When did you last eat a food that was totally new or foreign to you?

Today. I had some japanese soup. Didn’t even know what it was. It came with my yakisoba. Even though I didn’t order it, I felt it would be a waste not to try it. It was ok.
I couldn’t exactly put my finger on the flavor. And I also tried the salad with ginger dressing. Also a new one for me.

@ibstubro That salad doesn’t sound unusual at all to me, those are fairly common ingredients that I’ve had together before. Sounds kind of Russian or eastern European. I think Whole Foods has something like it in their cold deli.

The last time I ate something completely new to me was about 2 minutes ago. Actually I had some of it a few days ago, but I just ate more. It is pickled burdock root that my best friend brought back from Japan. It kind of has the texture of pickled asparagus with the flavor more neutral and kind of like hearts of palm. It’s really good. They have fresh burdock root at our local Asian grocery stores. I’m probably going to get some next time I go there and see what I can come up with, not necessarily pickled, but I’ll check out some recipes for burdock root. This is what fresh Burdock Root looks like. This is what it looks like Pickled. Here is a recipe for Korean Simmered Burdock Root that sounds pretty tasty.

@Pandora Was the soup Miso? Miso soup and Carrot Ginger Dressing are staples in most Japanese restaurants.

You guys need to get out more. It’s funny because some other Jellies on one of my Q’s was saying that Chilies, and Olive Garden, and Pizza Hut were they’re favorite restaurants of all time! I’m surprised someone didn’t say KFC or McDonald’s. There’s a whole huge world of food just waiting to be tasted. You should dine with me and I will let you sample some of the “weird” stuff that I eat on a fairly regular basis. Below is a smattering:

Palak Paneer This is probably my favorite Indian dish.

Squash Blossom Quesadillas There’s a booth at our local Farmers Market that makes these. Squash blossoms kind of taste like green cabbage.

Huitlacoche (also known as corn smut) Quesadillas. This is a Mexico City specialty. One of the restaurants by my house serves these. It tastes like a very earthy, savory mushroom. If people were blindfolded and didn’t see what it looked like, or hear the name of it, they’d probably like it a lot if they already like mushrooms. There’s another restaurant in town that serves huitlacoche stuffed inside sauteed button mushrooms. It’s so good.

Green Papaya Salad. This is a traditional Thai salad that is served in most Thai restaurants. Some versions have fish sauce in them, this is a vegetarian recipe. Some versions also have the addition of shrimp. They’ve substituted seitan in this recipe, but most of the time it doesn’t have shrimp or seitan. It’s got a very tangy, fruity flavor like nothing else I’ve ever tasted. Last year was the first time I ever had it, and now I’ve eaten it about 5 or 6 times. I want to make some myself, but I need to talk to my friend about what exactly constitutes a “green papaya.” They’re actually a slightly different fruit, rather than an un-ripe version, of a regular papaya. I want to make sure I get the correct papaya.

Kimchi. Several of my friends make kimchi on a regular basis, along with brewing their own beer. Fermented foods are all the rage these days.

Kale. I had This Salad for lunch today, and I made it last week too. This is one of my favorite go to, nutritent-dense salads and it’s sooooooo good. I also added cauliflower and radishes.

The only other food, besides the burdock root that I can recall being a new food for me, within the last 6 months, was Gai Lan, sometimes called Chinese broccoli that my friend added to his kimchi. Now it’s one of my favorite veggies of all time. Unlike regular broccoli, gai lan doesn’t have florets at the top, it has leaves instead, which you can also eat, along with the stalks. The stalks are not tough like regular broccoli and don’t need to be peeled.

It’s not that I have a hard time trying new foods, @Kardamom, more that I have a hard time finding new foods to try.

I was campaigning for some local, home grown huitlacoche and my friends said yes, they sometimes had fungi corn, but no, they would not allow me to eat it.
There’s (literally) a couple thousand acres of field corn across the road from my house, so just try to stop me. lol

I never had a lychee nut until recently. It’s like a large lavender-flavored grape in an eggshell.

Also I just started eating fresh beets in salads, or just as snacks. They look so rough, but they’re so juicy and crisp inside. I matchstick cut them.

I’ve never heard of anyone eating fresh beets, @jaytkay!
I’ll give it a go. Do you have to worry a lot about staining?

Where did you find a fresh lychee nut?

A couple of years ago I tried grilled alligator. It was nasty. It was like rubber. I spit it out.

Do you have to worry a lot about staining?
Yes, I cut beets in the sink

Where did you find a fresh lychee nut?
Vietnamese grocery stores in Milwaukee and Chicago

If you don’t try it you don’t know. If it sucks you say blech and walk away.

Since I met the SO, it’s been a culinary adventure. We like to stroll through local markets looking at what’s for sale. Here’s how a conversation typically goes:
Me: What in the world is that?
Him: (Points to the sign) or “I don’t know” or names it.
Me: What do you do with it?
Him: I don’t know. Just get it and we’ll look it up later.

Other times, he does know and puts it on the grocery order.

This is how I’ve ended up trying Dragon Fruit, Passion Fruit, Rhubarb, Sharon Fruit, Parsnips, Kippers, Black Pudding, Gooseberries (they were grown in the garden and we made chutney with them), Branston Pickle and a plethora of other condiments, spices and vinegars that I never tasted before.

The only meal experienced that no one should ever try is Andouillette Sausage. The SO ordered it in a Paris restaurant. It was the most foul-smelling food one could possibly imagine. He ate it and I wouldn’t try it. The cow brain we had earlier in the week was a walk in the park compared to this.

I grilled alligator according to a recipe, @Dutchess_III, and my reaction was much the same. I ate ‘alligator on a stick’ street-food last year, and better, but not much. I think it might be a macho thing?

How do you matchstick in the zinc sink, @jaytkay?

Exactly my feeling, @Adirondackwannabe. You tried and learned either way.

I’d be in heaven, @Pied_Pfeffer. Pay to tag along, even. I stopped at the local cooking supplies shop a couple of weeks ago and even though there was no chance o her helping me, we chatted for going on an hour.

If you ever decide to take a trip to England, please let me know. I might be able to convince you to spend some time in our little town in order to venture out to the local markets and antique shops. Both are treasure troves that are underappreciated by the residents.

I tried kale for the first time today, by accident. It was delicious and I found it difficult to stop myself from taking another bite even after learning what it was.

@Kardamom Burdock is a great beginner plant to learn to forage; I encourage you to try finding your own. It is easily identifiable, and most of the plant is edible at different points in its growth cycle. Plus it is an invasive and is poisonous to cattle, so it’s a “guilt-free” wild food (unlike, say, milkweed). And it’s extremely prolific; I can almost guarantee that you have several plants within easy walking distance from wherever you happen to be. Here’s a great little video on how to forage the root. And here’s an article about harvesting and eating the stalks. And another. My favorite way to eat burdock root (also called “gobo”) is to slice them and deep-fry them as either chips or french fry style.

@Kardamom , @ibstubro , asked what was the last foreign food I ate. I’ve eaten many over the years, but I never really remember the name of things unless I really liked it or it tasted really bad. Sometimes I don’t even remember the name of the bad stuff. I can tell you I don’t like kimchi, and sake, sushi is a hit or miss but mostly a miss, or boring, tofu is disgusting, and so is Greek sour cream.

There is also a soft ball of dough that Japanese make that has some gooey inside that is tasteless. You feel like you are chewing uncooked dough and there is another one that they sell with meat inside that is pretty good but nothing to make you keep coming back.

It would be the equivalent to peanut butter and jelly sandwich for me. Filling and not bad but not great either, unless you are very hungry. I also tried wasabi. Blahhhh. There are many foods I have tried just to say I’ve tried it once. Some have surprised me in a good way and many have made be decide never to try it again.

Some of my favorite all time foreign foods. Kabob, yakisoba, gyoza, lumpia, yassa. There are a few more but I don’t remember their names. Usually its because I went out to eat an the menu may be written in a foreign language. So someone may describe the foods and I pick the one that isn’t seasoned with some sort of hot spicy sauce. There is a lot I can’t eat because of my acid reflux.