The 10 Strangest Things I Ever Ate

While brainstorming and watching the travel channel, my roommate and I were chatting about what we would or wouldn't eat based on what was on television. Still beating cobra heart? Sounds great - especially to me since I hate snakes and vengeful feelings would add to the joy of that one. Fried scorpions, why not? Rare fugu? Just give me the "I won't sue if I die," release form and start cutting blowfish! There are a lot of weird and interesting foods out there, and a lot of them that hopefully I'll get to try in the future. This will be especially easier to find a list in the future, seeing as how when I first wrote this hub, Andrew Zimmerman's "Bizzare Foods" either wasn't on TV or I wasn't aware of it at all. Good stuff...except for that nasty looking fruit.

Between me and my roommate, there wasn't much we wouldn't try, and I am the guy who not only desperately wants to visit the land of my ancestors, Scotland, but I'm actually excited to order and eat Haggis. I love to travel and try new food, but I'm still a youngin' and as far as weird food, just haven't hit a wide variety yet. That said, I don't think I have a bad top ten list for someone who has only been to the United States and Mexico, and Alaska if you count that as another country (because it really kind of is...)

But following in the next section is my current list of the ten "strangest" foods I've ever tried so far, and a little note on each, as best as I can remember each experience.

#10 Moose Bone Soup. This was one of my favorite meals from my Yupik friends when I lived in the interior of Alaska. Some moose meat, bones boiled for flavors, some grain rice and you have a one of a kind soup that is fantastic...and not nearly as scary as a lot of the other things on the list.

#9 Seaweed. This, like three other of the foods on this list, came from a dinner I had with a Korean friend when I was going to school in Alaska. Sheets of green seaweed, you crumple it up and add it to the rice with broiled butterfly cocoons. Good stuff mixed.

#8 Kim Chee. This might be a traditional Korean dish, but any soup/stew made from rotted vegetables stored in an earthen pot underground qualifies on my list of odd foods. I have to say, though, that this is actually the only food on this list that I didn't care for at all. Sorry, Korea, it's nothing personal, and yep, this is also from the Alaska meal.

#7 Escargo. Who knew snails could taste so good? This was also from the Alaska meal, and I was actually a very big fan. I can see why this would be a popular snack, and I would jump at the chance to eat more.

#6 Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers. I know chocolate covered ants are more common (and I've tried those as well), but that's kind of the point. Since the grasshoppers are more uncommon, they make the list over the ants. I remember trying chocolate covered ants when I was just a kid, I ate the grasshoppers when I was either a sophomore or junior in Coe College. They are very tasty snacks, and I would recommend them.

#5 Worms. I ate 'em raw. They're very earthy, probably because worms have one very long intestine full of dirt. Then again, when you're on the third day of a wilderness survival program without eating, that group of night crawlers looks mighty fine. Worms definitely taste better than a lot of the other bugs out there.

#4 Raw Squid. My dad told a story about doing business in Japan and having to eat raw octopus out of respect. He didn't like it as much as I liked raw squid. The taste is good, but chewing can be rough on the fresher stuff. The suckers like to stick, so getting it down is half the challenge, but I kind of liked the stuff - though admittedly the deep fat friend calamari is even higher on my list.

#3 Fried Sheep Testicles. Good old Iowa! Someone offers you some food and says they're chicken nuggets, and then everyone stares. I figured they were fried testicles of some kind, and in all honesty fried sheep testicles don't taste bad at all. I actually had seconds and thirds at the family picnic.

#2 Fish Eyeballs. As a high school student I went to Mexico with the Spanish club in the summer of 1997. On Isla Mujeres, a destination that seems to enchant every person who ever visits, we were given for a meal the freshest fish ever, fried skin and all right out of the sea. On a dare I ate a fish eyeball. It wasn't nearly as gross as you'd think, though it certainly isn't an everyday thing.

#1 Butterfly Cocoons. The coup de tat of the great Korean dinner in Alaska, these were broiled and mixed with rice and seaweed, and made for a fantastic combination. I enjoyed eating the butterfly cocoons (don't worry, there weren't any butterflies inside...I don't think), and it was a fantastic food that still gets you the full "You ate what?" horrified stares. So a great meal all the way around.

So what's next? Who knows, but I am surprised I haven't had armadillo or alligator yet, but it seems like I'm in the right area, so we'll see what's next!