Photo courtesy of Erica Simone on flickr.
Yesterday I posted a list of 100 Things Omnivore’s should give a try (according to Very Good Taste) and with it the list of what I had tried, what I want to try and what I will give a pass to. I also mentioned that I’m fascinated with boundaries that people create with food and I think the reasons people choose not to eat certain things can be divided up into several categories:
Because it looks too much like a North American domestic animal.
This seems to be the biggest reason people can’t cross food boundaries – because what is food in one culture is often a pet or domestic animal in another. A lot of people are horrified at the thought of eating dog because they picture Fido instead of a nameless animal raised and bred for eating. Horse is another one. I have friends who keep Guinea Pigs and Chinchillas who shudder at the thought of Cuy on a plate in South America.
Somehow that doesn’t seem to be an issue for me. I wouldn’t eat them here, but were I in a culture that ate any of the above, I would not hesitate to dig in. And this is possibly a surprising revelation because when I was a kid we lived on a hobby farm and one of the reasons I became a vegetarian was because my friends the cows would disappear, followed by about 6 months of meatloaf. I also hated meatloaf, so it may have been a convenient excuse.
Because it’s gross.
This is another thing that swings wildly from culture to culture and (in my mind) can usually be overcome by some mental gymnastics. The reason we often use foreign or alternate words for food in place of a bald drescription, is to distance yourself from what you’re eating. A “dragon’s claw” sounds much better than chicken foot, “venison” sounds better than “Bambi”, and “foie gras” sounds much better than liver of geese force-fed through a tube in their stomachs.
But it all still tastes good.
I try to try everything once. I’ve eaten fish eggs and eyes, haggis, chicken feet and heart, blood sausage and black pudding, and some other things that my fellow diners have cringed at. That said, I don’t think I could eat Balut or a large eye (like a goat’s), and I haven’t had the courage to try brain yet. I’ve had head cheese and sweetbreads and I didn’t enjoy them, so won’t be having them again.
Because it is too cool for eating.
OK, this one is maybe mostly my own. I think many animals are just too awesome to eat, despite deliciousness. Fish and shellfish don’t bother me in the slightest (and in fact are a huge part of my diet) and I love squid, but octopus is a different matter. I won’t touch octopus with a fork (or chopstick for that matter), although I have had it in the past. The reason is because octopuses are amazing creatures. The great pacific octopus grows larger than me and can take on a shark, but will release you from it’s grasp if you tickle it. They have both long and short term memory, can learn to open jars with their arms and will navigate through a tight maze not much bigger than themselves. They are one of my favorite creatures and I will not put them in my mouth because they are just far too cool for that.
Whale Sharks apparently they taste like tofu, but there is no way I’m going to be tasting one of these gentle giants. I’m fascinated with one and one of my life’s dreams is to swim alongside, not see it on my plate.
Because it’s endangered.
This section should be a no-brainer, but in fact it’s hard. Endangered means different things to different people. I won’t eat shark, eventhough it’s not technically on the endangered list. Shark harvesting practices are brutal and wasteful and according to wikipedia, “some species have been depleted by over 90% over the past 20-30 years with a population decline of 70% not being unusual”
No shark for me. Which mean’s no shark fin soup either. I have a vague memory or ordering it with my friend’s parents in Chinatown when I was a kid, but I unforunately don’t remember the taste of it at all and it’s going to have to stay that way unfortunately, because I can’t conscienciously eat one.
But, I have eaten Abalone. Abalone is endangered and delicious. I’m sorry.
Also, no whales or any kind of African bush meat (Elephant, Lion, Hippo, Rhino, etc.).
Because it’s rotten or poisonous.
Self-explanatory, except I wouldn’t normally eat anything rotten or poisonous either and Fugu could easily be considered poisonous. Similarly, some fermented dishes could be considered rotten, so I’ll have to be careful about saying never.
Because it tastes bad.
Well there’s no accounting for taste, as they say, and if you don’t like the way something tastes, you definitely do not need to eat it, but the caveat is that you will have had to try it at least once to know you don’t like it.
I think that’s it. There is obviously a huge list of things out there that fall under the above categories, but don’t normally show up on the menu. Chameleons are too cool for eating, but I’m pretty sure they are also inedible. Hopefully most things on the endangered list are not readily available in restaurants, but that’s something that’s bound to be different depending on where you are. Etc.
What about you? What’s on or off your list?
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20 responses so far ↓
Anthony Nicalo // August 19, 2008 at 10:11 PM |
I will eat practically anything. Tripe is not my favorite. And you’re missing out on the octopus-I have a hard time NOT ordering it when it appears on a menu, in particular because it is often local and sustainable. Oh yeah, and delicious when done well.
Bradley // August 19, 2008 at 10:22 PM |
I’ve lost my appetite.
I’m just about finished with my experimental stage. I’m more into comfort, familiarity and perfecting a known theme. So I won’t eat a lot of stuff I may have tried when I was younger.
But, crashed on a mountain and no hope of rescue, I’d eat your dead carcass. Any bits I should skip?
degan // August 19, 2008 at 10:26 PM |
HA. My liver would surely kill you.
jason // August 20, 2008 at 9:17 AM |
It sounds to me like a lot of what you are getting at is the extent people are anthropomorphizing the creature. “gentle” giants. naming the animal (as we do people) – bambi. Long term memory. And experience anthropomorphizing dogs and cats: look fido is sitting like a human. furball is happy to be with his family, etc.
KimHo // August 20, 2008 at 2:07 PM |
Re: Domestic Animal. It is funny you put it on that perspective. Compare it to, say, Eastern Indians and we eating beef, or a follower of Judaism or Islam and, again, we eating pork.
Re: Gross. Renaming dishes are fine, as long as you apply a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy – or at lesat ask AFTER you have finished it. But, I will draw the line on some dishes, like balut. I mean, why don’t eat an egg instead?!
Re: Endangered. well, yes and no. You mentioned abalone already. Related to this topic is also over-harvesting. For example, I love soups with black moss, yet there has been ecological effects. Now, there is something on this topic that bugs me though: what if there is an alternative but people complains about it anyway? Like wild salmon vs. farmed salmon. OK, salmon is not endangered right now but considering what is happening this summer I think it will be a matter of time.
Re: Rotten or Poisonous. In an episode of Bob Blummer’s Glutton of Punishment, Bob went to Japan to train to prepare fugu. To paraphrase him, fugu has no distinctive taste; however, people in Japan still eat them because of the thrill, despite the couple of dozen of casualties per year.
carrotplease // August 20, 2008 at 2:41 PM |
People are funny with food. I think in general it’s hard for people to eat animals with which they’ve shared a lot of time/relationships. I ride horses, and love horses, and am probably one of a very, very small minority who would give it a try. It’ s hard when you’ve had so much life experience with a creature to think of it as food.
The bigger thing, though, to westerners anyway, is that our culture has become quite removed from what meat actually is. We buy it in bulk in shrink wrapped packages, are removed from the process of raising and slaughtering, and the finished product in no way resembles that from whence it came. So the prospect of something like balut, where everything is immediately identifiable, is repulsive to most Westerners. But I think really it’s the attitude of us westerner types that’s the strange one, I think there’s very little appreciation for where food comes from and we end up taking things for granted, while simultaneously being disgusted by those who don’t take it for granted. If that makes any sense at all.
Kelly // August 20, 2008 at 5:22 PM |
I have eaten octopus — at the time I considered it just another form of worship, but I think I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want any octopus to die for my venation.
Ditto horse, have eaten, won’t eat again. Love them too much.
degan // August 20, 2008 at 8:15 PM |
@anthony – I know, I know. And it was hard in Greece to see all the fresh octo and know how tasty and culturally important it is. But I just love them too much! It would be like eating a pet to me.
@kelly – I hear you. Octo-love.
@KimHo – Good point about the religious aspect of food. That’s another very big reason for people creating boundaries with food. And another thing I’m fascinated with too (i.e. the reasons these boundaries were initially created and how they’re kept up in modern society. There is a good chapter in the Fortune Cookie Chronicles about Kosher Chinese food.)
@carrotplease – you’re definitely right about the tie-in between “immediately identifiable” food and the level of being grossed out. Do you see that changing?
Daniel // August 20, 2008 at 8:38 PM |
Simple for me. I’m not eating avocada because it’s just plain squishy. Nasty texture.
jason // August 20, 2008 at 9:37 PM |
and beyond the anthropomorphizing thing, I’d say the other factor is evolutionary, a vestige of the ancestral environment where it was benefical to avoid things that looked or smelled rotten, or that could be poisonous. this could certainly be generalized to things that seem dangerous, but are not because without a clinic on every corner, it was certainly better to be safe than sorry. Explains avocados which would certainly look rotten (green and mushy) if you didn’t know better. Explains snakes, fugu, etc as well.
it’s funny if you think about it because these two general factors represent overthinking food and underthinking food.
overthinking: anthropomorphizing your food. giving it human qualities, etc.
underthinking: failing to realize that something that seems dangerous, isn’t because of some evolutionarily selected for disposition.
intresting thread degan.
degan // August 20, 2008 at 10:22 PM |
oh that’s VERY interesting Jason. You could almost write a paper.
Raul // August 20, 2008 at 10:59 PM |
I won’t eat cheese. Why? Because I hate it, and because I am lactose intolerant
degan // August 20, 2008 at 11:13 PM |
definitely a good reason.
cmbtvet // August 21, 2008 at 3:55 AM |
Cooked carrots but I don’t mind raw carrots, I guess it’s just the mushy texture.
zooeyibz // August 21, 2008 at 8:32 AM |
interesting question! until a few weeks ago I would have said “most anything.” I’ve eaten horse and wouldn’t hesitate to try dog, I’ve had snails and foie gras (it seems hypocritical to complain about the poor geese while merrily chomping down on battery-farmed poultry) and have had stuffed pig’s intestine in a Chinese dish.
*however* after much thought about the current state of the economy/environment and world food supplies I’ve decided it is flat out immoral to eat meat because of the terrific energy/resource drain and environmental impact of its production. i don’t want to eat burgers if it means taking grain out of the mouths of people who really need it, and abusing our stretched water supply. so the answer is now: still fish and seafood (apart from obvious no-nos like tuna and cod) but farewall to all that meat
kim // August 24, 2008 at 10:32 PM |
I am NOT a fussy eater… in fact, when traveling I always eat at the small “hole in the wall” types or the “street stall” food. I’m much more apt to eat it if I can’t distinguish what it is. Yes….. having said that there are two things I will not, can not eat. I LOVE strong cheese, but cannot bring myself to eat goat cheese (tastes too much like a goat smells) and lamb. Lamb just leaves a weird hairy taste in my mouth. Have tried to like them both in every way imaginable, but it’s a no go. (and this coming from a girl that thinks stuffed moose heart is delicious….)???
degan // September 2, 2008 at 5:31 PM |
@zooeyibz: good for you! are you finding it hard?
@ kim: Well at least you gave it a try! My sister can’t eat goat cheese either and when we we in Greece was always gambling on the yogurt. Sometimes pure heaven and sometimes completely inedible.
kim // September 7, 2008 at 11:22 PM |
@degan- I know what you mean about Greek yogurt- I spent a month on the islands and had more than my share of yogurt “surprises” lol. Can be pretty nasty!
Jake // July 22, 2009 at 1:20 PM |
The following are definitely out: shrimp, prawns, clams, mussles, crab, lobster, oysters
Why: they will kill me.
Other than that I will try just about anything once, but there are a few things I have tried that I will avoid in the future:
guinea pigs – too boney
chicken feet – too boney
Goat anything – too goatey
Dog fish – too boney, too fishy
Wild blueberries in BC – there are a few species, some are delicious, some taste like poo. And they look exactly the same.
Maggot cheese – too maggoty
wine out of a tetra pack – too gasoliney
lutefisk – too rotten fishy
bhang lassi – too sleepy
Denny’s country gravy – too bodily fluidy
Oolichan grease – see lutefisk
Soju – too assey
Patrick // October 26, 2009 at 9:28 PM |
I avoid asparagus, because it gives me hives…
I used to avoid anything from the water, but after I moved to the coast, I forced myself to try sushi and sashimi and pretty much everything out of the water – I honestly was grossed out by the way they looked and felt… But after trying it, well, I can’t imagine not eating it.
I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t eat for any reason other than dislike and personal taste – certainly willing to try almost anything, since I discovered that some of the most distasteful sounding things end up being utterly delicious.
And I LOVE Denny’s country gravy… it’s freakishly delicious, even if the appearance is a little odd… om nom nom