An Experiment in Scotch

I have other things to write but they aren’t com­ing out of my head too well so let’s roll with this. Katy posted this on her blog and since it’s this or clean the house, it was a pretty easy decision.

1) Copy this list into your blog or jour­nal, includ­ing these instruc­tions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never con­sider eat­ing.
4) Optional extra: Post a com­ment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk link­ing to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hun­dred:

1. Veni­son
2. Net­tle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Croc­o­dile
6. Black pud­ding
7. Cheese fon­due
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Cala­mari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sand­wich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truf­fle
18. Fruit wine made from some­thing other than grapes Surely Boones counts?
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pis­ta­chio ice cream
21. Heir­loom toma­toes We grew some this year. Got 2 toma­toes from the plant. Sigh.
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bon­net pep­per
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oys­ters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chow­der in a sour­dough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauer­kraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clot­ted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Cur­ried goat I’ve had goat but I’m not sure it was cur­ried. It was yummy though.
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bot­tle worth £60/$120 or more This is the Exper­i­ment after all.
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme orig­i­nal glazed dough­nut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Ume­boshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaet­zle
57. Dirty gin mar­tini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Pou­tine Sounds yummy!
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweet­breads They’re fried for god’s sake and every­thing gets bet­ter fried.
63. Kaolin
64. Cur­ry­wurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, chur­ros, ele­phant ears or fun­nel cake
68. Hag­gis
69. Fried plan­tain
70. Chit­ter­lings, or andouil­lette
71. Gaz­pa­cho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gje­tost, or brunost
75. Road­kill See the prob­lem with road kill is that the things that get killed in the road usu­ally aren’t things I’d find tasty. Like if some­one ran over a Fugu, I’d give it a try. But that’s not say­ing I wouldn’t eat road­kill. As long as it wasn’t road gumbo, I’d be up for it.
76. Bai­jiu
77. Host­ess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lap­sang sou­chong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Bene­dict
83. Pocky
84. Tast­ing menu at a three-Michelin-star restau­rant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare Does this include jack rab­bit? I’ve had it.
87. Goulash
88. Flow­ers
89. Horse
90. Criollo choco­late
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Cat­fish
95. Mole poblano I’ve had mole once and it tastes like ass. I think it’s because they’re blind.
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lob­ster Ther­mi­dor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Moun­tain cof­fee
100. Snake

Over­all, I think I’d be con­sid­ered an omni­vore. Part of it comes from spend­ing time on the farm hunt­ing and fish­ing. My grand­dad had a rule: you shoot, you eat it. That’s a pretty good rule to have. There’s not much I won’t try. I draw the line at most organs involved in ner­vous sys­tem activ­ity or diges­tive activ­ity. Other than that, I’m game once. Though with lamb, I seem to keep com­ing back for more, even though I just can’t man­age to acquire the taste.

Other things not on the list that I’ve tried: raw fish (guess it’s so passe these days as not to war­rant a men­tion), elk, bison, quail, pheas­ant, duck, trout caught out of a moun­tain stream on a 20 mile hike and cooked/smoked over an open camp­fire (it was way bet­ter than the rations we were pack­ing along), and dove. I like quail and pheas­ant but you don’t get it much if you don’t hunt which I don’t anymore.