The Ominivore’s One Hundred – What Will You Eat?

And will you still love me after you realize what I’ve eaten *grin*?  Yes, that includes roadkill…

I discovered this eye-opening list (I didn’t realize I was so carnivorous) via Mark Salinas’ helpful and super-motivational fitness blog and A Life Less Sweet (which makes me cry, BUT IN A GOOD WAY!  Wow, do I eat a lot of high-fructose corn syrup!?!).  Check out Mark and Cathy’s personal food adventures and find the original list at Very Good Taste.

Below, check out the interesting foods I’ve sampled (and the one I nominated).  Bold items are foods I’ve eaten, crossed-out foods are just going to have to find someone braver to sample them.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea – I’ve also made yarrow tea (good for colds).
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding – There is an Irish restaurant at the Inner Harbor (Baltimore) that has a sample plate of all different sausages.
7. Cheese fondue – I have at least six fondue pots!  Cheese and bread are two of my favorite things, which is why I have to do 10 mile runs.
8. Carp – I actually don’t think I’ve had carp, and it might be like eating your best friend’s overgrown goldfish (which lived in the toilet when its bowl was being cleaned).
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush – I love eggplant!
11. Calamari – One of my favorites.
12. Pho - It seems like there is a Pho restaurant ever mile in the urban sprawl surrounding D.C. and for some reason they are all named Pho fill-in-a-random-two-digit-number (aka Pho 89, Pho 19, Pho whatever-number-isn’t-taken-at-the-incorporation-office).
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich – A definite comfort food and favorite for me.
14. Aloo gobi – I love Indian food though I’m not a huge curry fan.
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes – I’ve had pear, blackberry, watermelon, and blueberry (not all at once though!).
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes – I grow these at the family farm.
22. Fresh wild berries – Blackberries, raspberries and cranberries (curtesy of the bogs of New York)
23. Foie gras – I’d try it but would prefer foie gras that wasn’t from force-fed geese.
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese – Okay, I just can’t do brains (or eyeballs a la Octopussy, if you want to know)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper – Also grown on the farm.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters – Slimey, but I have had them as I live by the Chesapeake Bay.
29. Baklava – So yummy!
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl – Another one of my all time favorites.
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut – I’ve had it, but I really don’t care for salty foods.
35. Root beer float – The programmer loves these.  Me, not so much, my head just doesn’t understand mixing dairy and soda.
36. Cognac with a big fat cigar – I like cognac but definitely can’t do the cigar *bleck*.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects – This one is probably a never gonna happen, at least not consciously.  One of my sister’s loves to tell me (she’s a health professional) that I probably eat bugs in my sleep, but this just may be a rumor she likes to torture me with.  I have eaten gnats and other flying insects that have intersected with my gaping mouth while I run…but it’s never a pleasure (on either of our parts).
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut – Had one, but yick, are they gross.
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear – Grow these on the farm, too.
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal – Unfortunately, I became addicted to MacDonald’s during graduate school, which is why I had 40 pounds to shed once I got my Masters.
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini - Not my favorite martini, but definitely had it.
58. Beer above 8% ABV – I’ve also had my beer in a variety of interesting fruit flavors and the programmer is a connesuir of microbrews.
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips – Yum!
61. S’mores – Another fave of the programmer’s.
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin – As in clay? I have had Pepto Bismal before…and eaten other varieties of dirt (though not on purpose).
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain – So delicious.
70. Chitterlings or andouillette – I don’t think I could intentionally eat these.
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini - I adore cavier.  Popping the eggs in my mouth is so much fun but totally grosses out the programmer.  More for me!
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost – Have had a variety of goat cheeses but not this particular kind.
75. Roadkill – Of the venison variety.
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail – So yummy!
79. Lapsang souchong - My mom, her sisters, and some of my sisters are tea fanatics, so I’ve had more kinds than I can remember and it served a variety of ways.
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum – Thai food is another of my ultimate favorites.  I can make an entire meal out of this soup and be very content.
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare - One of my less favorite game meats.  Does not taste just like chicken though that’s what my mother tried to tell me.  Much prefer when the hunter doesn’t bag dinner and we have Welsh Rarebit.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers – Violets and squash blossoms.
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab – Another staple here in the Chesapeake Bay region.
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor – I’ll definitely try this since I have a not-so-secret love affair with french cuisine, but I actually don’t like lobster.  I know, it’s a crime.
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee – Not a coffee drinker so this will be wasted on me, but I’ll try it anyway!
100. Snake – Very light and tasty.

I realize that a lot of the items on this list are regional specialties, so with that in mind I want to nominate another food…101 has a nice ring, right?  My nomination (since it is convention time):

101.  Scrapple

What is scrapple, you ask?

You really don’t want to know…I don’t want to know the specifics either.  I grew up with this Eastern Shore breakfast staple, and I still belly up to the counter with my plate when I’m at my parent’s house for brunch.  It’s crispy, it’s crunchy, it’s unidentifiable.  Most people eat it with ketchup, I actually prefer mine with syrup (hey, I like sugar with my fat!).

Now, try the list yourself (and why not nominate your own special and probably weird food, too?):

1. Copy the list into your blog, including these instructions.
2. Bold all items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.