Oh the Flavors you'll travel!
 

Some people love exploring the culinary experience, some shy away from tasting new things. Believe it or not, statistically speaking a lot of people don't start experimenting their taste buds until they're grown to almost their full size.

So do tell, what was the "new taste experiment" you most remember? Did it meet your expectation, blow you away, or did it totally disgrace your dining experience for the night?

For me, it was Jambalaya. I've never had it before 3 years ago, but I've heard of it through my favorite cooking tv channel, manga, magazine, song (yes, there is a Jambalaya song), etc. So I order my first plate of Jambalaya ever at our local Cajun restaurant. I figured it's like fried/mixed rice only with Cajun Spices. No big deal. BAM. As soon as I had a bite, I was in love. I mean, given that I'm japanese I have a natural liking for rice but this was a whole new experience on my taste buds. Mushy rice (yuk!) with sausage, beans, and tomato and spices. Interesting, was my first reaction when the plate was first placed in front of me. NEVER did I understand reasoning behind eating bread with rice, but after a few spoonfuls of my Jambalaya I soon found out that it's like eating white rice with a variety of main courses to neutralize the spiciness of the dish.

Second was menudo. Sounded disgusting at first, but I figured I'd had more things that were "disgusting" to people who came from places other than my own culture, compared to cow stomach lining. I mean c'mon, I come from a family that regularly ate raw fish, raw fish eggs, pickled squid guts, and slimy fermented beans as a delicacy. What was there to be afraid of? So I tried it. Spicy, which doesn't always agree with me, but since it was a soup, it went down smoothly. And the chewyness of the lining was much like familiar to me as fishcakes or gelatonized potato-starch (called konnyaku in Japanese). I haven't had much of this (possibly not enough in some people's opinion), but I haven't found a place nearby my house that makes this strangely headache-easing concoction. :(

Sweet and spicy mango chicken Malaysian-style, along with a fantastic fried fish with a sweet and spicy sauce. At the time I wasn't a big fish fan, so it was a bit of a step forward to have a whole fish asian-style. I've since mended my ways and tend to enjoy most kinds of fish.

Ox-tail soup. The idea didn't thrill me, plus I've never been the biggest fan of cartilage and the like, but it was quite tasty.

I'm still not a fan of pig colon (hello slight taste of poop), nor blood tofu, even doused in highly spicy shanghai sauces.

I had Jambalaya for the first time about 3 months or so ago. I had never heard of the song before until my roommate had me listen to it.

Some of the biggest and frightening things I have tasted is Sushi, and some of my Chinese friends somewhat interesting cooking. Honestly, I don't even know what they put into most of their stuff.

My favorite and best experience was having Vietnamese food for the first time. Mmmmmm... so good.

Haha, I had jambalaya several years ago; it's GREAT stuff <3

One of the strangest things I've eaten was chicken feet a few weeks ago. My friend took me to Dim Sum, and there was a plate of them. I automatically knew what they were (I see them in the market every now and then), and I was a little squeamish, but I tried it anyway.

It was an interesting texture, but it felt like eating chicken skin, so I didn't like it too much. Still, I'd try it again should the opportunity arise.

Eating chicken feet is all about the sauce. I don't care too much for the texture, and the flavor (at least when I've had it) comes almost solely from the sauce it's doused in.

Shark n' bake comes to mind.

I've (unfortunately) only had a a few times because my father hated beaches with a passion. If I recall correctly, the shark was rather salty (the flavorful kind), flaky, and just downright good! The bake it was wrapped in had an "inundated with grease" taste, but in a good way. Soft and chewy too.

(Chicken feet? Is there any meat on that stuff? And jambalaya is actually pretty easy to make. If you want to cheat, just buy a package at the grocery that reads "Jambalaya" [there's one around here with a black guy wearing a chef's hat on it], cut up some sausage and chicken throwing whatever else you want in there as well)

Oh man, I had a lot of experiences with oddities. Some include:

- Ox tongue which has a rubbery texture. It's hard to chew so I usually take half of it and eat it in small pieces.

- Pork blood's stew. Man, this one struck me strikingly odd at first (ironically, this is also from the same culture I grew up on) and hadn't tasted one in years. I can't really describe the taste personally but it left me stunned.

- What many call "Balut" or a nearly-fertilized steamed duck-egg which I grew up also having. Like the above statement, it's pretty damn odd but very tasty when I got used to it.

And more. I'll relate more when I remember.

Barbeque lemon grass chicken is the most amazing vietnamese food in the world. Thier soups are really good too, but lemon grass chicken is where it's at. Not to hot about thier sandwiches though.

Durian. Is. The. Most. Amazing. Fruit. In. The. World. Seriously you think it smells bad but you give it one chance and bam it's like crack. You can't get enough of it. It's the big spikey fruit that grows on trees btw.

I've still never been able to bring myself to try durian. Too dang stinky.

Of course, stinky bean curd is yummy, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite. :p

I had lamb shank (possibly for the first time) today. I discovered I didn't like it. It was very tender, but something about the flavor of it didn't please me too well. Kinda has too much of a "gamey" flavor to it, which I didn't care too much for.

Could just be because I'm coming down with a slight head cold. I'll be more than willing to try again if the reason why lamb didn't taste good to me was it's just because my tastebuds are under the weather tonight.

I had shark soup at a wedding about four years ago, but the experience wasn't so good. I don't think I enjoyed the soup in general, and the idea of shark meat didn't make the experience any better.

I also tasted jambalaya for the first time two years ago, and I've liked it since then.

Shark soup? Shoulda had a bake instead, and made it fish soup. Seriously, the best soup/stew I've ever had was fish soup. It was, so absolutely perfect. It was soupy, and stewy at the same time. The consistency was so that the liquid would bead up on the vegetables and meat, and get an ever so slight skin to it when you'd scoop up a spoonful. It was also slurpy, and had just the right amount of pleasing greasy goodness to it. And the meat! Was it ever so tender! And this is fish I'm talking about! I've never had fish like that before in my life (and probably never will again, sadly). I usually don't care for seafood either!

Nah, you tasted it alright. Lamb has quite a distinct taste to it. The texture is quite singular as well: flaky, yet tender. Usually kinda dry too.

When I was growing up, when ever my parents ordered Chinese food, it would ALWAYS be shrimp chow mien. So, all my life, I thought that Chinese food was ONLY shrimp chow mein. I remember when I took my first g/f out to eat (somewhere that had to be cheap, obviously haha) We went to a Chinese resturant by her house. Now, this was the first time I had ever been in a Chinese resturant. Usually, my mom or dad would pick it up on the way home from work. I remember my g/f coming back with General Tso's chicken.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Chinese food," she sadi.

"No, it is not," I replied "Chinese food is shrimp chow mein"

But I tasted it and it was great! I never had anything even remotely spicy before that day. I still order General Tso's everytime I have Chinese....although I DO switch it up on occasion...

I don't want my son to think that Chinese food is ONLY General Tso's chicken.

Unagi was pretty tasty.

That's actually a fairly interesting story. It shows that, yeah, a lot of what people know is entirely subjective, often through no fault of their own.

Want to know what's ironic though? General Tso's isn't actually authentic Chinese food. In fact, it's often the one dish referenced when speaking on the differences between American-Chinese and authentic Chinese dishes because it is relatively unknown back there. A lot of what we know as Chinese food today, was brought about to cater to the tastes of Americans over the years (which is why so much of it is fried and MSG-laden).


Wow. You've summarized my post quite succinctly. Props. (why didn't I just say it like that?)

...and seriously? I don't think I've ever had any before. What's it like?

(I knew someone was going to post that sooner or later; whether they've had any is a different question)

I have a friend who is Chinese and he brings me to an authentic chinese resturant for dim sum on the weekends. The food there is nothing like the food served in Chinese-American resturants. You are right, Unagi. Real Chinese food is so awesome.

My rule of thumb is, if you go into a Chinese resturant and see all American people eating there, and the waiters/waitresses are speaking English, you are going to get the American-Chinese food; if you go into a Chinese resturant and it is full of Chinese people, SPEAKING Chinese, chances are you are in for a treat :)

Luckily I love both Chinese food and American-Chinese food. I get in moods for either one periodically, so it's nice when I have access to both.

Right now I'm really craving homemade fried noodles, northern-China style.

The only really exotic thing I've ever had was sushi. I love freaking out my best mate with the raw fish sushi because she says it makes her feel ill just looking at it ^_^ I was a little nervous the first time I tried it but now I'm addicted.

I really can't think of anything else. I've had Miso and Wonton soup but it wasn't really much to write home about. This thread's really inspired me to try new things. I've been stuck in a food rut :(

Lol, it's funny cuz it's true...

I've eaten sushi, just the rolls, though, not the real raw fish. My wife is Japanese, so I guess I will eventually work up to it, haha.

I enjoy all Asian foods. Korean food is awesome if you like spicy foods. The problem is trying to figure out what to order.

Indian food is good, too. Although, after eating Indian food I blow my nose for the rest of the night...

Indian food, I can find (although you have to tell them to make it spicy otherwise they'll wussify it, seeing as the general American dislikes it that way). What I've been seriously missing is good Mexican food. Granted, Mexican food is fairly simple stuff, but it's near impossible to find any place on the East Coast that makes it any good! It's either too bland, lard-laden -just lacks flavor!

I actually haven't had proper Chinese food for a long time; it's just something I happened to remember. And I do like what they serve at American-Chinese restaurants, well, unless they misuse the MSG.

Well... my trick to ordering Chinese food is having someone take me (who actually understands the region of chinese spoken at that restaurant) and have them order. I don't need to know what's in the food, so long as it's not too greasy and it's not going to cause me cancer. I have great faith in my friends' taste buds. :D Same goes for Korean food, but most Korean-owned restaurants around my area know there're a lot of Japanese that live in the area so they're kind enough to put Japanese translations in their menus. It's really funny actually; I've seen Korean menu's with Chinese and Japanese translations but not a single word in English. :P

I think the trick to first-time experiences is that if you're introducing someone to a totally new culinary experience, make sure they get the real, authentic deal.

For Example:
Let me know when you're in Los Angeles area, I'll point you to the best place to start off on the best Albacore sushi on the planet (for a very reasonable price, even)! :)

Additional Spam:
I actually like the chewy-type texture. Whenever I have had chicken feet it's more of the texture I enjoy while I eat it rather than the flavor that's masking the feet itself.

Next had this jambalaya business, but I know that I can't handle spicy foods, so I stray far away from that stuff.

Though there was this one time I tried my African roommate's rice and stew... it was rather interesting.

It was made with a small orange pepper that you can buy at the store and it was the most spicy thing I've tasted to this date. I took one tiny little pinky-dot taste of it and it burned the living heck out if mouth. Eventually due to lack of variety of flavor I adapted and was able to eat it without too many problems.

Ooh, was it a Habanero Pepper? I heard those are one of the spicest things on the PLANET (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habenero)

Jambalaya isn't too terribly spicy; if anything, it's more salty than spicy (although I've only eaten it a few times...)

There's this Korean dish that's kinda like a sausage...only not.

I don't remember the name, but it's purple (yes, PURPLE...ish) with some sort of clear noodles inside it, among other things. It's been a while since I had it, but I think it tasted like filth :(

At a family reunion type of luncheon I got eat some grape leaves (arabic food?) it had a lot of vingar kicks into it but it was good. (Note I hate vingar) I also got to tag along some fishing trips and I brought home albacores, lobsters and lots of fish. (free) albacore sashimi and lobster sashmi is soooooooooooooo good.

Taste that I don't like: Potato Salad, and one hone homecoming, I went to this small beachside resturant for dinner and I ordered veal with something and it was like slabs of turkey or chicken with some sauce that looked like barf. It tasted HORRIBLE. Everyones food were just fine, just mine was ecky.