Never had an emu or ostrich egg, but ostrich filet is something I liked (in NZ). Alpaca and llama are both absolutely delicious. And of course I like goat (ex-Caribbean resident as a child).

I'm always surprised at how many Americans don't eat lamb, or don't like it. It is often hard to find outside of holiday season in the major supermarkets. On our recent group tour in NZ I wanted to order it in restaurants, but it was usually something like a well done braised shank or roulade, not medium rare as it should be. We cooked at a few motels due to restaurant overcrowding. On request one night our leader bought some lamb pieces which were grilled (under my supervision) to perfection. Enjoyed by all but the two nonadventurous eaters. They had well-done steak, LOL.

I had ostrich filet in a restaurant around Greenville, SC. It was delicious. Around here, lamb is pretty easy to find throughout the year. Both sirloin chops and racks. Love lamb. I'd rather have a rack of lamb over a steak any day of the week. But I can understand why it turns off some people.

What about venison, pheasant, quail and fish?

Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.

Love eating local food wherever I go. New foods, old foods, all of it. I haven’t tried many burgers abroad but have been disappointed when I did. I read a post on Fodor’s once that said the grind is different in Europe, and that made sense to me.

Yeah there are definitely locals patronizing these chain restaurants or else there wouldn't be several outlets of them.

Definitely local people at McDonalds and Starbucks too.because they operate during times of the year when there aren't many tourists.

>> * bonus: ume juice, which is cold plum nectar from public drink dispensing machines in Japan= ambrosia on a hot summer's day.

Zebec, thanks for mentioning ume jusu. Had a meal that included ume fruit and loved it. Because of that, a week later I saw umeshu on a menu and ordered it. I was asked how I wanted it and the only word I understood was the Japanese pronunciation of "rocks" (rokusu maybe), I just threw up my hands and said whatever. She brought out a tall glass of plum wine mixed with some kind of soda on the rocks.

Anyway, you reminded me that I need to get some umeshu at the supamaketto.

Sweden is not a country with a food/eating out culture. The national dishes are burgers and their version of pizza. It’s an urban myth that Swedes eat pickled herrings or fish, maybe at Christmas they do. I find it a great country to lose weight in. There a few exceptions obviously but in the main it’s pretty dire.

Travelers may want to try healthy red sorrel juice. Originally a Caribbean drink, one may now find it throughout the Jamaican diaspora. We can get it here at a couple specialist booths within farmer's markets.
Strong in flavor, delicious in taste. We just found some fresh at London's Burra market this past summer ('Aunty Audreys Red Sorrel'), and assumedly it'd also be available in say I dunno, maybe Brixton.

I am done. the natural irie heights

Sorrel drink is made with those hibiscus (roselle) flowers you discovered, zebec. In Mexican markets and restaurants here and in Mexico, oddly enough, it is called "Jamaica".

Have a look at the Wikipedia entry for "hibiscus tea". It is a popular drink in many countries under different names.

Next time I visit Marukai market or Daisu I will look out for ume drink.

What about them? I made sure that other 3 adventurous eaters on the NZ tour tried venison when it was on the menu, they liked it. Farm raised and not very gamy but I had wild venison on a bun from a food truck that trip ( it was called a 'burger') and it was nice.

the locals in NZ cannot even afford to buy lamb, it is cheaper to buy in the UK and the US than it is here. I grew up eating it we had it two or three times a week. Probably in the last 40 years though most of the lamb produced here is exported and we pay at least that price or more in the supermarkets.

What do you pay for lamb shoulder chops? They are on sale this week at Aldi for USD 7.49/lb. Which reminds me I need to run over and see if they have sold out.

Is it just my imagination or....naw forget it.

For decades now, one has been able to sample hash brownies, cookies and balls in Amsterdam. Sometimes those are sold next to signs that warn folks not to consume the whole thing.
Jay from Palo Alto and I once sampled some of that yield there at the famed rock club, The Melkweg (Milky Way).
Both of us eedyawts were just then nursing broken hearts from recently bad romances back home. We expressed that sorrow with the manly tradition of ignoring warning signs---we both ate the whole damn thing.

I am done. the loooong night

What a great thread!

We always try new foods wherever we go, indeed we actively search them out. Food is a major part of travel. There is no better way of engaging with a culture or a country's people than through food whether that be eating, buying, cooking or just talking about it.

If you are going to eat meat (which I always am) then I am a fan of the "nose to tail" approach - someone mentioned beef cheeks - Yummy! Though I wasn't too fond of the cow face soup we had in Peru. No waste and the less well known /cheaper parts are often the tastiest. We make a point of learning all about other countries food and trying things we have never seen before. A few things we have just walked away from - raw duck embryo in Laos, dog, again in Laos (we are dog lovers), raw monkey brains (Hong Kong),Mondongo tripe (cow stomach) soup in Colombia wasn't great!. An unofficial delicacy when we lived in Sierra Leone was bush meat aka various types of monkey/chimpanzee - no thanks. We have eaten snake, many types of insect (inc ants, locusts, crickets, guinea pig) many types of raw fish. Formerly "exotic" meats like Kangaroo, Alpaca, Ostrich are readily available in restaurants and supermarkets here in London

We have spent countless hours in cookery classes in countries all around the world have major stashes of herbs and spices that we use to create dishes we have tried on our travels.

You do have to draw the line somewhere though. For me that is Macdonalds, BurgerKing and KFC....

I can buy alpaca, crocodile, kangaroo, venison, rabbit, quail, emu, duck, guinea fowl, and other game locally, both at a supermarket and specialist "game gourmet" outlets. I have both whole and boned quail in my freezer at the moment. I haven't seen pheasant locally on the Gold Coast, but there was a farm in the Barossa that specialised in them, so I imagine they are still available. I occasionally bought goose in Sydney, but either the goose wasn't prime quality/grown or the chef (me) didn't do it justice. Possibly leaning towards the latter. I'd be keen to have another go at cooking it if I can find a good supplier.

Lamb is quite expensive in Australia, but I can often buy a rack (8 points) for around $22-$24 on special. Mlgb - for comparison, Aldi loin chops are AUD 21.99/kg in the advertisement that came up when I googled just now. About AUD $10/lb.

The ones I bought at Aldi were not nice loin chops but rather shoulder chops. They were Australian source at $US 7.50/lb.
Vons has loin chops on sale at $9/lb for the next week but not sure of the country of origin.
Sprouts supposedly has NZ loin chops at $15/lb but whenever I go into that store I never see any.

whatever the locals are eating because it's a good way to understand another country..

Yes, that. I'm currently traveling in Asia, OD-ed on Indian & a good burger in an upscale restaurant here in Penang, which I rarely eat at home, was just the thing. A couple of days earlier lunch of lamb stew at the E&O.

I agree.
My Kiwi friends were able to have lamb as their farm had around 3,000 sheep, I think it was. I was there on the farm in the mid-90s in Te Houka on the South Island. I went during two different years. I remember the first morning that I woke up at their farmhouse and opened the fridge to a big piece of lamb dripping blood. It had just been slaughtered in the early morning, but due to jet lag, I didn't wake up until noon. I had prepared some beans and rice the day prior and put each into separate bowls and thank goodness had stuck a plate on top which caught the dripping lamb blood. My friends ate a lot of lamb the entire two weeks that I was at their farm. They were my parents' ages and their kids were my age. We would go out on long driving trips and they would pack up their car with a cooked leg of lamb stored on a wooden board and load it into the truck with bags of tomatoes, cucumbers, loaves of bread, hardboiled eggs, etc. They grew and raised a lot on their farm as it was massive. There were no places to stop to eat a meal in a lot of areas where we would be driving. So, it was take a whole meal and beverages along with us.

On Christmas Day, there was lamb, but my friend and his son-in-law got up early and went fishing and caught fish for me for the Christmas dinner. Delicious fish. I totally gave up meat in 1976. But, even when I ate meat, I detested the taste of lamb and I've been an adventurous eater since a child. My parents would cook leg of lamb and serve it with mint jelly which would turn my stomach. We ate all kinds of meat/poultry from venison to rabbit to cornished hens and about everything else as I grew up on a wide range of food. I remember a rattlesnake meat sandwich when I was around four years old and even though we lived in cities, we had different kinds of available meat/poultry.

In my early years of vacationing entire summers in Denmark and before I stopped eating meat, there was both pigeon (duer) and horse meat. I've eaten a lot of unusual food, even chocolate covered ants and grasshoppers bought right here in California when I was growing up.

Happy Travels!

I was disappointed by a steak in Scotland. I might have to go back and choose the restaurant wisely.

Best steak ever: Argentina. It is worth flying to Buenos Aires just for the bife de lomo. One day I had it for lunch, dinner, and then second-dinner around midnight after a tango show.

This thread is reminiscent of Baz's Fruit Thread back in the fall.
I am done. the pits

Guenmai, what is a "cornish hen" - I am originally from Cornwall and have never heard of them! I was watching a repeat of Frazier a few days ago and coincidentally he referenced them.

Argentina used to be all grass-fed beef about 15 years ago.

But more recently, now they are grain, particularly corn-fed now.

Cornish hens are just tiny chickens. According to Wikipedia they are a crossbreed with one of the ancestors ("Indian Game") developed in Cornwall.

Argentine steak is nothing special anymore. Now it's Uruguay.

Much of Argentinas beef production has been turn over to grain fed on feed lots. Still possible to get great beef in Argentina, just a question of going to the right places.

Agree with Uruguayan beef being a step ahead. I need we thought we had seen it all in Argentina until we visited the meat section of the main market in Montevideo, a regular temple to beef-

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Best beef ? mrwunfl. As a renowned Japanophile I would have thought you would have gone with Japan😉The Hida beef we had in Takayama was out of this world. Step up from even the world renowned Kobe beef.

That first foto Crellston--just fantastic.

Our meat memory is warthog in Zimbabwe. Was very surprised at how tasty it was.
I am done. the fork

Yes, the beef in that Montivdeo market is excellent.

Never had warthog zebec. Tastes like pork???
You reminded me of a trip to Nairobi where we ate in the famous “Carnivore “ restaurant. The waiters were constantly circling ready to load diners plates with such games delicacies as Antelope, Zebra even Giraffe!

We lived in west Africa for a while when volunteering. Part of the deal was to “ live like the locals” so we got to eat new stuff like “ groundnut stew” and potato leaf curry - surprisingly good.

Do you try new foods when traveling?
 

I love trying new foods in anywhere but first I confirmation on veg or nonveg because i don't like non veg.

We always try the local foods while traveling. Part of the experience! No burgers etc for us.

I grew up eating lamb as our family is of Basque decent and my dad was a sheep man. I try to buy a lamb for the freezer every few years or so. Love it! I find it crazy that lamb is so expensive in NZ and locals can’t afford it.

I prefer beef or lamb being finished out on grain. Let’s them put on more fat and add to that delicious marbling in the meat. The flavor is in the fat!

I had some ground lamb in my freezer from the last lamb we bought and made lamb burgers. Delicious! Not crazy about shoulder chops, so I usually cut them up for Basque Lamb Stew.

Those who may be Quebec-bound may want to search out so-called 'Labrador Tea'. It also goes by Innuit Tea plus Northern Tea and various other names. It is made from rhododendron and typically mixed with other substances. In our upcoming TR, we'll refer to the controversy surrounding that tea, and how some feel that its definition and quality control need better tightening. We bought three versions from different sources.
effect IT function brane grammar and luckily did not our

done maend

From recently threads like this one and some over on Trip Advisor I realize I am simply not as food-focused while traveling as many others who post here are.

Sure I'll try something local if it sounds good. But I don't eat things just for the sake of being 'adventurous'. Like blood sausage or horse steaks in Switzerland, not interested. While the fondue, raclette, filet de perche, various street prepared 'sausage' were all delish. Love local wines, bakeries, delis, etc. that's more my speed than seeking out something purposefully exotic.

+1

"effect IT function brane grammar and luckily did not our

done maend":lol: hilarious zebec!

I have a funny South African game meat story. At a group dinner at the Cattle Baron in Skukuza (Kroger National Park), one person ordered two mains, including a Springbok shank. As usual my conservative-eating friend ordered her well-done beef steak. Dishes arrived one at a time. Of course the Springbok orderer got my friend's steak, started eating and proclaimed, "my this Springbok is tender!". He didn't even notice it wasn't a shank! When his rare steak order was served much later to my friend, the error was finally realized. It was a nightmare to deal with the restaurant realizing they had made the error, wanted to charge the conservative friend for a second steak. We did get it straightened out and it is now one of those "remember when" stories.

I do try new foods and beverages while traveling.

Had haggis in Scotland and it as delicious.

In Fiji I was trying to get kava so a shop sales person took me to her place to a back room. Three Fijians were sitting around with a bowl of kava on a table and I was offered some. Wow! However as I recall you have to clap 2 or 3 times first them down the hatch. After some, don't recall how much but more than one sampling I felt kind of lightheaded when trying to stand. :lol:. I was ok after that, tongue tingled and you feel kind of "peppy." ;).

Tried that infamous fruit durian twice. I don't get how it's so wildly popular in SE Asia :p. Give me a mango any day.

Tried kopi luwak coffee in Bangkok for $20.00 for one cup just to experience it. Don't get that either. I'll take Colombian, Kona, Blue Mountain, and many others.

Tried kangaroo jerky in Sydney. Not bad at all, kind of gamey but not off putting though the reindeer sausage in Alaska was too gamey for me.

My Filipino friends have a dish which they call euphemistically "chocolate pudding." It's pork cooked in pigs blood. Pretty good too.

Basically I'll try anything once just to see what it's all about.

I wonder if people who won't try new things (whether it's different vacation spots or local foods) are wired differently. I know I am also a bit of a thrill seeker and get bored easily. Plus I am curious about the rest of the world, and not afraid of a little bit of dirt and chaos. Living in Southern California and working with people from all over the world who would bring their home cooked dishes to our various pot lucks, and friends taking me to restaurants of their country has exposed me to many of these so-called exotic dishes (I like the jellyfish rubber-band salads!) As my mother used to say, just take a bite and if you don't like it you don't have to eat the rest.

It is Burns Night next week so Haggis is in the supermarkets every where at the moment, here in England as well as Scotland. Very similar to the equally West Country faggots.
had to smile about the Phillipino Chocolate Pudding! I am with the late great Anthony Bourdain. Blood sausage is a thing of beauty whether it be called black pudding, boudin nor or whatever it is delicious and it is always good to use every part of the beast, though I have tried but failed to fall involve with pigs trotters.

Never heard of kava JW, I assume you are referencing some form of mild hallucinogenic effect? I think I may have tried something similar one NYE in a village the middle of nowhere in Laos - I was ok till it was time to get up and walk!

mlgb - does your conservative friend now eat rare steak?

Well people have visceral reactions to some things which other people don't.

When something makes you want to retch, it's not learned behavior.

Sampling local foods is one of the main reason that I travel. I've tried everything from live baby octopus (Seoul) to donkey and horse (popular in southern Italy) to grasshoppers and iguana (Mexico) to sea anemone (Cadiz area, Spain) to sea anenome (Catalunya area, Spain) to cod cheeks (Basque Spain) to alligator (Florida Keys) to camel (Mali) to kudu (South Africa). With the exception of the iguana stew (Guerrero state) and the grasshoppers (Oaxaca), all the dishes made from those ingredients were delicious.

I'd never think to order hamburger in Italy, but I did so not long ago in Rome. The waiter in my hotel's excellent restaurant (where we had a free dinner included in our rate) recommended it to me, and I believe that it was the best hamburger I've ever eaten, made from Piemontese beef. Truly sublime!!

I think the only time I've been truly put off by a food was in Medan, Sumatra. I came upon a man grilling meat sate at a street stand. I ordered one and took a bite before asking the vendor what kind of meat it was. His answer: Anjiing. Dog meat!!!! I did not finish the satay.