It doesn’t matter what is the form of our travel: lounging at warm sands of Maroco or conquering the highest peak of former ZSRR. You will return richer in experience. Traveling carries dose of challenges - not only organizational challenges. Sometimes you have to adjust culturally, respect others behavior which deviates from the rules and norms that we know in our daily life. Sometimes you have to break down the culinary barriers.
Recently, more and more popular has became the programs which combines traveling experience with regional cuisine from around the world. Great example is here Adrew Zimmern – the host of program named 'Bizzare Foods'. In each episode, the host concentrates on cuisine in given country. In this program in vain to find something 'normal' like donuts, chips and hamburgers. You will rather find there such dishes as: sandwich with a brain, live octopus, bone marrow sucked with a straw, egg with germ of young chicken, fried rat etc. You can see the phenomenon of this program by watching this video recorded in Thailand:
Durian – the most stinking fruit in the world. It smells like a carcass and you must not eat it in public transport nor bring it on flight board.
Casu Marzu – rotten sheep's milk cheese with larva of flies which make fermentation and better taste.
Fugu – Japanese poisonous fish which despite of its toxicity it is a rarity for many people. Only qualified cook can concoct this fish remaining only a small amount toxic substance that causes numbness of the tongue and lips. Every year, fugu is the last meal for about 300 people...
And now couple of questions:
If you have no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too? What is your the most extreme experience with food?
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) and you can recommend to others.
Mariusz, this is hardcore ;) I'm not even able to watch the video - it is really disgusting. I'm very sensitive when it comes to foreign food and such experiments are totally not in my style. Besides, how can you eat something alive?
ReplyDeleteIf you have no choice, Which meal ( among describe in this post ) would you try ?
I'd rather not even look at these things, but in the end I'd take the smelly fruit.
If you were in Thailand or another ' exotic ' country, would you decide to try ' bizarre ' food ? Do you have any experience with it ?
Certainly not, even if they wanted me to pay for it. I had no such experience and I do not want to have.
Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as ' bizarre ' too ?
I think it is rather normal for them. They grew up and deal with it on daily basis
What is your the most extreme experience with food?
My greatest achievement in this field is to trying sushi and shrimps. I have to admit that I fell in love with this food right from the beginng. And please, do not write that it can happen with other things too. Certainly not. I know that I never wish to try live octopus!
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been ( or want to be there ) and you can recommend to others .
In my private ranking of the most amazing places I've been the first place goes to Monaco. I want to go back there and stare at the supercars in front of the casino ;)
I've forgotten to write that the first part of the your entry perfectly captures what I think about travels and I agree with every word. In my case one week trip gives me energy for another 3 months of work. I love to watch photos and videos from my journeys trying to recall all the memories an details associated with each place.
ReplyDeleteMarcin, yes – I had the same impression during watching this film for the first time. But later it became more and more interesting to me. I agree that Thailand’s food might be too much drastic example but there are a lot of another food which look and taste nice. When I was in Vietnam, my guide stopped his car and ask me if I wanted to try Vietnamese apple. I answered yes – but I didn’t know what he meant. He then got out of the car and came to the old lady who was selling strange fruits by the wayside. I saw him like he was speaking to lady gave her some cents for the whole plastic bag of fruits which looked like a small lemon but tested similarly to apple but.... different. It was very good and but unfortunately I can’t recall the name of this fruit. I don’t regret my decision to test it. That was a great experience!
Delete@klec: While I started reading your short story about Vietnamese apples I thought that it is going to end badly and that you got intentionally misled by the cab driver.
DeleteA thought sparkled in my mind that apples were some kind of a trap for foreigners and as a result you would be surprised but unpleasant way for you ... some diarrhoea on the next day or similar.
It’s good it all ended well :)
I'm not much of a cuisine connoisseur, exotic food is not my thing! Because I've had food allergies since childhood, I usually don't enjoy trying new things to eat, or maybe I just haven't developed much interest in food? But as far as extreme experiences with food go, allergic reactions to food can be pretty extreme ;) - or even fatal for some people with severe allergies.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I am not the one to travel in search of culinary adventures - I'm actually happy to be able to find a McDonald's restaurant in places where, as some people say, they don't belong (like in a picturesque village for example).
But everyone has a taste for different things... speaking of which, I do believe that foods which seem exotic to us, are perfectly normal in their originating country - that's a good observation. However, some cultures appear to be more fixated on foods than others. It depends on what variety of food sources are available locally. Southeast Asia is definitely the place to go if you want diverse food, as evidenced by the video (although you should have warned us it contained graphic footage :) ).
Myself, I would rather go somewhere in the Mediterranean, if good food was high on the priority list. It may be an obvious choice, but Mediterranean food is hard to beat, so I would have to go with that destination.
I agree with Mati that it is hardcore. Fortunately I have just finished studying your entry sometime after my breakfast.
ReplyDeleteIf I had no choice I would rather stay hungry. If somebody forced me I would try to eat the stinking fruit. If I had my runny nose it would be a (small) chance to do it.
I like to eat new dishes but I prefer these not necessarily escaping from my mouth or a plate. Apart from being already killed eaten by me animals should be cooked, grilled or fried. For instance I would prefer to try a new kind of fish but not poisonous.
I have not had any experience with bizarre food thus I do not shock you.
I have not also visited any exotic country thus I only feel that people in such places do not treat described food as something bizarre. They do not like it at most. In my opinion it should be similar to our tripe, kidneys, lunges etc.
I do not have any extreme experience with food because I do not like to have such ones. I ate a kind of sauce which was very hot but nothing more.
The most amazing place, where I have ever been ,was a dacha of my cousin – as he said it is near Warsaw. Lack of mobile range impressed me the most there ;-). I would like to visit some exotic places where is hot, water is blue, without sharks and I would not to work ;-). I saw such a place on the Internet – it were placed somewhere in Asia.
Now I realize that I should warn you before watching that film. It is not good to see it before breakfast or when we are too sensitive to such things. But I see that (and other films) from different perspective. I perceive eating these things as occasion to explore the word first and then to the tastes and looks of food itself. I would never like to eat these things too. But I like watching these films due to my curiosity and its new insight into how we can explore the world. Food is a one of way of doing that. There are many another episodes that show not so ‘bizarre’ and ‘disgusting’ foods like truffles, cheese and ham. You can find them as recommendations on the right hand side in youtube. I can recommend much ‘soften’ episode from Paris where Andrew visited the Rungis market, a mustard shop and a Paris's best cheese shop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBSZ3CX8g5A) .
ReplyDeleteA lack of the warning was not any problem for me because some time ago I discovered that my browser has a magic button with a cross in its right top corner ;-).
DeleteI would rather visit museums and look at monuments than eat such bizarre food. Nowadays there is a possibility to taste some oriental food in restaurants placed when we live. I know that meals prepared by oriental cookers from fresh ingredients taste better than bought in Polish restaurants. A few years ago I had the possibility to try Turkish kebab prepared by Turkish cookers – it tasted me not like sold in a kiosk placed on the Central Railway Station in Warsaw ;-).
Don't worry, the video was worthwhile (even for the shock value alone). We've all learned something from it ;)
DeleteI fully agree with the author that traveling has great value. I always traveled a lot and still will do it. This my passion for exploring the world through travel meant that I became a founder of the Club of tourism ( http://et.alpejska.net/ ) so now I will "infect" the passion of traveling others person.
ReplyDelete1. Each food, apart this poisonous, I could try, preferably some meal from seafood. My preferences are:
- It is good what is healthy!
- It's healthy what is fresh!
- It's fresh, what is alive!
- This live, what you can catch!
- At the appropriate height all the food is good and delicious. Especially if you can eat only what you have in your backpack or what you can catch (unfortunately above 3000 m above sea level, on the glacier, we haven't much things to catch them).
2. For me the most exotic country in which I've been is Georgia. Georgian food was really delicious, but I would not call it food 'bizarre'.
3. It seems to me that most of the food in an exotic country is not for the majority of living people there "bizarre". But some of us also will not eat duck blood. My most extreme experience of eating was at a Chinese restaurant, I ate a jellyfish there. I managed to swallow it after a few glasses of strong vodka (from rice).
4. I think the most amazing place where a lot of times I've been and I would gladly have been permanently there is an archipelago of islands in the Baltic Sea - Åland Islands ( http://www.gwardak.com/aland_1.htm ). It is the only place which I know of in the world where unlocked bike left on a ferry parking, for a few days, will not be stolen. Therefore, in this country with a high degree of autonomy have not the army and almost no police.
I send greetings from the trip, this time from Kazimierz Dolny at the Vistula River.
Which montain are you climbing in Kazimierz Dolny ;-)?
DeleteStraight from the camping I run with an average speed of 12 km / h on the hill of three crosses (about 6 km). Tomorrow I'm running early in the morning (7 o clock), because it is quite hot, running takes about one hour there and back, so I invite you on to tomorrow if you want to.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mati and Grzegorz that it is hardcore but I sow more hardcore movie with food:)
ReplyDeleteIf you have no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
I would rather not tray any of that foods only situation when I would eat something like this is situation in which from that kind of food depended my life but truly I have hope that, that kind of situation never happened.
If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
For sure I will never decide for any kind of bizarre food:) Most exotic food which I ate it was steak with whale when I was in Iceland :)
Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too? What is your the most extreme experience with food?
I don't think that in exotic country people treat their food as bizarre I think that for them is that same kind of food like for use is schnitzel or other our traditional meals.
It is only mater of culture for example in France it is very popular to eat frogs I even heard that they test like chicken but to Polish people that kind of food also can be bizarre:)
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) and you can recommend to others.
There is many amazing places that I want to go for example Bali,Maui Bora Bora I never been there but I I hope that someday I will go there . There are beautiful beaches and ocean this places are very exotic and for sure I can recommender it.
1.If you had no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
ReplyDeleteOut of all those great meals, I'd probaby chose durian. While I didn't quite have the occasion to smell any corpses yet (and hopefully never will), I assume that it's easier to tolerate stench than to risk my life eating poisonous fish - or larvae of flies. It's still a disgusting thought, but probably less so.
2.If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
I would have to be feeling quite adventurous to even think about that, much less actually do it. Whether it be killer fish or corpse smelling fruit, these are not the dishes I'm looking for. I assume that "traditional" Thai food would be exotic enough for me, without the need for such extremes. There are plenty of better things to taste rather than torment myself in such way.
3.Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too? What is your the most extreme experience with food?
I can't imagine anyone not thinking about Fugu as "bizarre". If there ever comes a time when we regularily eat things that can kill us, the future of our race would be in peril. I imagine it's mostly about the feeling of danger and excitement of such brush with death - just like extreme sports. Same thing with tormenting ourselves with awful stench, this cannot possibly be normal.
As for my own experiences... there's really not much to say. Nothing I've ever eaten can compare to these treats - and I hope I never will.
Ok, I now that anyone would ever want to try these examples that I mentioned in this post. I would rather ask you whether you are will to experiment with a regional cuisine of a country that you currently visit? Or do you rather prefer to find something similar to what you eat in Poland? Personally I always give a trial to taste regional food. When I was in Asia I didn’t hesitate to go to a good Vietnamese restaurant. The range of choice and diversity of food surprised me. For me It would be even difficult to name some dishes and sometimes I didn’t know what I was eating – most of the time there were see food with vegetables but it tastes fantastic. I didn’t use to eat see food at all. But I decided when I was there. But The condition is that it must be very good restaurant to be sure the food is fresh and well prepared.
ReplyDeleteThe most beautiful place that I could recommend you to visit is Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. Ha long Bay has to be one of the highlights of visiting Vietnam. Ha Long Bay includes some 1,600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars. Because of their precipitous nature, most of the islands are unaffected by a human presence. The site's outstanding scenic beauty is complemented by its great biological interest. Ha long Bay is one of the UNESCO World Heritage. I recommend to book 2 of 3 nights at cruise to explore this place from the cruise. You may count on a fantastic candlelit dinner in one of the island's caves. You must take a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX_O-y2Badk
Beautiful scenery, the jade colors of the water and the mist covered hills look spectacular. It reminds me of a game I used to play (the developers must have been inspired by this bay). I've never been to that part of the world.
DeleteYou can guess from my previous comment what kind of food I would choose. Although, I would definitely want to try local foods as well (but preferably in limited quantities).
Yes I can guess. But in this particular example, the food is very save. Oysters, fishes, crabs - much different then McDonnalds in terms of taste but also in terms of your stomach after when you eat each of them :)
DeleteEventually I want to confirm - the scenery is absolutely beautiful and any film doesn't express that feeling.
I guess I'm one of the few in our group who tried Durian and Fugu Fish as well, even I had something different to eat in that time ;) I did this because I wanted.
ReplyDeleteThe first time when I smelled Durian I wasn't able to eat. However, my friend from Thailand gave me to try dehydrated durian which already don't stank and actually was very tasty. After this I was ready to try fresh durian. So maybe this is the solution for people who want to try but are affraid.
Please believe me that I felt a lot more smelly things than Durian which is for Thai people a normal fruit like apple for us.
I have been in many places around the world and have seen many beautiful places so it's really hard for me to choose something. I recommend Thailand, Phillipines, Mexico, Australia and many more places. Each this places has its own charm.
Thank You Jacek! You have broken a losing streak by telling us about your experience. I thought that eating such food is very rare experience but I was wrong. I am positively surprised that you ate them. As far as I see, the following posts are only positive oriented to this kind of food :)
DeleteI must say that the topic that you started is very interesting for me. I love traveling around the world and my fiancée loves good food so on each visit we try to taste the regional cuisine. So we ate: snails in France, different ugly looking sea food in Singapore, drank traditional ayran in Turkey and tried durian milkshakes in Thailand. But the most gross thing I ate was a seaweed salad, which my friends ordered during a dinner (while I was visiting them in Singapore). They did not tell me anything about what was in this salad that we planned to eat, but they promised me that they would tell me after dinner... so the secret ingredient was the century egg. If you do not know what it is, you may read the description:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg
or watch a video of a man trying to eat one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miBBCt0l0wM
Probably it's a good thing that they did not give me any details about this dish as it would be very unlikely that I would have decided to try it ;) But all in all, it tasted much better that it looked!
The most impressive place I visited would be Dubai. I have read a lot about the place and I was expecting that it would look and feel rich, but when I saw it with my own eyes I was astounded. The amount of money sheikhs had invested in building this city from scratch is beyond belief. Giant buildings decorated with gold or huge gardens existing only thanks to the watering equipment working the whole day and all this mixed with a very religious Arab culture made me feel like nowhere I've ever been before. A cherry on top was my visit to the sightseeing terrace of Burji Khalifa - watching the fountain show coupled with the possibility to admire the city by night was an experience I will never forget!
On a side note I wanted to touch the topic of traveling being a way for expanding worldviews and knowledge. Some time ago I heard a sentence that I consider 100% true, it was: "traveling educates, but only people that are educated". Many people treat traveling as a way to create their personal list of achievements (or post some lovely pictures on facebook or instagram)... but at the same time not many of these "travelers" can answer a simple question - what they learnt from such a trip? Often the answer to that question is that the alcohol prices are higher/lower than in Poland. For me the greatest things you bring back from a trip are the ones in your head.
Thanks for very interesting comment. I fully agree with you. I decided to write this post about traveling because I felt what it means couple of years ago. I want to gain experience more and more. I am not writing about "list of achievements" but rather something that I can take all of our mind and senses. I want to be a part of a situations that happens only in particular country. I want to taste food that is served only there etc. But in my case I like to combine sightseeing and experiencing with relaxing. Both are important for me especially in a very rushed time.
DeleteAs regards your salad and century egg. I met century eggs and see people who eat them for a breakfast. I was shocked. Congratulations for you that you tried them - being not aware of its existence in a salad but you tried. And now I know what is the name for this egg. Thank you!
If you have no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
ReplyDeleteI like to eat new things so I guess I may try each of them :)
If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
Yes, of course it's part of the journey.
Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too? What is your the most extreme experience with food?
I think many bizarre food in these country is simply normal. Look at our's "flaki" we eat in -Poland. A lot of people from EU think it is bizarre.
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) and you can recommend to others.
There are many places that I would like to go, for example Japan :) the most amazing place I had been so far was Toronto, Canada
I really enjoy culinary experiments, but do not want to try any of the suggested meals. Probably not I ate this dish. If I will be in Thailand for sure I will not take the food to the mouth, and if there is no normal food take sandwiches from home. Yet there I have not been, and fortunately I do not have gained any experience with those meals. People who live in countries eat exotic dishes such. It is a normal thing for them because they are so brought up, that wonder night for them.When it comes to food not eaten never any extreme eating. When it comes to strange places I encourage you to watch the TV program Joe Monster " World's Strangest Restaurants ". I think that there's definitely something interesting you choose.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to apologise for replying so late but I just recently joined the course and this blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd now to answer your questions:
1. If you have no choice, which meal (among the ones described in this post) would you try?
I would definitely stay away from "Casu Marzu" since I have terrible associations with larvae of flying insects, there are some which inject eggs into living animal flesh and there are many human cases to whom it happened. The results as you could imagine are pretty drastic to watch (probably feel too). The other food I would pass on is the "Fugu". The price for this delicacy is very high (both financial and risk wise). I think I could try out the "Durian" since its the most natural of them all (not being processed by at all by people) and I think its pretty safe ot eat. I am actually curious about the taste of it since smell plays a big factor in tasting food.
2. If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
I might have considered to try something out if I knew the ingredients that were used to create the specific food. Unfortunately I haven't visited yet any "exotic" countries. Actually I lived most of my life in Greece which has its own unique cuisine but for most people here in Poland it will still be considered familiar since there are no extreme dishes of which I know at least. I myself could describe myself as a connoisseur of pasta dishes :) , so that's more Italian but still regular for Europeans. Fact is I doubt I would find anything that I could swallow since I can't even stand some local cuisine like fish or some vegetables.
3. Do you think, people who live in exotic countries perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too? What is your most extreme experience with food?
I think that people in the countries we consider as exotic perceive their food as common just as people in Poland consider pickled cabbage as a tasty meal addition (sometimes even the basic ingredient in popular dishes like "bigos" or "pierogi"), on the other hand people in Greece think that this type of cabbage has gone bad and they would definitely throw it away. I don't really recall any extreme situations related to food (probably because my diet is poor, dull and repetitive :) ), but my mother once bought some fish meat which she though was ordinary fish, she tasted it and liked it so she checked what exactly it was. It appears she had bought shark meat :) . When she found out what it was she didn't touch the rest. That's actually a good example that shows that usually we don't touch food because we got bad associations with it, even if in reality it tastes good.
4. Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) which you can recommend to others.
Unfortunately I haven't travelled a lot, so from my tiny travelling experience I'll have to say Santorini (an island of Greece), because it's a volcanic small island with beautiful vistas. The houses there are all coloured in white and it creates a great blend together with the shades of blue of the sky and sea.
If you have no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
ReplyDeleteI would try fugu because I like Japanese food
If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food?
Of course I would try because it is one of advantages of traveling - possibility of trying food that you can’t find at home.
Do you have any experience with it? Yes I always try local food and it doesn’t matter how bizarre it is
Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too?
No. What is bizarre for tourists is normal for locals. It is the same with polish food. Many traditional polish dishes look bizarre for foreigners.
What is your the most extreme experience with food?
Maybe for others it is not so extreme but I still don’t understand how people can eat that- chips with vinegar
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) and you can recommend to others.
The most amazing place I have ever been is Wales. There is such a wonderful variety of landscapes that I couldn't take my eyes of them
Encountering regional food specialities is a natural consequence of the trip. It would be hard to avoid eating local goods but trying to eat the most hard-core items described in your post is something different I must say.
ReplyDeleteIf you have no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
Durian seems least problematic. If it is a fruit then there are chances that it does have some good side excluding the smell.
If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
No I do not have much experience and I would rather like to stay that way.:)
Do you think, people who live in exotic country perceive bizarre foods as 'bizarre' too? What is your the most extreme experience with food?
If something is popular locally then locals probably do not perceive it as bizarre. My most extreme experience was when I ate a not fresh fish while I had my smell dull because of the cold I caught.
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) and you can recommend to others.
I do not have much pressure to travel the most distance and most amazing places. I find with the surprise that there is a vast amount of things to be observed in our everyday environment.
If you have no choice, which meal (among describe in this post) would you try?
ReplyDeleteI do not I block up to new experiences and flavors I tried all the things that you described. Maybe outside the fish Fugu - Japanese poisonous fish. Why do people want to commit suicide by eating tasteless fish? I don' t now.
If you were in Thailand or another 'exotic' country, would you decide to try 'bizarre' food? Do you have any experience with it?
I ate durian and Casu Marzu. I think the real challenge is sometimes knuckle and Polish tripe for foreigners not durian and Casu Marzu.
What is your the most extreme experience with food?
I could not eat fermented shark. The stench was unbearable for me.
Describe the most amazing place that you have ever been (or want to be there) and you can recommend to others.
The best food in the world for me tavern in Hania Crete giving fresh octopus and homemade wine. I have not eaten anything better.