“I’m just gonna keep eating this gizzard,” said one member of our five-eater panel after she tasted what was coming next.
The others agreed, reaching for more helpings of digestive organ.
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Last week, I asked readers and friends which foods they’re afraid to consume. Some of their in-person and social media responses were surprising, and others were predictably gross.
After wrangling four fellow tasters to sample a handful of recommendations with me, it was chow time. We ate a range of grub alongside the gizzards, including a fruit that’s covered in thorns when harvested, lunch meat with a misleading name and fermented soybeans.
The sampling session sparked apprehensive “uhh” sounds à la Tina Belcher, along with more than one “mmm.”
Textured cold cuts. You’d expect something with the name head cheese, even though it’s known by other monikers outside North America, to, you know, have some kind of cheesy component going on. It doesn’t. Held together by gelatin-like aspic, this traditional European terrine is speckled with red peppers and various pieces of meat (we tasted bologna, and definitely ham, but will we ever know for sure?). One panelist said she’d be OK with eating head cheese again if the aspic were better disguised. And while another didn’t think the lunch meat tasted bad, he said he “wouldn’t purposefully buy it.” To be fair, we sampled the cuts straight. They might please some folks better on a sandwich, or atop a cracker with real cheese.
Odorous fruits. Durian, a spiky fruit that grows naturally in Southeast Asia, was suggested for this piece multiple times. Avoided and embraced, the soft-fleshed fruit, which I bought frozen, releases a pungent odor even when stored in the fridge. The group said durian tastes just as it smells: like onions. However, you do get hints of sweetness as you chew. Durian is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it fruit; I’d be open to having it again, but the rest of the panel, not so much. I’m told durian-based ice cream is a thing, as well as other desserts such as cakes and cream puffs. Scouting for durian in Tampa’s Oceanic Supermarket, I came across a “monster fruit.” It’s shaped like an ear of corn with a scaly husk. The fruit, native to Mexico, looked more peculiar once it started to ripen. Its scales popped off, exposing its pale flesh and sweet smell. Resembling pineapples and bananas in texture and flavor, monster fruit has strawberry and mango notes, too.
Lesser-used body parts. Although lowly animal bits like feet, liver and tongue have been incorporated into cuisines throughout the world for ages, these were the kinds of items that triggered the most phobic responses among the people surveyed. But the chicken gizzards and beef tripe consumed by the panel didn’t seem to bother them much. Boiled first and then sauteed, both eats were chewy, though the tripe was much chewier and mostly flavorless. One person noted, “It’s like a meaty gum.” The group said they think gizzards (rice and gravy), tripe (menudo) and the like should be used in dishes with a medley of ingredients.
For the really, really adventurous: Natto. This one was too much for me. I wasn’t expecting the fermented soybeans’ malodorous smell. We served the classic Japanese dish, which boasts healthful nutritional benefits such as vitamin K, last and over rice. Webby in texture (it creates thread-like strings when you pull it apart), natto has a musty taste, according to the panel. If you’re an intrepid eater looking for something new, though, this stuff's for you. The natto I purchased came with packets of soy sauce and mustard, which might make it taste better, I guess.
Additional suggestions for terrifying chow we didn’t get to eat: Blood sausage, pickled eggs, “those weird sausages they sell by the register at gas stations,” balut (a fertilized duck egg) and, for some reason (flashbacks from bad Thanksgivings?), Jell-O® salad.