A question about Squidoo and Fluther prompts me to ask, "Did you know that people eat Jellyfish?

I did, I love Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern’s shows. I’d try it, I’d try most anything really though. The stuff that creeps me out is the bugs and sea cucumbers, I’d eat possum before those…lol

I’d give it a try. Gotta be better than urchin.

No and no. I don’t like any seafood. It is all nasty to me. I can’t imagine that jellyfish would taste any better than the rest of it.

Since Fluther contributors are referred to as “Jellyfish” or “Jellies”, I only have one comment.

Eat me.

Help! They’re coming! The net it chasing after me!

I’d give it a shot. Why not, we don’t get extra credit for the risks we haven’t taken or the things we haven’t tried.

@zenvelo Gotta be better than urchin.

I visited a sushi place where a few menu items, including urchin, were labeled “challenging”.

I didn’t try it. I wouldn’t go for jellyfish, either.

I have eaten it before when I visited China. They kind of looked and tasted like very salty rice noodles that were slightly crunchy. We all loved them and asked the person who waited on us what they were—we thought they were some kind of noodle. Many people blanched when they found out they were jellyfish. I was all.. pass em down here! I don’t care.

I saw some for sale in the Asian grocery near my house. I was tempted to buy them but they had a ridiculous amount of salt—which I am told is not added. I guess jellyfish are mostly just salt. No wonder they tasted so good.

Don’t know those shows, @KNOWITALL. I’d eat bugs and sea cucumber before I’d eat possum, knowingly.

I don’t know anything about urchin, @zenvelo & @jaytkay. I can’t imagine me ordering anything labeled as “Challenging” on a menu. There are too many other delicious choices!

You never know, @flip86. I’ve heard that @filmfan tastes nothing like fish! @dxs is uncharted territory!

Great answer, @Adirondackwannabe!

Wow, @keobooks! My hero again. I would have responded the same to both encounters!

Sea urchin tastes like brackish water. It has a really strong… icky.. taste and kind of a creamy texture.. It’s one of the few things on a sushi menu I won’t eat. My aunt loves it. I tried it once. It didn’t make me vomit or anything, but that doesn’t say much. I am one of those people who will try anything (except bugs)

No one is eating this Jelly.

Sea urchins yes first time more than 50 years ago in junior high school.

Jellyfish tentacles twenty years ago, high dollar Sushi restaurant.

I knew you could eat it, never tried any though. I would, if given the chance. Seems that a lot of sea creatures are edible, if prepared properly. Shark, squid, octopus, you name it. There’s a Chinese restaurant here where they have the common stuff, like crab, shrimp, these shell things, and they have this like, water snail or whatever. A nautilus I think it’s called. Little round shell with the animal inside, complete with tentacles. I’ve eaten some. You just kind of suck the thing out of the shell. I thought it looked cool so I wanted one. Not gross no, but it barely tastes like anything. You just end up chewing on it for like five minutes.

I’ve had jellyfish on a few occasions. Doesn’t taste like jelly or fish :P

Jellyfish has pretty much no taste at all (being mostly water) and with a consistency like you’d expect. To me, jellyfish is kinda like tofu. Not all that great unless it’s seasoned properly. It can be amazing or it can just be bland.

I don’t know about that, but I love calamari!!

Honestly, I’m curious to try urchin now, @keobooks. I tend to like flavorful/gamey foods.

LOL @mowens. Never say never.

So, @Tropical_Willie, what was the verdict??

@Symbeline I’ve tried most of the big fish like shark, tuna and swordfish. I’m curious about creatures other than squid and octopus (which I’ve eaten)...although nautilus sounds much the same, only without the usual breading and frying. Crayfish you’re supposed the suck the shell head, and I’ve done it. Couple of times. Unimpressive.

@uberbatman I can’t imagine that the consistency would appeal to me, as I never liked Jello because of the texture.

@ccrow I like calamari, too, but I think it’s like @uberbatman & @Symbeline suggest – it might be the preparation that’s the ticket. The frozen “seafood blend” that you can buy is fairly disgusting all by it’s lonesome. lol. Build great jaw muscles!

@ibstubro Yeah, mine just didn’t taste like much. Just had that light ’‘water creature salty taste’’. This is one of those restaurants where everything is in containers and you pick out your own dish, so maybe they’re not too bothered with haute cuisine lol. Their fried shrimp is awesome though.

@ibstubro The verdict is I’m a Sushi-holic. Would eat anything at a good Sushi restaurant, have not had puffer fish though.

@ibstubro it’s not the same as jello….hmm how to explain…it’s still soft like jello but has more uhhh resistance I guess would be the word I’d use. Like somewhere between jello and seaweed salad.

@Tropical_Willie I’d pay some serious money for a chance to eat fugu.

Do you guys know, is angler fish edible?

@Symbeline I can’t imagine it being worth eating. They really don’t have much flesh at all, they’re kinda just a stomach with fins.

From what I can see, a lot of the ‘lesser known/eaten’ sea creatures are that way, @Symbeline. Dependent upon good preparation for good/much taste.

Good for you, @Tropical_Willie. I wish I’d been introduced to sushi at a young age.

I tend to dislike ‘insubstantial’ foods, @uberbatman. @keobooks version sounds great, though.

I have enjoyed eating squid (when properly prepared) but I have yet to be offered Jellyfish per se.

@Dr_Lawrence Dried bbq squid and beer, yummy.

I don’t like seafood. I had no idea people ate jellyfish, but it seems logical.

The Chinese can make just about anything palatable including carp. Doesn’t mean I’d eat it unless I was totally famished or drunk possibly;)

Seaweed salad is a MUCH better way to describe the texture. But they were stringy and noodle like for sure.

@dougiedawg – I had the best carp China had to offer in the 80s. It tasted like bottom feeder and dirty water.

@keobooks has it right about how jellyfish and sea urchin tastes. Go ahead and try jellyfish. I would not recommend sea urchin.

Yea add me to the list of urchin no go. I will try ANYTHING, I get super excited when I go out for sushi and see something I’ve never had before. Urchin was one of those things. Blah. Though maybe I just had some bad urchin so I tried again somewhere else, still horrible lol.

Looks like I’m going to pass on the urchin if I see it. Well, probaby…

I had abalone back in the 80’s. It was supposed to be so incredibly GOOD! Perhaps it was the way it was cooked (by me, in a restaurant, from a recipe) but it was definitely, “Meh.”

I have! Once, many years ago I went to a Chinese New Year banquet. Thirteen courses, one of which was a platter of seafood accompanied by what looked like noodles, but tasted fishy. I loved it, and asked the waitress what it was. At first she refused to tell me but eventually she gave in and confessed that it was jellyfish (presumably just the tentacles). Everyone else at the table groaned and wouldn’t eat any more. Great, more for me.

I wasn’t so fond of the octopus though. It was like tough, rubbery, over-cooked squid.

Damn. This question started out tongue-in-cheek and @keobooks + @downtide have ended up making me hungry for jellyfish!

No offense @filmfann.

@downtide I’ve always hated that behavior. “OH THIS IS DELICIOUS!” (person finds out what it really is) “EW NASTY” ....stfu three seconds ago you liked it, what the hell does it matter what it is, it tastes good.

I think your octopus probably was over-cooked. IME it’s even more touchy than squid is with the rubber aspect. If cooked properly though it can be soft and delicious like squid.

As long as its cooked at some point in the preparation, I’d be willing to try Jellyfish.

But I still can’t persuade myself to scarf down either live oysters or clams. The idea of it just creeps me out.

When I was a kid we used to go clamming in the sandy beaches off Great South Bay. I loved the hunting for them and digging them up. But then watching my parents open them up and eat them right on the spot just creeped me out. Ugh.

(Although I would eat fried clams. Anybody remember the old HoJos ? Fried clams were a staple item on their menu and quite delicious.)

They generally had pretty good food. But I’m talking about the days when Jacques Pepin was working on their menu development and recipes when he first came here from France. Excellence speaks for itself.

But I join with all the others who are a solid NO on Uni (sea urchin). Its no small wonder those who’ve tried it find the taste rather off putting and funky. The edible part of the sea urchin is THE SPERM.

Uh, no thanks; I’ll pass.

I’m not thrilled with the live clam/oyster idea, @Buttonstc, but YES, I remember HoJo’s and we loved the fried clams!

@Buttonstc I think the jellyfish is cooked by steaming. I once bought some from a Chinese supermarket to cook at home, and it was “boil-in-the-bag”. It wasn’t as good as what I had in the restaurant though; I think I just didn’t know how to season it properly.

No I have not eaten it. I would love to try it. (If properly cleaned and prepared)

I’ve had raw oysters. I kinda liked them. Embarassingly enough, I will eat all this seafood that weirds people out but I won’t eat lobster or crab. They look like spiders and bugs. Can’t do that.

Ha, ha! @keobooks would rather eat something that looks like a bug excreted it rather than a bug itself!

I love crawfish, @keobooks, bugs of no. I have to admit that I’ve derived little satisfaction from sucking the heads after I eat the tails.

:-)

Properly cooked octopus, squid, abalone – yes, yum. I tried to gross out my kids with octopus tentacles (so I could eat them all), but they saw through the ruse. They all have a soft rubbery texture, which you can bite through if not overcooked.

Weird thing is, I’ve had crawfish and liked it at the time. It was soaked in Zataran’s so I’m not sure what the taste would have been without it. This bug thing is new. One day I was at Joe’s Crab Shack and suddenly looked at crab legs and said “No way. No more. Yuck” It was like something snapped.

I still like crawfish ettouffe. But after having several ettoufes, I find they all kind of taste the same regardless of the meat. I’ve even had it hamburger style.

“a soft rubbery texture, which you can bite through if not overcooked.” is soooooo very, very appetizing, @RocketGuy!! :)

I find it easier to talk myself into eating foods I hated as a kid, than those I took a dislike to as an adult. I wouldn’t voluntarily eat a beet as a kid, but I cook them (Harvard) now, occasionally. I’ve downed my last cooked brussel sprout, however.
A lot spicy, one-pot food are like ettouffe, in my opinion, @keobooks. The orientals had the good sense to invent tofu for much that reason, I think.

Totally off topic: But I just had really good brussel sprouts recently—and yes, I HATE brussel sprouts like a normal person. My cousin broiled them in the oven rather than boiling them in water. They came out slightly charred and had none of that ick factor. I’m scared to try it myself, but he did a great job on them. I only ate them to be polite at first, but wow!

Amen to not-boiled Brussels sprouts.

I avoided them for decades until recently reading about sauteed Brussels sprouts. I cut them in quarters, cooked with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and voila. Pretty good!

@keobooks “Parched” my aunt called that. My uncle loved parched corn! And squirrel brains, of course. I wouldn’t refuse to try a sprout, but I’ll be darned if I’ll cook another one. Not even @jaytkay‘s way, although it sounds delicious. Even more so with some nice yellow squash. lol

I ate a bunch of jellyfish last year.
Only much later did I find out that my biological parents were among them :’(

@jaytkay – my kids will wolf down Brussels sprouts if cooked that way.

Carrying on with “not-weird” foods cooked more palatably…roasted kale chips—yummm!

funny, my auto-correct wanted me to say male chips!