What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?

I’m talking food here and not the blotting paper you used to chew up and swallow at school ;)

It seems to me that as more weird and wonderful foods come onto the market, people become more and more happy to try something different or even bizarre. Crocodile/alligator, buffalo, kangaroo and ostrich are fairly “common” these days. More exotic meats like zebra and springbok are available from our South Africa cousins’ butchers stores and of course online. I have tried a lot of these meats before and must say they make a good talking point but didn’t really set the world on fire in my humble opinion. Will we see any of these meats make it into the mainstream? Ostrich was touted as being the “next big thing” some years ago, it was pushed heavily as a low fat, high protein super-meat, but it never caught on. It’s basically just a giant turkey, so why not just eat turkey?

That’s just their problem…they are mostly an “alternative” and not a replacement.

It would take a very long time (or possibly never) for people to change from what they know and love like a good cut of beef or a chicken to something which tastes “a bit like it”. So let’s move it up a notch on the weird scale and look at insects. I have tried BBQ flavoured meal worms (basically maggots but that’s a much less appetising name!), chocolate covered ants and crunchy, spicy locusts which stuck in the teeth a little too much for this writers eating enjoyment.

But the weirdest thing I have eaten is probably scorpion…in a lollipop. Now anything with a nasty sting in its tail (literally) is not something that immediately springs to mind when snacking and certainly not when it’s delivered as a sweet! So how was it? It was ok I suppose but you couldn’t really taste it in it’s sugary tomb. The thing is with all of these strange foods is that they are just that…strange. I won’t be cooking up a locust vongole anytime soon. I can only say that greatest benefit of these foods is that they give you a fantastic story to tell, and a sense of one-upmanship. It’s like foodie top trumps just like everyone’s favourite the expensive restaurant game “I’ve been to this place”, “Well I’ve been to that place!” So anyone who announces that they ate wildebeest bourguignon the night before should not be too surprised when they are shot down by someone who describes the delicious llama steak sandwich they had for lunch. So put your cards on the table…what’s the weirdest thing you have eaten?