A companion thread to Food that's nasty no matter how you look at it... (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=788561) :)

When it comes to bravery in trying new food, on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being "Picky is the new black!" and 10 being "I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first!"), I'm probably a -40. Mostly because I don't like to eat things that I think look ugly.

All the same, from time to time I do dare to try something new, as unappetizing as such things typically look to me. Usually, I regret the experience, but from time to time I am surprised.

In my (albeit limited) history of trying ugly food, these are the ones that surprised me by being yummy (in chronological order of being tasted):
- chocolate pudding
- baklava
- hummous
- guacamole
- creme brulee

Do you have any nasty-looking-foods-that-taste-yummy to share?

Banana pudding can look like a gooey mess, but it is quite yummy.

Hot & sour soup looks like sewage but I like it. ;)

Interesting, I like all of the foods mentioned so far, but never considered any of them to be nasty looking.

escargots and calamari.

Cholent!

Interesting, I like all of the foods mentioned so far, but never considered any of them to be nasty looking.

You should read the other thread... I have a very low threshold for what counts as ugly when it comes to food!! :)

No one's mentioned chicken feet? :D

I really love squid. I could eat squid three meals a day (not just calamari rings, though I will eat them if they are put in front of me). For some reason, some people don't like the way it looks.

And then there's tripe. Though I think by this point I am getting out of yummy and into ways-to-demonstrate-my-eating-bravado.

I have a good friend from HKG with whom I used to work in MSN. Occasionally assorted members of his family would come over for a visit, and we'd go to Chicago Chinatown for dim sum. He and I would compete to eat the weirdest stuff available, while my wife, his mom and his sister would look on in amazement--I think what I think is "yummy" is slightly influenced by my need to demonstrate what I am willing to try. :D

Octopus

Gotta say that most Indian food I've had looks pretty unappetizing. Just goes to show that looks aren't everything.

Most hearty soups wouldn't win beauty contests, either. UFOs floating in thick, viscous liquids, ugh.

Fish Tea

Frog legs

Percebes (a tube-like barnacle in the north of Spain)

Really, any arthropod crustacean if you think of their similarity to insects and reflect on how you feel about eating bugs.

Haggis.

Stilton

Coagulated mammary gland juice laced with bacteria and threaded with fungal mold.

In fact most fermented foods, including miso or soy sauce - fermented soy beans or grains.

Fish sauce (including Worcestershire Sauce) - best not to think about it at all.

As I enjoy fish sauce, this means that fermented/rotted fish heads are very much a part of my everyday menu.

---
Just a few more days before I'm back in Spain and eating chipirones
(http://www.elalmanaque.com/TURISMO/javea/calamar-relleno.jpg) http://www.mercadocalabajio.com/2007/03/al-rico-chipiron.html

Percebes (http://blog.eitb.com/eguraldiblog/media/image_2089_large.jpg) are delicious! But too pricey for me (and a treat I reserve for when I'm in the North of Spain)

Prawn brains.

2nd on the guac.

Maryland crabs :)

I'd have to say Hot and Sour soup as well. Looks revolting but tates delicious :)

Cheers,

A monkfish is one of the nastiest looking creatures out there. But they call it "the Poor Man's Lobster" for good reason.

Wow... my votes for chocolate pudding and creme brulee are looking kind of stupid next to some of the things that others have listed here. :o

I was totally bumping the thread to say that I think oatmeal raisin cookies look yucky but they taste okay. But now I see that you people are on a completely different playing field... .

oh wait!!

I have something that I think is yummy, but that most people will think looks nasty: vegan "ham-style" lunch meat!!

It is super tasty when paired with soy-based swiss cheese and alfalfa sprouts on multi-grain bread. When I used to make this kind of sandwich and bring it to work with me in CT, my teammates would make me eat alone. :(

Frog Legs.

Frog Legs.

Frog legs are indeed delicious. I have participated in a frog hunt (many, many years ago) and it's not really something I care to repeat, though.

Hot & sour soup looks like sewage but I like it. ;)

Agreed. Def. one of my fave soups, along with chicken noodle. Surprisingly enough, VERY easy to make. It's my goto soup when I'm in a pinch and don't feel like laboring too much over a stove

Add to the list various Indian/Pakistani specialties:
-bihari kabab... honestly looks like a steaming pile of sh!t but tastes like heaven
-seekh kabab...looks like a giant turd
:D

oh wait!!

I have something that I think is yummy, but that most people will think looks nasty: vegan "ham-style" lunch meat!!

It is super tasty when paired with soy-based swiss cheese and alfalfa sprouts on multi-grain bread. When I used to make this kind of sandwich and bring it to work with me in CT, my teammates would make me eat alone. :(

Your teammates were wise people. (I avoid soy protein-based "meatlike" products--there's some evidence, however sketchy, of a link to MS.)

Guacamole and calamari (not together of course! :D )

Green Machine

Frog legs are good - so is alligator tail.

Tongue is pretty good, especially the smoked variety.

Guacamole is amazing but I wouldn't call it nasty at all. Especially if you make it yourself (super easy to make if you get good avocados).

Caviar, but I really don't like it that much. Black is better than red though (also costs quite a bit more).

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Saag or Palak Paneer, a green that doesn't seem to occur in nature, but is un-naturally delicious.

Green Machine
Pardon my ignorance but perhaps someone can elaborate on this. I tried searching on wikipedia and the closest I can find relating to food/drink is "A Fruit Juice by Naked Juice". Don't know if this is what it is and neither have I tried that Juice before.

squid tentacles, cooked with its own ink. looked really nasty but was surprisingly tasty.

Pardon my ignorance but perhaps someone can elaborate on this. I tried searching on wikipedia and the closest I can find relating to food/drink is "A Fruit Juice by Naked Juice". Don't know if this is what it is and neither have I tried that Juice before.

This is indeed "Green Machine". It kind of looks like an algae slurpy, but tastes delicious. Kind of a mango/apple smoothie.

Chris

Saag or Palak Paneer, a green that doesn't seem to occur in nature, but is un-naturally delicious.

I agree with u on that...palak peneer..it loooks Yucky...but tastes damn great with the cottage cheese in it...and goe well with NAAN

Guacamole and calamari (not together of course! :D )

I don't know about that.

Calamares a la romana (battered and deep fried squid rings) with a guacamole 'dip' sounds very good to me.

I'll probably give it a try (except I won't make real guacamole, I, shamefully, can't get over my aversion to cilantro)

I agree with u on that...palak peneer..it loooks Yucky...but tastes damn great with the cottage cheese in it...and goe well with NAAN

For me, it is palak paneer and poori; for both taste and alliteration.

oh wait!!

I have something that I think is yummy, but that most people will think looks nasty: vegan "ham-style" lunch meat!!

It is super tasty when paired with soy-based swiss cheese and alfalfa sprouts on multi-grain bread. When I used to make this kind of sandwich and bring it to work with me in CT, my teammates would make me eat alone. :(

YECH! ;)

Made me think of Spam ... does it come in a can?

Mole sauce...it's brown liquid, need I say more? :D

YECH! ;)

Made me think of Spam ... does it come in a can?

No, it comes in slices and is packaged like baloney and the like. I was suspicious of it for years, but was tired of eating PBJs when I wanted a sandwich. I don't remember how I summoned my courage, but I was shocked when I realized that vegan ham was not only edible, but tasty!

In fairness, the soy cheese and sprouts were a bit much. I like vegan ham better with real swiss cheese and no sprouts. But man, I miss this stuff. No vegan ham here (perhaps it is offensive to vegan Muslims?).

I agree with u on that...palak peneer..it loooks Yucky...but tastes damn great with the cottage cheese in it...and goe well with NAAN

the cottage cheese is the paneer ;)

For me, it is palak paneer and poori; for both taste and alliteration.

haha, I am eating palak with parathas these days! :)

haha, I am eating palak with parathas these days! :)

Don't forget pakoras. And pita bread and pineapple with Pepsi while you're at it.

(I've got more!)

Fish head curry! :p
Chili Crab! :D
Shark fin soup! ^^^

Yummmmmm...

Mole sauce...it's brown liquid, need I say more? :D

You have only to say "mole sauce" to make me salivate, but yes, it is ugly (so is chocolate syrup, for that matter).

yes on mole
yes on chocolate syrup (and most things chocolate, actually)
and also,
(a big) yes on hummus

Is it a common thing to confuse Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal (tasty) with cat food (not so tasty)? We had a bowl of C.O.B. sitting out at home, for snacking purposes, and one of our friends asked, "why is there cat food sitting on the kitchen table?"

Oh, and hummus, though frequently tasty, can look like cat yack if presented carelessly.

My mother made this dish that was called something fancy like "Top of the stove scalloped potatoes". The idea was simple enough, boil up some potatoes carrots and onions in milk, add cheeze (Z used on purpose) add some saltines to thicken and serve. The reality was that there was something basically wrong with the recipe. The milk always curdled and boiled over, and the bottom of the pot usually burned leaving scorched bits mixed through the entire mixture when stirred. The whole mess turned out to look like something that my brother-in-law christened "pig slop", which is fairly accurate.

All that having been said, while I've eaten in my share of Michelin starred restaurants, good old pig slop is one of tastiest things I've eaten and my brother and sisters all agree. No one else - including spouses and children - will touch the stuff. Mrs. Milepig even has a saying "lips that touch pig slop will never touch mine." I need to make a batch in secret when I'm batching it, but somehow Mrs. M. finds out, no matter how carefully I dispose of the evidence.

vegemite!