Question of the Week

What's the most unusual food you've ever eaten and enjoyed?

If somebody would have told me years ago I would like smoked eel, I would have told them they were crazy. I now enjoy Unagi (the Japanese sushi name) for what I still think is quite unusual and I love it. I just tell myself I'm eating an ocean fish - eels still seem sort of creepy to me. Chick Jana

Here are some of the unusual foods that I have tasted but have not liked at all: liver balls (in Germany), boiled mutton (in Norway), snails -- still alive (in France). Something I have eaten here which is a little unusual but which I like a lot is: gnocchi -- a type of pasta served in many Italian restaurants with a variety of sauces which continues to "grow" after it is in your stomach. Chick Jeanette

I gotta go with Escargot... I love it! Although, the first time I had it, I was in France living with a French family and they brought me into the garage to show me what was for dinner. I was handed a coffee can full of live snails crawling around! You don't think they picked them out of the garden do you??? Anyway, they were awesome! Actually, I ate a lot of funky things that summer including pigs knuckles (so not good!) and frog's legs. In fact we had to fish for the frogs ourselves, then I watched the family clean them. I freaked out watching the heads and forearms trying to hop around after they'd had their legs cut off. Believe it or not, though, they did taste like chicken! (Hope I didn't gross anyone out. Proves when you're in a foreign country and don't speak a lot of the language AND you're hungry, you'll eat about anything!) Chick Cheryl

I'd have to say chicken gizzards. True story. My mom would always fry up the gizzards and the liver when she made the best fried chicken in town, and we would all fight over who got to eat the gizzard. Come to think of it... what exactly is a gizzard anyway? Chick Megan

The most unusual food I have ever eaten was in Japan. We dipped our meat in raw eggs and swallowed it -- not an easy thing to do for us Norwegians that like the meat cooked!! Chick Julie

When I lived in Spain, I ate so many different things, and I really liked all of them. Pulpo al Gallego, which is octopus covered in a vinaigrette, cow brains and testicles and murcillo, which is blood sausage. YUM! Chick Kristin

I am a very cautious eater, no sense of adventure here in this Chick. I would sooner take a pill for my nutritional needs each day but as that is not an option, I eat what I know. This proved to be a particular challenge when I worked on the Nagano Olympics and made a trip each month to Japan -- and not just Tokyo -- but smaller cities such as Nagano and Karuizawa. I did find a favorite in tempura which is seafood and vegetables deep friend in tempura batter. Besides, I know then that my food was cooked, always important to me. Chick Susie

Beef jerky. kat

Fresh Sea Cucumber, caught off a 'Biology Lab' research vessel. The captain caught and cooked it for us and it was surprisingly tasty. Jakki

That one is easy. It was tripe, the lining of a cow's stomach. I grew up with Italian grandparents that were the best cooks ever. They could make anything taste good. Kinnon

Thyroid gland & pickled tongue (Argentinean grill) Elaine

Green Tea Ice Cream at a Sushi Bar in NYC... YUM! Patricia