Keep in mind too that this show is American, and so most of its viewers will not be directly familiar (as opposed to by reputation) with haggis, which I understand he's going to watch being made. That might be tough going even for a sophisticated Scotsman!

The duck egg thingie is called "balut" and I don't know if I could even watch someone eat it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut .

I ate a guinea pig in Peru. Yum-O!

Bizarre? I'm south-east asian asian, we put the 'arr' in Bizzare. Pig ear, Pig tounge, chicken feet (which tastes surprisingly good), pork intestine and stomach (if cleaned well- tastes really great too), cicadas, milipede, centipedes, coagulated snake blood, snake meat, monitor lizard, bats... the list goes on and on...

I love it.."put the arr in bizarre!!" Don't forget the jellyfish!

At a street stand in Sumatra I ordered a few satay skewers and ate them before thinking to ask what kind of meat. It was dog! Eww..

You know what though? You'd be surprised at some of the delicacies here. I was maybe... 12 when I had my first stir-fried bats with soy sauce and chilli. It didn't occur to me (as to any teenager) to ask what it really was I was eating, but I was hooked!

Toads are great, too, fried with chopped onion, ginger and soy sauce.

I must admit- some delicacies may potentially be hurting. I believe once the police raided a restaurant- for the restaurant served tiger meat. Luckily they managed to save a few cubs. Also some species of animals are now on the verge on extinction- like some types of anteaters and seat turtles. With locals alike hunting them down for their hides, eggs, etc.

Have you heard about Durians? The King of all fruits? They are around the size of a bowling ball, and the shell are full of spikes (yikes!). But when you crack the shell, you get fruits which have a really pungent smell. I still remembered the documentary I watched over some travel channel, how some westerners were asked to taste the fruit. One positively regurgitated what seems to be his lunch, the rest pinched their nose before they tried, and the host chewed at it a little before spitting it out. Surprisingly, I (and plenty of people) really enjoy it!

Also, Durian is a curse to all hotel and flight management, as their smell linger up to hours in a conditioned room.

Just a fun fact- Durians grow on trees. Once the season arrives- people avoid the plantation like a plague- lest you want tonnes of spiked bowling balls raining down on you.

I remember that my hotel in Singapore had signs posted that prohibited guests from entering with durian. And one rolled around on the floor of a car once and the spikes stabbed me in the toe! We can even get durian in New York now..and durian ice cream! I like mangosteen better, though.

Durian is very strange and fantastic. It's hard to explain how something that smells of rotting flesh can be so delicious, but it just seems to draw you in; you want to fill yourself with it. Mmmm. But really weird.

Mileaday...

Just wanted you to know that you've given me a yen for scrapple ! I love the stuff, but have to make my own (lotta work), so I haven't had any in ages.

Never had bats, but have enjoyed alligator, snake and fried grasshoppers.
Didn't like Durians though.
Pigeon pie is called Pastilla in Morocco - and is absolutely delicious.

Gee, now I'm hungry and it's after midnight here in Provence....

Patricia

Honestly? Durians in New York? And someone here actually enjoyed it??? Oh my...

It really is a unique fruit. How I miss my durians... (There's no way in Hell Russians will ever import something as threatening as that- that's where I am 10 months in a year).

Well, my parents also mentioned another delicacy they encountered in China. In fact, it's pretty popular, called 'chou tou fu'. Or literally meaning smelly tofu. They just let tofu ferment in a room for weeks, by then you can see all types of mold and fungi all over the place. My father described the thing smelling like a garbage containing rotten carcasses. But the smell drew a huge crowd. And people who did accept the challenge to take a taste- were amazed at how wonderful it was. One picture my mother took was of my dad, eyes squinched, nose pinched, shivering in anticipation of what he expected to be disgusting- the next, his eyes popped, eyebrow raised, obviously surprised at the taste.

I also would never imagine how anyone would ever take blue cheese. They obviously are cheese left out too long they started to grow mold bluish in colour. But my friend made us pork chop one night with gravy made from the blue cheese- and I know now never again will I judge a book by its cover!

Well Aleckii I wish I could see the photos of your Dad witt that stinky tofu!
I still cannot get used to the idea of the bats, though.
I would guess you are not getting too many of those on the plate in Russia! It is is interesting how our conditioning affects our reaction to food. I read a travel book recently in which the writer described eating whale blubber in Japan. I am not sure I could convince myself to try that. But even some of the foods we ate in my own house must sound bizarre to some people. My father loved calves foot jelly, for example. Don't even ask me what that is..must have been the collagen of a cow's foot that had been cooked and chilled. And the liver, of course! We did not eat balut, of course, not being Filipino, but we did love the unfertilized "unborn" eggs from the chicken. And what do you know? These are all of a sudden an "in" thing among chefs in the US!

I just read someone's post on Italy describing how delicious baby veal bowels are! I am adventurous, so maybe I'll try it. My sister eats nothing out of the ordinary and we are traveling to Italy soon. Hmmm, maybe I'll get her to try it, by calling it something else. That's worse than when we were kids and I said "close your eyes and bite this candy"(it was an onion). I wonder why she doesn't trust me!
I once let a waiter convince me to eat pigeon in Provence. I'm a former New yorker and kept thinking of all those damn birds back there! It didn't help that he kept running his fingers across the table and cooing! They served the breast first, and it was grey and chewy. Then they served the rest and it had a sort of teriyaki type glaze. That was tasty. I guess it's mind over matter. I do however, love Bastilla!