Shug on 28/1/2011 at 14:55

---

Better than a khmer rouge to the face

Briareos H on 28/1/2011 at 15:42

---

those small cuttlefish (seppie) are delicious in tomato pasta sauce <3

Queue on 28/1/2011 at 15:56

---

I don't know why some people are disgusted by the thought of eating bugs. Natural red food coloring comes primarily from ground up beetles (if the label says "carmine" it's most likely a beetle), while the synthetic color (FD&C no. 40) is derived from coal tar. Both are equally unsettling thoughts, but since we want food/drinks to look pretty....

And I'm not sure why anyone would find eating a dead bug or dead dog anymore disgusting than eating a dead cow or dead pig. They're all equally dead, and equally protein (with the bugs probably being more nutritious for you by being low in cholesterol and calories, full of antioxidants, and free of hormones and antibiotics). I've eaten grasshopper, it's not bad.

Plus, for the vast beef market that supplies the fast food industry, or low-cost meats at the market, these cows spend most of their time standing around in shit. They stand in shit, eat shit, are covered in shit, and shit when they are slaughtered. You're getting meat and shit when you buy cheap meat. Why do you think you should cook the shit out of it? It's to get the shit out of it. That's why I only buy beef and milk (and eggs and chicken) from small family farms (where the animals are low in number, free-ranged, and grass-fed) that do their own work.

But it's unfair to single out shitty meat, when the vegetables are just as equally covered in fecal deliciousness. Which is why all (be it organic, non-organic, triple washed, or still covered in dirt fresh from the field) should be washed in a mild solution of soapy water then rinsed thoroughly. You wouldn't take a dump and not wash your hands with soap, would you? Then why eat food without doing the same, knowing that many of the migrants that pick your lettuce are also crapping where...well...you eat.

Sulphur on 28/1/2011 at 16:09

---

Wasn't there some hokey report somewhere that said, statistically, you eat about 1.3kgs of insects in your food every year without knowing about it?


Also, monkey brains -- better than caramel custard. Serve with clotted cream and a dusting of cockroach wings and voila! ze perfect dessert.


I love that movie to death, but it didn't quite raise Hollywood's standards of uninformed stereotyping.

demagogue on 28/1/2011 at 17:05

---

I love exploring new foods when I travel.

When I was teaching in Korea, I'd often stop by the same restaurant walking home from work for dinner, and since I couldn't read a word of Hangul I'd just pick the next item on the menu. I liked being surprised and discovering the food myself.

They also did have roast silkworms in street vendors, which apparently tasted okay, but I couldn't get over the putrid smell. I really liked the communal part of their food culture, though. Much of the food comes in small collective bowls the table shares.

One food story was when I toured north Thailand and we stopped at an indigenous village. A woman grabbed a bird strutting around outside and casually wrung its neck while talking to us, and de-feathered it early in the day for a soup, plus lots of coconut milk and a curry-like sauce. But it was good.