EW....that's disgusting!

[David61]

In some countries you won't know you are eating cats and dogs.

In some countries? There have been several takeaways closed down locally after being caught serving cat. I live in the UK btw. One was found with cats alive in cages and corpses in the bins. Reported after many local cat owners reported their cats disappearing. Another was an all you can eat restaurant and a customer bit into something recognised it as a microchip and took it to a vets to be scanned. Yep! It was Tiddles, restaurant shut down for six months and then allowed to re-open. That will teach them!

 

[jpflavin1]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)
My word, I think I’d eat anything before I ate that.

It would depend upon how hungry I was.

 

[jpflavin1]

How did you manage that? Seriously ... I’m so concerned about those eggs appearing on my plate that I’ve been thinking I could never do a home stay in Spain. How can one not offend one’s host, especially if one is a vegetarian?

Sin Huevos

 

[jpflavin1]

We called those "c rations" back then. "Semper Fi". Canned rations

 

[Tincatinker]

Meson El Oso, Cosgaya, Camino Vadiniense.

Cabrales; aperetivo on the menú especial. As I moved my fork towards it it cowered to the opposite side of the plate and quivered. I think it squeaked when I pierced it.

I have no idea what the rest of the meal tasted like. Five beautifully presented, exciting looking dishes with a variety of colours and textures. All I could taste was that *&)$£!! Cabrales.

The following day, after a warm climb up the Cwm at Fuente De I detected a strong whiff of Cabrales on the breeze, then noted that there wasn't a breeze, then concluded that all my clothes would need as thorough a wash as I would that evening.

 

[VNwalking]

Cabrales

In the Limburger family: cheese that is actually rotten but no-one wants to admit it.


Fried runny eggs and cabrales anyone?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

In the Limburger family: cheese that is actually rotten but no-one wants to admit it.


Fried runny eggs and cabrales anyone?

I love cheese on my eggs!
The eggs cooked well and the cheese melted.

 

[TaijiPilgrim]

Fun thread for strong stomachs!
In 2015, in Vilar de Mazarife, we were looking for lunch. Local workers were busily consuming bowlfuls of something, so we said we'd have the same. The waitress shook her head and said that was a dish we would not like. She urged us to choose something else. We agreed but we were curious and asked if we could at least taste the local fare. They brought us a small bowl, and then all the locals turned to watch us. It had this delightfully chewy, gummy texture, and my friend and I smiled. It was pig tripe - a food common to us who had grown up on Chinese food! Much to the local people's amazement, we ate the whole thing!!!
Off camino, but on topic, the Cambodians have a version of "bulot" and I literally could not face it, let alone eat it!

 

[Kathor1]

It was pig tripe - a food common to us who had grown up on Chinese food! Much to the local people's amazement, we ate the whole thing!!!

I grew up in a rural area where tripe is occasionally available as a dish and I know people who are keen on eating it. Not me. Not ever. It is always produced from a cow's stomach (cows are ruminants).

I was just about to ask you how what you ate could be pig tripe when I read this on Wikipedia: Tripe refers to cow (beef) stomach, but includes stomach of any ruminant including cattle, sheep, deer, antelope, ox, giraffes, and their relatives. Tripas, the related Spanish word, also refers to culinary dishes produced from any animal with a stomach.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that this is a fun thread for strong stomachs.

 

[nycwalking]

In some countries? There have been several takeaways closed down locally after being caught serving cat. I live in the UK btw. One was found with cats alive in cages and corpses in the bins. Reported after many local cat owners reported their cats disappearing. Another was an all you can eat restaurant and a customer bit into something recognised it as a microchip and took it to a vets to be scanned. Yep! It was Tiddles, restaurant shut down for six months and then allowed to re-open. That will teach them!

Meow!

 

[Kathor1]

Tripas, the related Spanish word, also refers to culinary dishes produced from any animal with a stomach.

I see now that there is more common ground between rural/traditional Spanish cuisine and the rural cuisine of my home region: They have many words for this culinary rarity.

In Spanish: tripa, tripas, callos, mondongo, guatita, tripa mishque, pancita, menudo. I fondly remember an earlier post on callos in this thread.

This is a useful thread for any future camino of mine in Spain: names of dishes I will avoid at all cost, under all circumstances, muchas gracias, I prefer to starve tonight.

 

[John Sikora]

Food: Maragato Stew

Why: It was a bowl of boiled pork parts.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Astorga

Does it have a local name? Cocido Maragato

What motivated you to try it? The owner said it was a specialty of Astorga and super specialty in his restaurant

Have you changed your mind now? Nope.

However, Astorga is also the place where we ordered Sol y Sombra at the bar in the Hotel Gaudi. The young bartender didn't know how to make it - so we told her. A shot of brandy and a shot of annisette. She made us a couple with about 3 shots of each served in a large brandy snifter and charged us only 4 euros!

I would second and third this choice as the most disgusting. I eat almost everything and wanted to try a local specialty. It was fatty, gristly, and just plain awful. One of the few meals in my life that I didn't even try to finish.

 

[countycork]

Have eaten Tarantulas in Cambodia, bit like crispy bacon, nice until I realised what they were exactly!
While travelling through Vietnam, saw a butcher cutting up meat, my husband drew my attention to the tail - it looked very like a cat!!
BUT Black Pudding (or blood pudding) very very tasty........eaten at home and in restaurants as part of our Irish breakfast. Also White pudding similar to Haggis. BTW you can’t beat Clonakilty Black Pudding - yummy!!!

 

[J F Gregory]

Monkey jerky in Liberia West Africa

 

[oursonpolaire]

I've spent some time eating with the Zulu in SA. I think they may have called it Skopo. Could be wrong because the four hours I spent basting it over a spit I consumed my weight in Lion Lager.

In Iceland it is known as Sviþ and looking into a freezer compartment in a mercado in Hveragerði, I was confronted by a small pile of darkened heads. I was given a morsel of cheek a few days later, just to try, and it wasn't that bad-- it beat the buried aged shark. I've also had beef cheek at a Mennonite café in rural Ontario and found it fine as a cold meat with tomatoes and pickles and, of course, visitors to Newfoundland will have had cod cheeks, a local delicacy (not delicate for me, as they were all deep-fried).

I suspected that the angulas I had as a tapa were ersatz, but my castellano was not up to grilling the waiter over the matter. On my first Camino, I prepared myself for learning the Spanish for the three things I would not eat, oysters (don't ask.... it's sad, as I like them), tripe, and brain; these were the things I would not order, but would try other items on the menu. Several times I ordered on the basis of the interesting sound of the item (zamburiñas, robadello, cordoniz) and generally appreciated the result. Waiters were always amused by a spirit of adventure in a North American pilgrim.

 

[Icacos]

Sin Huevos

Yes, sin huevos would be quite appropriate if I were ordering a meal in a restaurant; I‘ve indicated in the past, ‘no egg’ when ordering in a Japanese restaurant. However, I think I’d need to be a little more diplomatic if I were a guest, paying or non-paying, in someone’s home, which is what I am concerned about. Soy alérgica a los huevos is a white lie I would be prepared to tell in the circumstances.

 

[NorthernLight]

Monkey jerky in Liberia West Africa

I witnessed a young boy enjoying his soup in Indonesia, complete with a monkey hand floating in it. Ew.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I witnessed a young boy enjoying his soup in Indonesia, complete with a monkey hand floating in it. Ew.

Hopefully any hair/fur was removed and it's nails we're freshly clipped.

 

[Priscilla NC]

I remember those. (This is a fun thread, btw)

Where on the Camino did you try it: Cuatro Cantones, Belorado

On both CF journeys, I ate at Cuatro Cantones -- excellent! In 2019 it was Easter Sunday, a very chilly day, the town was crowded, so one of my walking partners and I got in without a long wait. A neighboring table was served with a pizza -- looked and smelled delicious. We ordered one and I believe it was the best pizza I've ever had. A great Easter dinner! I would try anything on their menu.

Sorry for the hijack!

 

[VNwalking]

Have eaten Tarantulas in

Haha. I'll take brussels sprouts any day.

 

[Kathor1]

Several times I ordered on the basis of the interesting sound of the item (zamburiñas, robadello, cordoniz) and generally appreciated the result. Waiters were always amused by a spirit of adventure in a North American pilgrim.

With the help of Google, I managed to figure out what zamburiñas, cordoniz, and robadello are, provided that the latter is the same as rodaballo.

I wonder whether I had zamburiñas once when I had ordered something as the entrée of a cheapo pilgrim's menu that claimed to be vieira. Big disappointment. What I got was not what I had expected to see and taste. Tiny things, not larger than a thumbnail and looking as if they had been cut off the foot of a pale mushroom. They were hiding in a thick pale flour based sauce. Not at all the delicious coquilles Saint-Jacques that I had expected.

In addition, when I had finished, they took away the shell in which the concoction had been served. Not that I needed it but still.

In Fromista, El Apostol. I have no issue with the restaurant, I ate there several times, and I enjoyed it on the whole. I would go there again with a crowd of like-minded pilgrims. Afterwards I wondered whether it was too far away from the sea or just what you get when you order a three-course meal containing vieiras for such a low price .

 

[Arn]

I'm the opposite, Trecile...I love mayo (but not miracle Whip), but only on deli sandwiches or as the binder used in egg salad, chicken salad, or tuna salad.
Shall we discuss vegemite or marmite next?

Marmite was also a FAV of my wife. Gosh, that was really bad. But, at least, I did try it.

 

[Bumpa]

Oh yes, mayo w/relish is "tartar sauce" in the US and enhances the flavor of less expensive fish, and I don't think potato salad could exist without mayo to bind it..
Yum to both!

When I was on the initial stages of the A.T. in Georgia, someone advised me as to the best way to eat "Grits". As I was from Canada, I wasn't familiar with this dish. He advised: "put lots of butter on it and then a little sugar, then more butter and then more sugar. Then you throw it out" When I tried it, without all of the butter and sugar, it wasn't too bad. However, I still remember the advice when I see a dish of grits.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

@Bumpa, I love grits with butter, salt/pepper...
forget the sugar!

 

[CWBuff]

View attachment 93577

Food: Prawns

Why: They were served with their heads on, with their lifeless little eyes bugging out, with their alien little legs curled up, and -- AAARRGGHH! -- very unlike the mild and unmemorable shrimp dishes I am accustomed to back in the USA.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Restaurante A Esmorga, Negreira, Galicia, Camino Finisterre, 4 June 2017. (Not a bad place otherwise....)

Does it have a local name? Not that I recall....

What motivated you to try it? Naive optimism. Several vinos blancos....

Have you changed your mind now? No. Never, never, never again!

Restaurante A Esmorga - Camino Finisterre, - ...eyes bugging out, with their alien little legs curled up,

Ah... To boldly go where no man has gone before!

Love the picture, Father! And... they DO go very well with beer

 

[JabbaPapa]

I’m so concerned about those eggs appearing on my plate that I’ve been thinking I could never do a home stay in Spain. How can one not offend one’s host, especially if one is a vegetarian?

hmmmm eggs are in the vegetarian diet, though truth be told I can't eat them myself generally.

As to not offending, well, I have insane dietary restrictions basically forcing me into a 95% carnivore diet, and when there are certain foods that directly make you ill, then simply explaining that will most often not give offence.

Though I do intend to advise pilgrims to ensure sufficient protein and fat intake, though copious amounts at least of olive oil can potentially replace the latter.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I grew up in a rural area where tripe is occasionally available as a dish and I know people who are keen on eating it. Not me. Not ever. It is always produced from a cow's stomach (cows are ruminants).

I've had likely the best possible Parisian bourgeois Tripes à la Mode de Caen, and all I can say about them is they were edible. NOT tasty.

But my dad loved the stuff. Guess that was his pre-revenge for the snails !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

On both CF journeys, I ate at Cuatro Cantones -- excellent! In 2019 it was Easter Sunday, a very chilly day, the town was crowded, so one of my walking partners and I got in without a long wait. A neighboring table was served with a pizza -- looked and smelled delicious. We ordered one and I believe it was the best pizza I've ever had. A great Easter dinner! I would try anything on their menu.

Sorry for the hijack!

Oh !! It does look like the proper stuff in the one photo I found of it !!

Nice.

Though best pizzas I've ever had personally were in Bologna.

Slightly thicker pastry than those, but mamma mia the sheer quality of the bread and toppings !!

 

[CWBuff]

There's tons of yummy potato salad recipes without mayo!

potato salad without mayo - Google Search

Including German potato salad

Authentic German Potato Salad

Bacon gives this warm German potato salad recipe a boost of flavor. Vinegar and sugar in the dressing are the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

www.allrecipes.com

After reading Papa's Moveable Feast I became intrigued by Pommes de Terre à l’Huile (although was not as lucky to eat it at Brasserie Lipp). The recipe looked simple enough so I made some to share with members of our Literary Club (the inside joke was that we are a Food Club with a Reading Problem). I like them, but I can see how anyone with distaste for anything vinegary would be put off by the dish
Russian\Ukrainian cuisine has many potato salad variations. The one calle "Olivye" (aka Olivier salad in the West) is very much a staple at any family gatherings. Another one is probably as close as it can come to German salad, basically with Russian version of sauerkraut (much crispier, if you will and crunchier) and raw onion thinly sliced - all smothered in vegetable oil and a touch of vinegar

 

[CWBuff]

@Bumpa, I love grits with butter, salt/pepper...
forget the sugar!

Gotta go Lowcountry South to fully appreciate them, IMHO!
just throw some shrimp for a good measure (@rappahannock_rev's Prawns might do the trick nicely)

 

[Deleted member 43985]

This is how I feel about mayonnaise on anything.
View attachment 93597

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Gotta go Lowcountry South to fully appreciate them, IMHO!
just throw some shrimp for a good measure (@rappahannock_rev's Prawns might do the trick nicely)

That's where I got hooked on 'em!...gotta try them with the shrimp added, but I'll buy mine fully prepared by some machine or someone else.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

All that I know is that Vegemite is not used like peanut butter - less is better (and none even better )

Strangely enough Marmite, the UK version and predecessor of Vegemite, has brought out its own peanut butters - smooth and crunchy



And no, much as I like you people, I'm not prepared to "take one for the team" by trying it - a childhood scarred by attending school close to the Marmite factory has given me a life long aversion.

 

[henrythedog]

Vegetarians:

many years ago in Plano, Texas, I asked my waiter ‘where can I get a decent salad’.

He thought for a moment ...

‘you could try California’

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Vegetarians:

many years ago in Plano, Texas, I asked my waiter ‘where can I get a decent salad’.

He thought for a moment ...

‘you could try California’

I've been to Plano, Texas years ago as it was right next door to Wylie, where I lived at the time...I see why he said it.

 

[Icacos]

hmmmm eggs are in the vegetarian diet, though truth be told I can't eat them myself generally.

As to not offending, well, I have insane dietary restrictions basically forcing me into a 95% carnivore diet, and when there are certain foods that directly make you ill, then simply explaining that will most often not give offence.

Though I do intend to advise pilgrims to ensure sufficient protein and fat intake, though copious amounts at least of olive oil can potentially replace the latter.

As someone said recently on another thread, the truth will out: I am not allergic to eggs and I do not dislike them. In fact I eat them frequently ... prepared by me. The truth is that I am extremely squeamish about eggs not prepared by me, so I’m merely looking for a diplomatic way not to have eggs - prepared by someone else - appear on my plate.

 

[Flog]

Calda gallego...it's virtually impossible to get away from it in Galicia. I was quite partial to it, until a Spanish friend confided to me as I ordered it for lunch one cold day in Combarro:

"Don't you know, what's left in your bowl goes back in the pot to be served up tomorrow, and the same happens the next day, and on the fourth day it goes to the pigs?"
"Really? Even in the expensive, fancy places?"
"Especially the expensive, fancy places!" was her wry reply. Perhaps she was exaggerating a little, though she had worked in the bar and restaurant trade. While it hasn't totally put me off, I'm not as keen on it these days...

Edit: I realise, many will be appalled at this suggestion, I apologise in advance!

 

[Arn]

We called those "c rations" back then. "Semper Fi". Canned rations

To date myself, I can actually remember eating K rations. Not in the Marines, but the Boy Scouts. We couldn't keep the Lucky Strike cigarettes and I gave up the peaches for an extra chocolate bar.
Today, MREs are truly a banquet. That alone is a reason to join the forces.

 

[Rex]

Not a Camino dish but probably the only dish I've eaten just the once and would never be tempted to try again: SPAM fritters.

My older brother Peter had been on a school outing to the Imperial War Museum in London where they'd been told about wartime rations and SPAM fritters so we asked our Mother to make them - "You won't like them," she said but we kept on and on asking so eventually she made them for Peter, me and out younger sister.

She was, as usual, right.

Our eldest brother who had experienced wartime cooking commented "And what you need to realise is Mum's version was pretty good compared to anybody else's!"

I understand SPAM is considered a delicacy in Korea (GIs and the Korean War).

Spam is still a staple for many families here in Hawaii. A relic of WW II and all the military bases here. I tried it once at the local cafe’s “plate lunch” and won’t be doing it again. Greasy, gristly mess.

 

[Robo]

Red Ant patties in Cambodia.......
Actually quite nice

Crunchy

 

[CWBuff]

Well... as long as we are talking C-Rations, K-Rations and possibly other Military jargon dishes, dont rightly care if someone slaps a $1M in front of me - NO S-O(t)-S for me! Not on Camino, not anywhere not EVAH!
As God is my Witness even if I have to go hungry....

 

[Sixwheeler]

Arn,

Andouiette. A french ‘delicacy’ made of the lower colon of a pig. Apparently, like politics, it should smell a little like sh!t. It needs far better marketing to get me anywhere near it.

I’m not a fan of morcilla - especially the more rustic versions. A more well-minced black pudding can be a thing of beauty, thinly sliced and fried, but the RM will eat (and drink) practically anything so I wouldn’t start there for recommendations.

I had porcupine in Borneo once. the menu de jour was ‘whatever comes in arrow range’, so it was pot luck. Like eating a car tyre.

George W Bush was reputed to say to his mother that when he became President he was then entitled to refuse to eat broccoli

Ah, andouilette, the first time I encountered this was at a restaurant in Lyon when the guy at the next table was eating it and the stink nearly made me throw up. The second time was also in Lyon at the international marketing meeting of a major motor manufacturer with delegates from all the European countries, I have never seen so many people with noses wrinkled in horror pushing bits of it round their plates. My French colleague asked me what was wrong and I explained that in England (and apparently the rest of Europe) it would only be fed to our pets. My opinion has not changed.

 

[nycwalking]

Calda gallego...it's virtually impossible to get away from it in Galicia. I was quite partial to it, until a Spanish friend confided to me as I ordered it for lunch one cold day in Combarro:

"Don't you know, what's left in your bowl goes back in the pot to be served up tomorrow, and the same happens the next day, and on the fourth day it goes to the pigs?"
"Really? Even in the expensive, fancy places?"
"Especially the expensive, fancy places!" was her wry reply. Perhaps she was exaggerating a little, though she had worked in the bar and restaurant trade. While it hasn't totally put me off, I'm not as keen on it these days...

Edit: I realise, many will be appalled at this suggestion, I apologise in advance!

When I volunteered in Ponferrada 2002 as a hospitalera my fellow hospie spent all day making the Caldo for the pilgrims.

That night he served it to them.

He left the Caldo out all night on stove.

So, as part of my clean-up duties that morning I threw out the Caldo and cleaned the pot.

Suffice it to say he had a fit. Donde el Caldo, donde he asked. Apparently, the Caldo strengthens as it sits non-refrigerated over a day or so.

My culture says food left at room temperature over night is to be trashed not eaten.

He was a nice guy a good cook too.

That was an interesting lesson in cultural differences.

 

[jpflavin1]

When I was on the initial stages of the A.T. in Georgia, someone advised me as to the best way to eat "Grits". As I was from Canada, I wasn't familiar with this dish. He advised: "put lots of butter on it and then a little sugar, then more butter and then more sugar. Then you throw it out" When I tried it, without all of the butter and sugar, it wasn't too bad. However, I still remember the advice when I see a dish of grits.

Love Grits, though I do add Butter and Honey.

 

[jpflavin1]

To date myself, I can actually remember eating K rations. Not in the Marines, but the Boy Scouts. We couldn't keep the Lucky Strike cigarettes and I gave up the peaches for an extra chocolate bar.
Today, MREs are truly a banquet. That alone is a reason to join the forces.

The canned peaches were a treat.

 

[jpflavin1]

Well... as long as we are talking C-Rations, K-Rations and possibly other Military jargon dishes, dont rightly care if someone slaps a $1M in front of me - NO S-O(t)-S for me! Not on Camino, not anywhere not EVAH!
As God is my Witness even if I have to go hungry....

Are you kidding. S.O.S. is the best. It was on the breakfast menu every morning when I was stationed in N.C.

I am also willing to pocket the $1M.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Driving back from Spain into France one year our car broke down and we spent a week in Perpignan getting it repaired. On our last night we went to a restaurant we'd been recommended and had an amazing meal - wild mushrooms in a cream and white wine sauce wrapped in the lightest of flaky pastry to start; mignon de veau served with French beans, plain rice and a raisin sauce for me, an incredible confection of sea bass in an orange and caramel sauce (honestly) for my wife and a kind of hors d'oeuvre but of dessert pastries to follow. We praised the chef and he gave us a tour of his kitchen - all copper pans and not a food mixer in sight.

So far so good.

We headed up the west side of France and stopped the night near Chateaubriand. It was a feast day, the restaurants were crowded and the waiters didn't have time to linger and explain menus so when my wife asked "What's this" I winged it - ris-de-veau . . . well veau is veal, ris is rice and so perhaps something like I'd had the night before . . . And that's what she ordered.

What came up was:



but covered in a thick, creamy sauce. Gently raising a portion with a fork she wondered where the rice might be?

We caught the waiter's eye: "Monsieur, quelle partie de la vache est-ce?"

He looked at us, pointed to his neck and said "Ees ze glands!"

So now you know ris-de-veau are sweetbreads or the pancreas and not veal with rice (which is riz not ris in any case)

To her credit she lapped it up and said it tasted like chicken soused in cream. I had a rather tough poulet chasseur.

On our return to the UK we told a neighbour our story but he managed to top it: his brother-in-law had ordered a meal in France of rognons blancs figuring that rognons were kidneys. What he got were these:



Bull's testicles. (Yes, that's 700g of bull's balls with a finger in the corner - for scale one presumes)

Long post but worth it I think?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Well... as long as we are talking C-Rations, K-Rations and possibly other Military jargon dishes, dont rightly care if someone slaps a $1M in front of me - NO S-O(t)-S for me! Not on Camino, not anywhere not EVAH!
As God is my Witness even if I have to go hungry....

SOS for the confused.

 

[Flog]

When I volunteered in Ponferrada 2002 as a hospitalera my fellow hospie spent all day making the Caldo for the pilgrims.

That night he served it to them.

He
left the Caldo out all night on stove.

So, as part of my clean-up duties that morning I threw out the Caldo and cleaned the pot.

Suffice it to say he had a fit. Donde el Caldo, donde he asked. Apparently, the Caldo strengthens as it sits non-refrigerated over a day or so.

My culture says food left at room temperature over night is to be thrashed not eaten.

He was a nice guy a good cook too.

That was an interesting lesson in cultural differences.

Of course soups, stews and curries all taste better as flavours develop and blend and we are quite happy to leave a pot on the stove at home for a day or two. The thought of paying for the privilege of eating a stranger's leftover slurpings is quite something else though..

Mind you, it pales in comparison to some of the dishes mentioned so far....bulls balls, pigs colons, monkeys hands etc...

 

[Albertagirl]

Strangely enough Marmite, the UK version and predecessor of Vegemite, has brought out its own peanut butters - smooth and crunchy

View attachment 93643

And no, much as I like you people, I'm not prepared to "take one for the team" by trying it - a childhood scarred by attending school close to the Marmite factory has given me a life long aversion.

@Jeff Crawley
This jar reminds me of an occasion in the Rocky Mountains many years ago when I met a young couple who were running short of a variety of food, as was I. I cannot remember what they gave me, but I offered them a generous helping of my peanut butter. As no one had a spare container, they happily dumped it in on top of their Marmite, producing a Marmite/Peanut Butter mix which they considered quite edible. You may, of course, beg to differ.

 

[Arn]

Red Ant patties in Cambodia.......
Actually quite nice

Crunchy

Not if they are still alive! Their bites will blow me up in a heart-beat.

 

[Arn]

SOS for the confused.

Chipped beef on toast...with a white creamy sauce. Also called: “Shit on a shingle.”

 

[Arn]

@Jeff Crawley
This jar reminds me of an occasion in the Rocky Mountains many years ago when I met a young couple who were running short of a variety of food, as was I. I cannot remember what they gave me, but I offered them a generous helping of my peanut butter. As no one had a spare container, they happily dumped it in on top of their Marmite, producing a Marmite/Peanut Butter mix which they considered quite edible. You may, of course, beg to differ.

Marmite is healthy...i just don't like it. That said, being a survivalist, Marmite is chock full of vitamins and will do in a punch...er, pinch. Have enough booze and Marmite is rather nice.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Chipped beef on toast...with a white creamy sauce. Also called: “Shit on a shingle.”

I grew up on this and loved it. My mom called it "chipped beef on toast".

 

[Arn]

I think I said that!

I grew up on this and loved it. My mom called it "chipped beef on toast".

Then again, I may have been speaking with my mouth full

 

[Kathor1]

The thought of paying for the privilege of eating a stranger's leftover slurpings is quite something else though..

Does that mean that you actually believed the story that your Spanish friend told you ... that in every restaurant, even in the expensive fancy places, the soup that is left in a customer's bowl goes back into the pot and is served to the next client again??? I don't believe that for a second.

Just as I don't believe for a second the story of the takeaways in the UK serving cat meat, with the cats alive in cages and corpses in the bins or where the customer bit into a microchip that a vet then identified as belonging to someone's pet. That's a century old urban myth in the UK and the USA, and probably in a range of similar countries, and made it into a long article on Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cat-chinese-food/ . They even call this evergreen legend a classic example of xenophobia.

Not a legend and also not on a Spanish Camino but at least on one of the European Ways of Saint James to Santiago and I even took a photo to prove it: a family restaurant where you can savour horse steak and horse ribs. I didn't, though.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I think I said that!

Then again, I may have been speaking with my mouth full

You did! I was busy multi-tasking...I only saw the "other".

 

[Icacos]

On our return to the UK we told a neighbour our story but he managed to top it: his brother-in-law had ordered a meal in France of rognons blancs figuring that rognons were kidneys. What he got were these:

View attachment 93668

Bull's testicles. (Yes, that's 700g of bull's balls with a finger in the corner - for scale one presumes)

Eons ago I was served moose balls, but I was not impressed ... that I was served them, or with the dish.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

A nearby town to where I live has always had an annual "Turkey Testicle Festival", but I've never attended... preferring the annual "Corn Boil".

 

[Arn]

Eons ago I was served moose balls, but I was not impressed ... that I was served them, or with the dish.

We call them Rocky Mountain Oysters (bull, or Bison testicles)
Yum!

 

[Arn]

I do so enjoy watching Americans try Vegemite for the first time . I control my urge to give advice and just sit and watch.

Sadist!

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Sadist!

I know from experience that they are unlikely to take my advice anyway, so may as well enjoy it.

The only problem is when they pile it on as if it is peanut butter and then I am mentally calculating how much money is going to get thrown away when they gag on the first bite!

That is my cross to bear.

 

[OTH86]

Chipped beef on toast...with a white creamy sauce. Also called: “Shit on a shingle.”

Ahh, the latter is superb when prepared by the right person! Well, either name, I guess, just as long as the white sauce is done right!

 

[OTH86]

Agouti.
It is West African bush rat, dead ones are normally sold along the road but also some are farm raised in captivity. The are splayed and sun dried like beef jerky. Added to sauces and eaten over fufu, pounded yams, and eaten with the fingers. It is a specialty due to its limited availability and because it is meat the other popular protein is tiny sun dried fish. Both are very gamey tasting. Fufu is normally served with string, gooey gumbo.

Also in West Africa - a big dishpan of boiled goats' heads - only the body missing. Couldn't figure out how to eat it - fortunately...

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Also in West Africa - a big dishpan of boiled goats' heads - only the body missing. Couldn't figure out how to eat it - fortunately...

I was trying to avoid sidetracking yet another thread but others have done it for me, so here goes.

Fish Lips with Black Bean sauce in London in the early 1980's. Tasted okay but not much of it.

I wasn't game to try the buried, fertilised chicken eggs in Bangkok on the way home, I think that they are called 100 year old eggs. Apparently you suck them out of the shell using a straw.

 

[Arn]

That is just SO cruel!

You you cruel, but married to my south African boer Maisie, you better try it and like it. I failed miserably.

 

[Arn]

Does that mean that you actually believed the story that your Spanish friend told you ... that in every restaurant, even in the expensive fancy places, the soup that is left in a customer's bowl goes back into the pot and is served to the next client again??? I don't believe that for a second.

Just as I don't believe for a second the story of the takeaways in the UK serving cat meat, with the cats alive in cages and corpses in the bins or where the customer bit into a microchip that a vet then identified as belonging to someone's pet. That's a century old urban myth in the UK and the USA, and probably in a range of similar countries, and made it into a long article on Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cat-chinese-food/ . They even call this evergreen legend a classic example of xenophobia.

Not a legend and also not on a Spanish Camino but at least on one of the European Ways of Saint James to Santiago and I even took a photo to prove it: a family restaurant where you can savour horse steak and horse ribs. I didn't, though.

Eating horse is not new. Crusaders and many calvery caught deep in enemy territory are their horses. Meat is good! Our ancestors survived on meat. In the earliest days, when we didn't have the wherewithal to bring down large animals, we waited for the more successful predators to bring down the catch and we ate the leaving which were substantial.
Buen “ I'll have mine medium rare, please!” Camino
Arn

 

[Arn]

I know from experience that they are unlikely to take my advice anyway, so may as well enjoy it.

The only problem is when they pile it on as if it is peanut butter and then I am mentally calculating how much money is going to get thrown away when they gag on the first bite!

That is my cross to bear.

Someone will benefit. There are dumpster divers waiting out the back door.

 

[Arn]

Also in West Africa - a big dishpan of boiled goats' heads - only the body missing. Couldn't figure out how to eat it - fortunately...

Eating such in the desert of Jordan...slowly!
Consider the eyes grapes and you are good to go!

 

[OTH86]

Eating such in the desert of Jordan...slowly!
Consider the eyes grapes and you are good to go!

Oh, @Arn , EW...That's disgusting!

 

[OTH86]

...We headed up the west side of France and stopped the night near Chateaubriand. It was a feast day, the restaurants were crowded and the waiters didn't have time to linger and explain menus so when my wife asked "What's this" I winged it - ris-de-veau . . . well veau is veal, ris is rice and so perhaps something like I'd had the night before . . . And that's what she ordered.
...So now you know ris-de-veau are sweetbreads or the pancreas and not veal with rice (which is riz not ris in any case)

I did the same a bit further north in Caen some years ago. Wondering why the riz was misspelled

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

Same here - Pig's ears
Unknown where in Spain
In a bar over a beer, which was given to me by a drunk bartender who dared me to eat it...

 

[Flog]

Does that mean that you actually believed the story that your Spanish friend told you ... that in every restaurant, even in the expensive fancy places, the soup that is left in a customer's bowl goes back into the pot and is served to the next client again??? I don't believe that for a second.

I took my friend's remarks largely with a pinch of salt of course, but it was food for thought. While I doubt such unscrupulous practice is common, I'm sure it's something that occurs in every corner of the world, at every level of service, fancy or otherwise. As for domestic pets being seen hunted and found in Chinese take-away freezers, I'm certain that's mostly an urban myth too, though there have been some published court cases over the years, so these things aren't outside the realm of possibility.

I'm reminded of a funnier account of my sister's time working in the Netherlands as a 20 year old back in the 80's:
As an incentive to keep bored operators alert on a frozen vegetable production line, they were paid a small bonus for plucking out any frozen mice that were unlucky enough to be found on the conveyor, having been imortalized in the blast freeze process.

Oh, and I still occasionally go for caldo gallego...

 

[David61]

Eating horse is not new. Crusaders and many calvery caught deep in enemy territory are their horses.

It is also well recorded the Crusaders (and their opponents) fell to cannibalism on more than a few occasions.

 

[Icacos]

Eating horse is not new. Crusaders and many calvery caught deep in enemy territory are their horses.

My grandfather said he ate so much horse while fighting in WWI that he never wanted to see it again.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

As an incentive to keep bored operators alert on a frozen vegetable production line, they were paid a small bonus for plucking out any frozen mice that were unlucky enough to be found on the conveyor

This reminded me of a news story I saw many years ago reporting on mice droppings found in peanut butter, which I love. Although it did disturb me at the time, I had long since forgotten about it until now as getting older often has a way of mellowing us out.

 

[Arn]

It is also well recorded the Crusaders (and their opponents) fell to cannibalism on more than a few occasions.

Not to single out the Crusaders (a well chronicled case being the cannibalism committed around the siege of Ma‘arra in 1098); in order to survive many peoples around the world, when facing starvation will resort to cannibalism. Pioneers heading toward the West Coast of the US were crossing the Donner Pass in 1846-47 when snowed in, most recently, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in October 1972 where rescue took about 72 days.
That said, returning to the original thread, I have never developed a taste for Pulpo and I have tried it in Santiago hoping for a breakthrough, but alas no joy. It's much the same with Calamari. My grandmother was a superior Italian cook and her Calamari the standard. Again, when ordered at a restaurant there is a fifty-fifty chance the Calamari served will taste like rubber bands.

 

[Arn]

This reminded me of a news story I saw many years ago reporting on mice droppings found in peanut butter, which I love. Although it did disturb me at the time, I had long since forgotten about it until now as getting older often has a way of mellowing us out.

HA, and I thought I was eating "crunchy" style peanut butter.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

HA, and I thought I was eating "crunchy" style peanut butter.

I only like crunchy style...apparently I have a taste for mouse droppings as much as the nuts.

 

[Arn]

I only like crunchy style...apparently I have a taste for mouse droppings as much as the nuts.

Mouse nuts! OOPS, sorry Mods. Not really.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Mouse nuts! OOPS, sorry Mods. Not really.

I think this thread has gone "off piste" a bit by many of us!

 

[oursonpolaire]

With the help of Google, I managed to figure out what zamburiñas, cordoniz, and robadello are, provided that the latter is the same as rodaballo.

I wonder whether I had zamburiñas once when I had ordered something as the entrée of a cheapo pilgrim's menu that claimed to be vieira. Big disappointment. What I got was not what I had expected to see and taste. Tiny things, not larger than a thumbnail and looking as if they had been cut off the foot of a pale mushroom. They were hiding in a thick pale flour based sauce. Not at all the delicious coquilles Saint-Jacques that I had expected.

In addition, when I had finished, they took away the shell in which the concoction had been served. Not that I needed it but still.

In Fromista, El Apostol. I have no issue with the restaurant, I ate there several times, and I enjoyed it on the whole. I would go there again with a crowd of like-minded pilgrims. Afterwards I wondered whether it was too far away from the sea or just what you get when you order a three-course meal containing vieiras for such a low price .

IT was rodaballo. Serves me right for trying to use food terminology in another language and relying entirely on my memory. Either way it was very good. I recall the expression on my English fellow-pilgrims' faces when I wondered aloud what it was that I had ordered.

I have only had zamburiñas on the del Norte, and would not be inclined to them on the pilgrims' menu, but that's just me and shellfish.

 

[Bumpa]

We call them Rocky Mountain Oysters (bull, or Bison testicles)
Yum!

On the prairies of western Canada they are call "prairie oysters" Quite a delicacy at the annual round up and branding sessions.

 

[Bumpa]

This reminded me of a news story I saw many years ago reporting on mice droppings found in peanut butter, which I love. Although it did disturb me at the time, I had long since forgotten about it until now as getting older often has a way of mellowing us out.

Was it the mice droppings or the peanut butter you loved?

 

[Moorwalker]

I'm not squeamish about food and there are very few things I wouldn't try. I ate my way around Japan a couple of years ago and that was certainly an experience! There are a few things I really dislike though, and vinegar is one of those so I avoid pickles.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

There are a few things I really dislike though, and vinegar is one of those so I avoid pickles.

Best avoid Spain's sidra natural then. Although I prefer sweet cider I liked the sidra. I would have had it more often than I did except I had to put up with Peg's looks and expressions of disgust.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Best avoid Spain's sidra natural then. Although I prefer sweet cider I liked the sidra. I would have had it more often than I did except I had to put up with Peg's looks and expressions of disgust.

I had it a few times on the Primitivo, but I was not a fan. I did enjoy watching the "pouring" of it however.

 

[David61]

mice droppings found in peanut butter,

There are well established allowances of animal contamination in all processed foods in the Western world, they vary from country to country. It would be almost impossible to stop it and the amount of food wasted if we reacted to it would be more than alarming. Given the number of Horreos there are across Northern Spain I suspect it is a problem they have wrestled with for centuries.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

I've loved Caldo Gallego deeply, passionately, ever since I first tasted it.... Which is why, enduring a long lay-over in October 2019, I went to a grocery store near the airport in Madrid Barajas and bought several cans of Caldo Gallego to take home with me to the States... BAD MOVE! Awful, awful, awful! ... It's absolutely nothing like the life-enhancing stuff you get at the end of a frosty day's climb up to O Cebreiro....

(The cheap Spanish scotch wasn't much good either! But I drank it! )

 

[P Rat]

Food: Stewed rooster combs

Why: It was a bowl of a dozen rooster combs.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Hahaha I can't remember! I can picture the Albergue and the village in my mind but I forget where I was! It was in February 2018 - so on the Via de la Plata probably.

Does it have a local name? unknown

What motivated you to try it? It was the set pilgrim meal at the only bar in town. Plus I had a nice little jug of red wine to accompany it!

Have you changed your mind now? It was alright, but I'd rather order something else on the menu!

View attachment 93546

Same with us...along the VDLP too. We thought it was some sort of pasta until the barman explained what it was. No language barrier there, but peer pressure from all the locals watching us...and they thought it hilarious when we politely declined after a bite. Obviously before Covid as one of the patrons shared his bowl with us

 

[Kanga]

Tripe is a dish I've stayed away from.

Take me to Asturias, and a fabulous little bar on the Camino del Norte. Drinks ordered, and the free little dish of "something" arrived, delicious!!! What was it? Callos in a rich tomato sauce.

 

[David Tallan]

I had no challenges or reservations with trying the more unusual foots that I was introduced to in Spain. But while on Camino, I found myself coming again and again into contact with some food and drink that I avoid here at home:

Food: Olives

Why: I've never liked them since I was a child. I'm told they are an acquired taste but I never pushed through to acquire it.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: in many places, often served with wine (see below)

Does it have a local name? Aceitunas

What motivated you to try it? They were there. Free nutrition. Other people like them. Perhaps I could acquire the taste.

Have you changed your mind now? I have moved myself from dislike to neutral. I can't say I enjoythem, but I no longer find them so distasteful.

To move to the drinks

Drink: Wine

Why: I've never liked wine (or beer or most forms of alcohol)

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Many places. Sometimes included with the menu peregrino, sometimes on a tapas crawl to get the tapas.

Does it have a local name? Vino

What motivated you to try it? I was hoping that it would be an acquired taste and I would come to enjoy it.

Have you changed your mind now? Not really.

and finally

Drink: Coffee

Why: I've never liked coffee. When I was an undergrad, I would drink tea for the caffeine to see me through all-nighters.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Everywhere

Does it have a local name? Cafe con leche

What motivated you to try it? Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it and finding it helped.

Have you changed your mind now? Yes and no. I really enjoy the cafe con leches while I was on camino, but have not taken up coffee drinking upon my return home. It remains a camino thing.

 

[David Tallan]

As someone said recently on another thread, the truth will out: I am not allergic to eggs and I do not dislike them. In fact I eat them frequently ... prepared by me. The truth is that I am extremely squeamish about eggs not prepared by me, so I’m merely looking for a diplomatic way not to have eggs - prepared by someone else - appear on my plate.

The issue to watch out for then is that saying you are allergic to eggs may not only prevent you from seeing eggs on your plate, it may also prevent you from seeing other fine foods that happen to have eggs as an ingredient (for example, many cakes). Eggs are hidden in a lot of things that you might not object to.

 

[Turga]

I had no challenges or reservations with trying the more unusual foots that I was introduced to in Spain. But while on Camino, I found myself coming again and again into contact with some food and drink that I avoid here at home:

Food: Olives

Why: I've never liked them since I was a child. I'm told they are an acquired taste but I never pushed through to acquire it.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: in many places, often served with wine (see below)

Does it have a local name? Aceitunas

What motivated you to try it? They were there. Free nutrition. Other people like them. Perhaps I could acquire the taste.

Have you changed your mind now? I have moved myself from dislike to neutral. I can't say I enjoythem, but I no longer find them so distasteful.

To move to the drinks

Drink: Wine

Why: I've never liked wine (or beer or most forms of alcohol)

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Many places. Sometimes included with the menu peregrino, sometimes on a tapas crawl to get the tapas.

Does it have a local name? Vino

What motivated you to try it? I was hoping that it would be an acquired taste and I would come to enjoy it.

Have you changed your mind now? Not really.

and finally

Drink: Coffee

Why: I've never liked coffee. When I was an undergrad, I would drink tea for the caffeine to see me through all-nighters.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Everywhere

Does it have a local name? Cafe con leche

What motivated you to try it? Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it and finding it helped.

Have you changed your mind now? Yes and no. I really enjoy the cafe con leches while I was on camino, but have not taken up coffee drinking upon my return home. It remains a camino thing.

Oh, what diversity! I love everything you dislike. Ojalá, one day we could share a pilgrim’s menu and we could both get the best of it (with a few additions)

 

[Icacos]

The issue to watch out for then is that saying you are allergic to eggs may not only prevent you from seeing eggs on your plate, it may also prevent you from seeing other fine foods that happen to have eggs as an ingredient (for example, many cakes). Eggs are hidden in a lot of things that you might not object to.

Well, I know someone who does have a serious allergy to eggs, but he has no problem with eggs baked into a cake, so that should not be a problem for me. As to other dishes, I can tell you that, on camino, I had an awful lot of trouble with tortillas. Too bad, because they really were quite delicious, and oftentimes the most readily available food for me to eat.

Now, I have to ask, very respectfully, if we can stop talking about eggs.

 

[jpflavin1]

Not to single out the Crusaders (a well chronicled case being the cannibalism committed around the siege of Ma‘arra in 1098); in order to survive many peoples around the world, when facing starvation will resort to cannibalism. Pioneers heading toward the West Coast of the US were crossing the Donner Pass in 1846-47 when snowed in, most recently, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in October 1972 where rescue took about 72 days.
That said, returning to the original thread, I have never developed a taste for Pulpo and I have tried it in Santiago hoping for a breakthrough, but alas no joy. It's much the same with Calamari. My grandmother was a superior Italian cook and her Calamari the standard. Again, when ordered at a restaurant there is a fifty-fifty chance the Calamari served will taste like rubber bands.

There is a greek restaurant in Chicago "Santorini's" that sells grilled octopus. Delicious and not chewy at all.

 

[Arn]

There is a greek restaurant in Chicago "Santorini's" that sells grilled octopus. Delicious and not chewy at all.

I grew up in Chicago, but never went to that restaurant. Is that the one in Adams?
I usually go back for weddings and funerals. Sadly, more funerals lately.

 

[jpflavin1]

I grew up in Chicago, but never went to that restaurant. Is that the one in Adams?
I usually go back for weddings and funerals. Sadly, more funerals lately.

Yes, Adams and Halsted.

 

[dailycamino]

Well, should you ever visit the Philippines? Be sure to give a miss to 'balut', even though it hits a mid-point on your 'evolutionary' criterion.

I leave the research to you.

Trust me, there's not enough Scotch to get that down easily.

B

Why did you do that to me!?!? lol

 

[truthseeker]

Peppers (and mushrooms). I don't eat them unless they are cut up so small it is too much trouble to move them to Peg's plate. I've quit eating if they are hot peppers ("But Rick, I only put in one fifth the amount that was in the recipe!"). I've only put black pepper on fried eggs and I haven't done that recently. That "taste", that is nature's way of saying "Don't eat me!!!".

Well, despite my habitual distaste for the things, on my last trip to Spain I ordered some Padron peppers. And I ate them. And I survived (because I didn't get any of the "surprise!" ones). I also reported my daring to @VNwalking who raves about them. Now I can go back to avoiding them.

Padron peppers! The best!