. "Sweetbreads" are a big source of vitamins for people with no access to citrus fruits, though.

More amusingly, plenty of people don't know that sweetbreads aren't types of bread.

It can be tough keeping kosher and eating in restaurants in the Southern US, where a meal isn't a meal until they throw a ham-hock into it.

Similarly, Lithuanian cuisine has this habit of taking traditional Jewish dishes and adding bacon.

In Montana, we have a annual "Testicle Festival" that attracts rowdys and malcontents from all over looking for that extra shot of testosterone from properly-cooked bull testicles.

More testicles means more iron!

Haggis (the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep boiled in its own stomach) is the subject of such widespread Squick that it could be considered a trope on its own.

Which is damned odd, considering that it basically tastes like a light-textured version of cooked ground beef, and looks pretty much like that, too. I swear, Americans can be such cowards...

I'd describe its taste more as a cross between ground beef and pate.

More like pate-flavored oatmeal with too much black pepper.

I didn't mind the taste, I just didn't like the texture all that much.

This one is particularly annoying when you realize that people who get all haired-out about haggis have no problem eating ordinary hot dogs and sausages. After all, what, exactly is a haggis? It's just a BIG f*** ing SAUSAGE!

Most people are squicked out simply by the description because so many people forget to mention that it's all ground up like a sausage along with onions, garlic, and barley. Once you tell them that the sausage-eating types might give it a shot.

That's exactly how it was explained to me when my friend convinced me to try it. It really wasn't bad; only problem was that it was made with like triple the amount of onions that anything could ever possibly need.

Sheep's Head Jelly is eaten in Iceland. It's ubiquitous enough that the endcap freezer units in grocery stores there will sometimes have two-packs of frozen sheep's heads in plastic bags.

Czernina is a soup from Poland made of Duck's blood and lots of different fruit (plus some noodles).

To some cultures, drinking extrusions of modified sweat glands containing natural proteins and sugars is shocking in the extreme. To others, it's delicious and nutritious milk. More specifically, humans are just as capable of drinking milk (or making products of the milk) produced by several different mammals - cows, buffalo, goats, horses, camels, yaks... the list goes on. Any given specific milk, however, can have this reaction to those not used to having it (admittedly, goat's milk can be an acquired taste).

Justified because there's a thing called lactose intolerance. In Europe, people with this are a minority. In other cultures mentioned, they're, well, the ''majority''.

Other foods that are favorites in Western culture can be {{Squicky}} in other parts of the world. Cinnamon, for example, tastes absolutely revolting to many sub-Saharan Africans.

Interesting that milk and cinnamon are mentioned together here. This European lactose-tolerant troper has hated milk since childhood (though enjoys many milk-derived food products like cheeses and ice cream). He would also much rather eat 60-year-old wallpaper than anything with cinnamon in it.

Lampshaded on ''RedDwarf'': Holly: "Plus it, (dog's milk) lasts longer than any other kind." Lister: "Why's that, then?" Holly: "No bugger'll drink it."

Milk is This Troper's Brown Note. Specially warm milk, just the smell is enough to make him sick. Amusingly enough, milk-based foods, or even coffee with milk, give him no problems.

Scrapple is frequently described as "every part of the pig but the oink", which should mean that the gray, gelatinous loaf of pressed cornmeal and offal tastes horrendous. It's delicious.

For certain, exceedingly generous definitions of "delicious." But there are those who consider liver a delicacy, and those who consider it an abomination.

It tastes awesome with maple syrup and eggs.

That's... I mean... ''syrup and eggs''???

Furriners. You put the syrup on the scrapple, not on the eggs. Though I'm sure there are a few oddballs who like their eggs sweetened too. Also, for those of you who've never tried maple syrup, it's nowhere near as dense as, say, golden syrup.

MALFUNCTION. Faith in Humanity corrupted. Reboot and try again.

Roasted and sliced horse penis is considered a completely acceptable inclusion into some Asian meals. In parts of Mongolia, boiled testicles are a semi-common food. When you live on the most barren land in the entire world, you have to save all you can of a kill.

Culinary penis is Pizzle.

An Asian market not far from this troper stocks bull pizzle and pig uteri. Any ideas how best to cook these cuts?

Not sure about the pizzle, but the uteri would probably be ''really'' good sliced into strips or chunks maybe an inch across, then sauteed with crushed black pepper, garlic and a little lemon juice. Oh, and butter, lots of butter.

Butter makes EVERYTHING taste better.

In most of South-east Asia durian fruit is considered absolutely delicious. To most of the western world it tastes like it smells - like week old rotten garbage.

It smells bad to most of the South-east Asians, too; there are plenty of photos floating around the Net of the signs posted in public places showing a durian with a red line-and-circle "no" symbol across it. It's said that you don't notice the smell while you're actually eating the fruit; but everyone else is nauseated by it, even if they like eating durians themselves.

Actually most SE-Asians consider the smell of fresh durian tolerable if strong or even pleasant. It's only after the scent's lingered for a few hours that you get universal revulsion.

This might account for how some Asian grocery stores smell to an American shopper.

Around the world, guinea pig is cutesy household pet. In Peru it's a common meal.

I raise you a dormice in Slovenia or at time farm-grown rats in some countries.

According to The Other Wiki, there are projects to introduce guinea pig farming into some third-world countries, as guinea pigs take up little space, are easy to feed, and of course breed like rodents.

Rabbit. "You ''ate'' Bugs Bunny/Thumper/other famous rabbit?!" Yes. Tastes like chicken.

Rabbit is ''delicious,'' especially fried.

This Troper likes to think of game pie as Bambi, Thumper, and Daffy pie.

Just remember to eat vegetables too!

The Midwest has the Brain Sandwich, pig (formerly cow) brain breaded and deep fried served on a bun. Most people won't make it to the "deep fried" part before losing their appetite, it's actually quite tasty.

In Germany, a popular meal during autumn is ''Braunkohl und Bregenwurst'', which is boiled borecole a.k.a. green cabbage with a sausage traditionally filled with minced cow brain and herbs. (In some regions, the ''Braunkohl'' is instead called 'Grünkohl'', but it's the same plant, which has to be picked after the first frosty night.) These days, what with Mad Cow Disease, the sausages do not contain actual animal brain anymore, though.

BRAAAAINS...BRAAAAINS...BRAAAAINS!!!!

''P'tcha'', popular with Eastern European Jews, basically consists of calves' hooves, boiled until gelatinous, then stewed with garlic and boiled eggs. About as appetizing as it sounds.

Apparently Squirrel is delicious with a plate of spaghetti according to my father. Though some seem to be a bit grossed out at the idea.

In Britain there's been a movement to convince people to eat squirrel; partly because of the health benefits (apparently it's quite lean and high in nutrients of some sort) and partly to protect the (now endangered, native) red squirrels from grey squirrels (which originated from the US and happen to be wiping out red squirrels through competition while at the same time damaging the forests).

Marmite.

Like squirrels, pigeons are an urbanized animal/pest most Americans would balk at eating. They are eaten in Europe, North Africa, and China. This humble troper tried some on a trip to Morocco, and yes, TastesLikeChicken.

Although this troper would never eat urban wild pidgeons, because they can be flying plague pits. Plus, they have ticks. Better stick to domesticated pidgeons.

An indigenous Andean (If I could remember the exact tribe) beverage is fermented using...''human saliva''.

Ahhh, ''Chicha de Jora.'' The Incas used it as ritual liquor, and it can be found in the Andean regions. Delicious stuff, comes in (at least) two varieties, sweet and sour; and carries quite the punch. This Troper, who appears to be impervious to Tequila, got knocked down with only two glasses. It is damn good.

Utterly wrong, Chicha de Jora is just fermented maize... with as much alcoholic content as beer or wine. Masato is what the original poster was refering to and as a Peruvian from the coast I see how you are confusing a beverage from the Andes with a beverage from the Amazon and find it amusing how providentialism acts... Masato is from the jungle and Chicha de Jora is from the mountains, indeed in Peru the more East you go or else the more you drift from major cities the more queasinous food becomes but gastronomy-wise Peru's urban dishes are quite laureated wherever they are known.

Another food commonly eaten in the American South is opossum. It's greasy, but tasty enough.

This troper was on the other end of this. He was in Holland, watching an Australian movie. There was a scene where a bloke cooked up a pot of saveloys. The whole audience made gagging noises and a few people covered their eyes. It just made me really miss saveloys.

...Have your classmates never seen sausages before?

This Floridian troper is quite fond of fried gator bites. Add a bit of lemon juice to it, and it's great. Venison (deer) makes excellent chili; I've been handed a chocolate-covered cricket and didn't balk at all when my friend told me what it actually was. And yet I want to gag every time my mother (of mexican descent) mentions menudo or fries chicken gizzards/livers. I will not ''touch'' any sushi that isn't a California roll or a shrimp, either. Me being me, though, the most outlandish thing I've ever eaten, by my standards, is Oysters Rockefeller, and by God it was delicious.

Seconding the gator-bites-are-delicious. If you're in the South, EAT THEM. Especially since the gator population has rocketed to pest levels these days and the population could stand a tourist-induced dent.

Thirded.

This troper tried gator on his recent vacation, it was a bit chewy but otherwise good, I wouldn't mind putting in it my normal diet if I lived down there.

Nutria is served in some places in the Deep South, as they're a bit of a pest species. Supposedly they're very low in calories, or fat, or something.

One day, this troper's mother lamented that she'd accidentally bought lamb chops instead of pork chops. This troper is a fairly BigEater, and despite feeling a bit saddened about eating a baby animal before it got to do anything useful, assured her mother that she'd try it anyway. ''It was one of the best pieces of meat she'd ever '''eaten'''.'' A bit greasy, but with a great texture and delicately sweet flavor.

This troper ordered a ramen combo that had nattou as a side dish. The nattou made him wish he had not done that.

On my trip to Japan, I didn't know how to read menus, so I had some misadventures, including:

the convenience-store curry that had ''bacon'' in it

the curry sauce and fatty pork udon that had a slick of oil 1cm deep on top

the udon with bone-white grated yam lovingly topped with a raw egg. The texture was just ''wrong''.

On the other hand, the onigiri were delicious, even the ones with cod roe.

Don't knock the raw egg - ramen topped with raw egg yolk are DELICIOUS.

Not when lukewarm and you're still feeling nauseous from eating curry with bacon two days before.

This Chinese Troper once invited his friends to dinner. It went over fine after they finished freaking out over the chicken.

Within some cultures here in South Africa, Mopani Worms are considered a delicacy. They're the larval stage of some or other beetle that are killed and dried (the heads are removed). Apparently they taste like chestnuts, but I'm not planning on finding out if that's true.

Something of an aversion: this troper had to explain repeatedly to American students at her UK university that "Toad in the Hole" did not in fact contain toad.

This American Troper is quite perplexed by the apparent English resistance to peanut butter. One of my favorite sandwiches is peanut butter and bacon on toast. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

For much of America and the rest of the world, Southern food. Lots of fried food, lots of biscuits, lots of putting those two things together and adding gravy.

This (European, not Australian) Troper is thoroughly grossed out by the idea of eating beef - not because she's vegetarian or anything, she just thinks it tastes DISGUSTING. On the other hand, crocodile and kangaroo are quite delicious to her... in barbecue, at least.

Rattlesnake. Yes, they are sometimes eated at Rattlesnake Roundups in the South of the U.S.A.

This Troper was once taken to an all-you-can-eat buffet in a little town on the Gulf coast of Texas. A regular patron of the restaurant explained: "If you take something and you like it, take a little more. If you take some and you don't like it, put it back and don't ask what it is."

This Troper made takoyaki at a party, and most people were quick to chicken out as soon as they found out what one of the main ingredients was ([[spoiler:octopus]]). It didn't help that they weren't made properly, so they resembled small stuffed mushrooms rather than neat little spheres. Some people thought they tasted good, though.

My third day in Hong Kong had a welcome dinner for all of us exchange students and our local colleagues. One of the courses was chicken, not such a bad thing, except that the ''head'' was on the platter with the rest. "Please excuse me..."

All authentic Mongolian food. The stuff you see at those grills that claim to be Mongolian isn't actual Mongol cuisine, because actual Mongol food is sort of an acquired taste. Firstly, almost everything is made of meat and/or milk. Secondly everything ends up having the aforementioned fermentation Squick mentioned above; milk wine, 'half-cheeses', fermented milk from female horses, and of course chunks of animal fat you're expected to eat instead of ignore as in the Western world. And of course salted milk tea. Though the degree of queasiness present varies with people, there's usually something that can be pulled out that will manage to induce this in a foreigner.

This American troper recalls feeding foreign exchange students one of our cherished childhood foods in high school. The look on their faces when their palates encountered the mix of crunchy peanut butter and grape jelly of their sandwiches betrayed their diplomatic response when we asked them how it tasted.

Sashimi is this to my mother, and Japanese cuisine as a whole became this to my father when he went on a business trip to Japan.

This USian troper isn't much of a hot sauce fan to begin with (which perhaps isn't unusual per se, but there's some major hot sauce obsession in US cuisine), but finds sriracha (a Thai import that's slowly becoming ubiquitous here) particularly unapproachable, due to its smell of fermented peppers, garlic, and toxic waste.

Funny, because this troper adores Sirracha and loves to use it as a ketchup substitute any chance he can get. Of course, this could come from being an Arizonan, born and bred, as we are natural lovers of all things spicy.

This Canadian troper is puzzled by the apparent disgust of her American pals over poutine: it's french fries, covered in cheese curds, and topped with hot gravy until the cheese melts. It's delicious alone and delicious with beer, why do people get squicked by it?

This American troper had to try it twice to appreciate it. It's hard to explain, but it is addictive.