Well, would you give Roasted Guinea Pig a try? If somebody else made it? If it looked like that? . . . (if you were really, really drunk?)

Everybody has a Culinary Comfort Zone, your CCZ if you will. Some of us are adventuresome, some of us are very conservitive ‘meat n’ taters’ kinda people. And the entire CCZ revolves around us, protecting us from “weird food”.

Weird food, some people will eat it, some people won’t. I’m one of the people who will, my wife is a “won’t”. My brother Joe, (yeah, the fruitcake guy) definitely a “will”.

What constitutes a food as being “weird” or “too weird”?

In my humble opinion (what? yeah, humble!) it’s anything out of the ‘norm’ of which you are use to. Beef, pork, chicken all in their assorted cuts that an American will find in a regular grocery’s meat section – NOT weird. There are though, some items there one might consider weird. Chicken livers, “not”. Beef tongue, “yeah”

What brought this question to mind? Well, a friend of mine at work, Don, has a new client in L.A. This new client is a butcher who specializes in meat for the diverse cultures of the area. One of the meats he sells is horse. Yes, horse meat. Dons new customer cooked up some in patties for him to sample, and Don said it was ‘outstanding!’ He is going back over this weekend and asked if I wanted him to bring me some back. I mulled that over a bit and finally told him “yeah, bring me some”. That night I asked my wife Debbie about it. She’s horrified at the thought of even having it in the house! Why? “What do you mean ‘why?’ !!! I LOVE horses, they’re my favorite animal in the world! I could no more eat horse then I could eat  Rockie!!!”

Rockie’s our dog. . . yeah, I’ve tried dog before.

Hey, I was in the Navy, in the Philippines, I was drunk, it was an open air market, I didn’t know it was dog until I was half way through it! It was shish kabob style, grilled over an open fire. It was very tasty, Hey I’m sorry! (seriously, very tasty). But honestly, after I found out it was dog, I did pause a bit before finishing the rest.

If you’ve ever watched “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” then you know where I’m coming from here. The world is teeming with (what we would consider) weird foods. And Andrew, he’ll eat anything! Me, well. . . I dunno. . . yeah, maybe . . . if I’m drunk enough I guess. . .

Here’s a list of weird stuff I’ve eaten: The weirdest – Dog. Beef tongue. Beef  ’sweet breads’ (thymus gland – fantastic!). Mountain oysters. I dunno, are these weird? Snails, octopus, or brains?

So come this Monday, I’ll have some horse meat to cook up and try.  I’m planning on ‘burgers on the grill’ with it.

I would say I have a pretty big CCZ when it comes to trying something weird, what about you? Ever eat fried bugs of any sort? How bout snake or ostrich? “Vegimite”? There are several regular visitors here that I know are world travelers. . . Tell us something weird you’ve eaten or seen eaten. . . what’s YOUR Culinary Comfort Zone??? – (would you try horse meat?)

YOUR COMMENTS:

Marty C. says – The G.Pig in that photo? yeah, I would try it. But you’d have to cut the head off, yeah, not with the teeth and the eye’s. I think I’d have to be a little drunk too! I’m pretty adventuresome I think. Horse meat? No.

Debbie C. says – Dear husband, I take offence to you calling me a “won’t”. You know darn good and well that I’m a “will”. I will try “just about” anything – including that Grilled Guinea Pig. Horse, dog and cat fall into that ‘just about’ category. It’s a pet/family member thing. Not in a million years would eat one of those 3!

Donny says – THATS GROSE!YER GROSE! REGULER MEAT AND TATERS RULES!

Eric W. says – I lived in Australia for about a year. I tried just about everything there that would be considered weird by American standards. Vegemite? Yes, tried it and liked it a lot. It’s as common there as catsup is here. It’s seaweed paste by the way. And kangaroo, had it countless of times while there. Very good, liked it a lot. Guinea Pig and Horse Meat? No problem, bring it on! I have a gargantuan CCZ. You want truly weird? The orient is know for it’s “100 year old eggs”. Not only weird, but completely disgusting! I did manage ONE bite though – it was awful!

Rachel M. says – we ate a lot of weird stuff living in China. I know my brother tried the duck brains in Beijing once, and Rheanna and Dad ate the scorpions we were offered. Im sure ive eated weirder than ive even realized, lol. There way definiely no end to the cow tendons and spicy stomach lining, and the baby chickens they tried to always make us eat, like it was their version of veal or something (the texture was way too soft, kinda creepy)
Ive heard that horse is fantastic! i would definitely try it if it was prepared for me. I wouldnt have the first clue how to cook it up. If you think about it we only eat slow moving, easy to catch animals mostly. I bet all the fast ones are way tastier:) LMAO, hey, chickens are pretty hard to catch!
Ill pretty much try anything if someone before me tells me its tasty, but i wont try it just for the sake of trying….

Dee L. says – I’m definetly a “won’t”. I’m a very picky eater. The weirdest thing I’ve eaten is lobster, calamari, and Aunt Peggy’s catfish stew, YUCK! (vile!) LOVE lobster, the calamari was just ok. I’m with Deb on the horse,dog,cat or guinea pig, no way.

8 Responses to “What is your Culinary Comfort Zone?”