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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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. 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:

Quote:

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.

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:

Originally Posted by Drex

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.

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Cow Tongue stew is definitely something I've heard of, which I'm dying to try.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hmmm. I got curious, so here's what Poutine looks like:


I was speaking idiomatically.

I just had the opportunity to taste real authentic Indian food last weekend and I had chicken malatas(sp?) and lamb curry. I gotta admit, I haven't given much thought to my taste in favor of lamb much, but I was correct in saying that I'd be in the wrong to judge my preference on lamb based on just my first experience. The lamb curry was more like spicy lamb stew for me, and it was much much much more wonderful. The pungent smell of the lamb meat didn't bother me at all due to it being stewed in the powerfully spice/herb explosion curry stew.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?