Sunday 3 July 2011

Unusual foreign foods

I went out for lunch today with Björn and met some of his family from his father's side. They were extremely warm and friendly people and I had a lovely time talking with them. It was a buffet-style lunch and at one point I decided against picking up some strange looking sausage, which I was later informed had been horse meat. Björn attempted to get me to try some, but I really couldn't face it. This got me thinking about why people feel ok about eating certain animals while there are others that they cannot stomach. Perhaps horses, for example, are less of a familiar animal here than in England and therefore people find it easier to remove themselves from what they have on their plate, whilst I couldn't take my mind off of the horses that live at the end of my garden at home!

What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? I became a vegetarian when I was 16 and a vegan at 18 before becoming a meat-eater again at the age of 20. However, it wasn't until I visited Sweden that I really began tasting some very different dishes to what I was used to. After a couple of weeks of trying different foods we finally had something I recognised: Tacos. (I found it a little unusual that this mexican food seemed to be a very popular ''Swedish'' meal). When I was making mine, I noticed that the mince looked a little strange but didn't think much of it until I tasted it and was met with a very strong and quite bizarre flavour. Tentatively, not wanting to appear rude, I asked Björn's mother: "What meat is this?", "Moose", she answered, very non-chalantly. I gulped a little and managed to murmur a small ''ok'' before continuing eating. Perhaps this was quite a Swedish dish after-all! Of course I am used to coming across the occassional unusual animal at dinner time now, and have learnt to avoid anything slimy looking that has come from a jar, due to a small issue I have with fish, but I was wondering how you find the food when you go to different countries. Do you like to try unusual foods or do you steer clear and stick to what you are used to? I think it is nice to try delicacies, but I draw the line at anything remotely pet-like!



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2 comments:

  1. Hello How are you doing? To the question,for me the seasoning for my life is every little thing I go through everyday. :)

    This is such an interesting post. I couldn't take it too when my Kazakh friends told me they eat horse meat everyday. They say it's delicious. I wonder how it tastes like!

    I am a Chinese, so I came over some weird food but not weird for me. I guess that's how the theory goes. We just used to our own culture :) Have you ever try chicken feet, crocodile meat or pork liver soup?

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  2. Ive heard people say horse meat tastes and textures closest to human meat haha so i dont think id ever try it.

    the weirdest ive had was probably smoked beaver at a native american festival day. snails are always funny when escargot

    http://www.pinkpeonieswithlove.blogspot.com

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