What are some foods that you are surprised to learn that people you know have never heard of, or have never tried?

avocado, kiwi, pho,

Emmu. Crickets. Placenta.

I literally had an 18 year old woman hold up a vegetable and say, “What is this?”

And to my horror I had to respond, “An… Onion…”

^^lol..)

@RedDeerGuy1 YUCK!

I know more than one person who rarely eats at Chinese restaurants and has no idea what to order. I always find this surprising, unless they live in a very very rural place with no Chinese restaurants nearby. All the people I know do not live in rural places. They haven’t tried most things on the menu, and have trouble ordering.

My MIL actually is clueless in Chinese restaurants, but she also has trouble in most restaurants so I don’t count her. Which brings me to a different point that with my MIL you would think almost every time she eats out it’s a totally new experience in food with all sorts of potholes to fall into. My FIL also.

Nothing about people surprises me. You are quite a foodie. You cannot expect others to have knowledge of your wide range of ingredients.

In the Midwest and the South, things like hummus, tabouli, tahini paste are not widely available.

My first husband only ate 7 things: spaghetti, hamburgers, bread, eggs, french fries. I can’t remember the others although I think he ate McDonald’s fish sandwiches during Lent.

I had never heard of cardamom until you joined here @Kardamom.

@marinelife, there are hundreds of food magazines, lots of food related shows on TV, articles in newspapers, articles about food in most non-food related magazines, food shown or mentioned in movies and TV shows that are not about food.

You make it sound like the South or the Midwest are third world countries. They’re not.

I don’t read food magazines, watch TV shows about food, or read newspaper accounts of food. I’m not interested.

@Kardamom I was merely making the point that you and I are very interested in food and cooking. Not everybody is. I knew some people in Pennsylvania once, neither of the couple cooked so when they had children, every night it was some kind of fast food: pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs. I shuddered to think of how those kids were going to make it to adulthood.

Also, I have lived in the South and when I said not widely available I meant in everyday grocery stores.

I made a lot of fast, quick and easy burritos, spaghetti, then goulash from the left overs. “Baby pizzas.” Didn’t have the money for fast food, and hot dogs were saved for picnics.