Odd Foods You Love

[Jester]

Sure, they may not be odd to you, but to many of your friends, they are completely bonkers.

While I was not raised in the Jewish religion, I do come from a Jewish family, and grew up on a lot of their food. Much of which comes across as very strange to my friends who did not. Most Americans are familiar with Matzoh Ball Soup, of course. But there are certainly some other, less familiar dishes that make me smile while making my friends scratch their head in puzzlement...or make them nauseous.

Gefilte fish comes to mind. If you're not familiar with it, it could seem very, very strange. To me, it's wonderful.

Chopped liver? Fantastic. Give me more, please.

But the item that brought this topic to mind is what I'm eating right now. A gorgeous, lovely, tongue sandwich. Basically, thinly shaved beef tongue piled high on good Jewish rye bread with a nice spicy deli mustard. Heaven!

And yes, tongue is exactly what the name says. Which I didn't always realize growing up. Actually, I was 12 when I realized that tongue was, in fact, tongue. Up till then I had always thought it was just a luncheon meat with an unfortunate name. And then that one day, at my Grandma's house, I looked down at the deli tray, and it all became clear. And I went, "Oooooohhhh...." And then proceeded to pile some of that tongue on my plate. Because I've never been one to let WHAT a food is stop me from enjoying how it TASTES. And tongue is fantastic! Basically, while they are different, it is similar enough to pastrami in taste that, if you like pastrami, you will probably like tongue. Of course, if you don't like pastrami, you probably won't like tongue, either.

The reason this all comes up is that nowhere in Key West can one actually purchase tongue. Not even the Jewish deli, which is disappointing. But a friend just recently brought me some beautiful tongue from a Jewish place on the mainland, and I am in heaven. It's been a year and a half since my last tongue, when in was in Houston, and before that, years.

So, what foods do you love, either that you grew up on or otherwise, that a lot of your friends and associates find bizarre or gross?

[BlaqueKatt]

pickled herring.
Braunschweiger.(also great for pilling cats and dogs)
Pork rinds.
Sprats.
Anchovies.

[crazylegs]

Faggots. No, not what you're thinking of. Full explanation here --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

They're delicious, if anyone ever visits the UK and has the chance to have some in a pub in the country then they're well worth a try

[Jester]

pickled herring.
Braunschweiger.(also great for pilling cats and dogs)
Pork rinds.
Sprats.
Anchovies.

Love pickled herring and anchovies, though chovies are only an occasional thing for me. Pork rinds are okay. Not sure if I've had braunschweiger or not. No idea what sprats are.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Weetabix. Spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar. Always got to have this as a Saturday-morning treat as kids. Yumyumyum

[Trekkie8472]

Looove pickled and smoked herring, nommy! As an American, I am definitely in the minority when it comes to Vegemite. I love the stuff, especially on toast. It's 8.99 a jar at my local World Market import store, but so worth it! I also think it's funny watching people try it...cos I'm a jerk like that. XD

[Kittish]

Mine is a weird one, even more so if you know how much cooking I do. Canned ravioli. Yes, I know, there are lots of options for ravioli that are so much better than the canned stuff, and I make some good pasta. But just something about it tastes really good to me. My boyfriend likes Spam, and to me that stuff is just plain disgusting.

[Trixie]

If I'm not mistaken, and I very well could be, braunschweiger is also known as liverwurst. At least that I what I knew it to be growing up. Still like it today.

[MoonCat]

If I'm not mistaken, and I very well could be, braunschweiger is also known as liverwurst. At least that I what I knew it to be growing up. Still like it today.

Yes, it's a particular kind of liverwurst. The BETTER kind I will only eat Kahn's (not that Kahn! Anyway it's spelled differently!).

I don't think I eat anything truly gross or weird. Which is strange because odd tastes run in the family. My mother loved limburger cheese, which has the most disgusting smell evvvvaaarrr. My grandfather used to tear up a piece of rye bread and put the chunks of bread in a big cup of coffee and eat it with a spoon. My brother used to like mayonnaise sandwiches (no meat, just mayo and bread).

Oh wait, there is one odd thing I like. Campbell's vegetable soup with a chopped hot dog in it.

[Jester]

If I'm not mistaken, and I very well could be, braunschweiger is also known as liverwurst. At least that I what I knew it to be growing up. Still like it today.

Oh yeah! I remember seeing that on a label of braunschweiger I was checking out in the grocery store, and thinking "Yuck!", since I hated liverwurst as a child. At least, I hated the sliced deli luncheon meat version of liverwurst. Is braunschweiger all that different?

[Sunshine]

Menudo...but only my exmils...and i take as much tripe out as i can.
grits...salt, pepper, yum

[AccountingDrone]

Braunschweiger.
Pork rinds.
.

Proper mortadella [it is made with heart and chunks of fat, and pistachios] What is different is that you slice it about half an inch thick, and do it in a foreman grill - it melts the fat chinks and turns onto the largest piece of fried bologna you can think of having, we slice it into batonnes and have it with garlic aioli wrapped in lettuce leaves.
heart - long gentle cook with onions, herbs and red wine.
spam sliced thin and fried as a sandwich - rye bread, lots of lettuce, little mayo
I prefer cracklings to pork rinds.
matzoh brei - frittata style, grape jelly.

and I do a fair amount of Roman, medieval european, middle eastern and Qan era mongolian/chinese cooking. Our Saturnalia dinner Wednesday will be :
herb/garlic cheese stuffed olives, lucanian sausage, isicia omentata of shrimp, then pernam/pig newton [pork butt cooked with figs and bay leaves] asparagus and mixed green salad, and patina de peris [a sort of sweet pear omelet made of pears poached in wine and honey and pureed, and a shake of black pepper] with muslum [red wine and honey, slightly watered down]

[mathnerd]

I am the world's pickiest eater, so I don't have any foods that I love that most of my friends would find strange. Well, most people do find it strange that my favorite food is broccoli, but broccoli in and of itself isn't strange.

[XCashier]

and I do a fair amount of Roman, medieval european, middle eastern and Qan era mongolian/chinese cooking. Our Saturnalia dinner Wednesday will be :
herb/garlic cheese stuffed olives, lucanian sausage, isicia omentata of shrimp, then pernam/pig newton [pork butt cooked with figs and bay leaves] asparagus and mixed green salad, and patina de peris [a sort of sweet pear omelet made of pears poached in wine and honey and pureed, and a shake of black pepper] with muslum [red wine and honey, slightly watered down]

That sounds amazingly delicious, though I've never had any of it. I don't suppose there are any online recipes? My local SCA is restarting the cooking group and it'd be cool to have some unusual recipes to try out there.

Stuff I like that most people look at me strangely for:

Liver. I can just see everyone's faces crinkling now, but I've always loved liver. Beef liver or chicken liver. Come to think of it, I should probably eat some, been feeling a little anemic lately.

Chicken giblets.

Asparagus, but it has to be fresh cooked. Not the canned stuff, that tastes nasty.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

[Luna Baby]

My favorite is fruit cake. This time of year, I'm in heaven. We can only find fruit cake during the Christmas holiday. And this year, I've only seen it in 2 stores for some reason.