USNR: I agree with you on all your points, but will stand to defend the honor of the poor okra. My Louisiana-born late father (much missed by all us kids and especially my mother-- they loved each other to the point of hand-holding and giggling as giddy 60-somethings) loved to eat boiled okra-- they were cooked to softness but without losing their shape, and he'd sprinkle ordinary white vinegar over them and eat as happy as a king. I didn't get it. I do like "smothered okra" (sliced, slow cooked with tomatoes-- their acidity cuts the "sliminess" of the okra and brings out the sweet flavor); and fried okra is absolutely wonderful.

SusaninToronto mentioned poutine, which is an appalling Québecois delicacy. I have tried it-- fries, curd cheese, cream gravy-- and can attest to it being even worse than it sounds. Mom and Dad lived in Montréal for a time, and we loved the food there (I visited quite often)-- except for poutine.

I got slammed in another thread a while back for mentioning that in West Virginia and western PA, they put french fries in large salads. It's terrible (AND tacky), so I am daring to mention it again.

Then, of course, there's pickled pig's feet....

Philadelphia area - scrapple.
It's just as it sounds, leftovers from the slaughterhouse floor held together with highly seasoned sawdust. I think it's Atkins friendly though.

BlingBling: I forgot about scrapple. You are 100% right. The ultimate Mystery Meat, and pretty much inedible. I've eaten well in the Phillie area-- but scrapple is just plain bad.

My DH grew up in New Mexico (and I lived there for a bit), so I was exposed to a few different foods in the Mexican and New Mexican culture. I agree - posole is excellent and menudo is nasty!

A week after I got married, my MIL fed me biscochitos, which are Christmas cookies, as a way to "initiate" me into the Christmas traditions of their culture. It's basically a sugar cookie with minced cow's tongue in the middle and sugar sprinkled on top. She loves them, but I had to force it down. On the flip side, I love pork rinds (fried pig skin) and chicharrones (fresh fried pig skin) in my burritos. Yum!

Forgot to mention that one year while visiting Scotland with the kids, they asked about haggis. I told them it was Scottish scrapple. Has anyone read the ingredient list on a package of scrapple??? Totally gross!

Don't forget Rocky Mountain oysters!

How about this German delicacy from Wisconsin? (Being of German ancestry I remember my parents cooking this up during my childhood but but never tasted it.)

HEAD CHEESE

Pig's blood
Fatty meat from pork head,snout,
shoulder,tongue, heart, and skin
Onion, Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pork skin [and other meat] with the onion and bay leaves. Grind
up half of the cooked skin, and finely cube the other half. Also cube the
other meat. Combine the skin, meat, blood, and seasonings and mix well.
Stuff the mixture into an inverted, cleansed pork stomach. Simmer, at 175 to 185 degrees F, for 2 hours.

Oysters on the half shell are a strange food when you stop to think about it. Also Turducken (turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken), another Cajun treat. Opihi (sort of a small snail I think) is a Hawaiian delicacy. I really would stay away from the fried cow brain sandwich given recent events. Of course there are many ethnic delicacies--I'll never forget my wife's face the time she found out she had ordered pig's blood soup off the dim sum cart; chicken's feet were more obvious.

I don't know how strange this is, but it's certainly regional. In New Mexico, the locals top a fine Mexican meal with sopapillas: fried flatbread, which you tear open and fill with honey. Mmmmmmmm.

I must also defend okra, as my sis-in-law makes a KILLER pickled okra. They're crispy, tangy, and oh-so-garlicky! No slime here...

RJW -- you forgot the only truly Southern California specialty: grunion! Big grunion running parties take place when the grunion are running (the next one in March). There's even a website for this: www.grunion.org. It explains how to cook them -- in flour and yellow corn meal. But you have to catch them with your bare hands!

On my most recent trip back from SC, I bought some boiled peanuts from a roadside stand for the way home. I had never tried them, and wanted something of SC for the trip back to PA ... off and on throughout the ride home I ate them ... my sweetie declined my frequent offers to share with him. Don't you know that an hour away from home, after 9-10 hours of straight driving (we stopped a little to pee and eat fast food), I looked into the bag to see what was left and I found a great BIG BOILED GRASSHOPPER .... yuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkk!

I calmly showed my sweetie, he offered sympathy, and we stopped at the very next available place so I could get a fresh beverage. EEEEEwwwww.


Another: In Oaxaca Mexico (not in America, I know), they have a saying ... if you haven't had "chapulines", you haven't been to Oaxaca. Well, the first time I had them, I did not know that it was a bunch of wee little "cricket" type insects that the locals catch in big baskets full, then they season them with lime and chile and use it to fill tacos and such. The second time I had it, I knew what I was having, and I had it because I met a girl who was about to leave Oaxaca after having spent 8 weeks there learning the Spanish language, and she had never had them!

Lastly, what's wrong with french fries on a nice big salad? It's so delicious!! Here in Pittsburgh we have a "Primanti's" sandwich: fresh slices of Italian bread with your choice of sandwich filling (usually cold cuts and cheese fried up on a grill, or Ragin' Cajun chicken breast or the famous cheesesteak - which I will never eat!), then a big handful of fresh cut french fries, then a big handful of vinegary coleslaw, topped with another slice of bread. (You can even add a fried egg for less than a dollar). Add hot sauce to that and you might think you've finally reached nirvana! This is frequently consumed at 2 am as the bars are closing!

Wagon Wheels in Julian, CA. These are deep fried pickle chips. They were yummy!

I grew up in Minnesota and all the Scandinavians (yes I am Scandinavian too) had Lutefisk for Christmas. I just hate it. Think it is becoming less common as the older people have died and their kids aren't serving it anymore. We always had ham and meatballs along with it so the rest of us would have something to eat. I love those Scandinavian Christmas cookies and breads tho.

I have friends from Oaxaca and their family down there sends care packages every once in awhile - and they get so excited when there are chapulines in the box. I think it's gross, but they love them.

I am originally from Wisconsin, though I don't think this dish is regional. It's a recipe that my great-grandmother from Germany used to make and was passed down - though beyond my aunts and uncles no one eats or makes it. I'm not sure how to spell it, but it sounds like "saltz". Basically its veal and pork boiled in vinegar and water until the meat turns grey. (Yes, grey!) Then its ground up and molded into a loaf. The remaining liquid is somehow made inot a gelatinous material (like the canned hams) and spead on top. Slice and serve with crackers.

Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!!

To stick with the "blood" theme, my Polish grandfather (though lived 80+ years here) used to eat duck blood soup-no way I would even try it!

i've also heard of some Asian dishes that have pork blood in them. Soups have cubes of blood in them. Sounds tasty.

Oh my gosh! Something must be wrong with us. My family loves poutine and scrapple. My daughter insists on scrapple for her birthday, my son asks for poutine on his.

Bar-ba-coa. I had this in Mexico and have now found it in Tampa. This is meat stripped from a roasted steerhead. It is very gamey tasting and the taste is cut with cilantro and lime. It is a Sunday tradition and is also found in tacos and other wraps. It is...gamey. But I'm starting to like it. My husband loves it.

Kentucky Hot Browns are wonderful. I had one for the first time while visiting a KY State Park while getting engaged. I make them myself now (for special occasions) as individual casseroles with toast, ham, turkey, mornay sauce, shredded sharp cheddar, tomato slices and bacon. Heart Attack City!

Also love our hometown favorite Cincinnati Chili. Spaghetti, chili (greek inflenced with cinnamon & chocolate), onions, beans, shredded cheddar, hot sauces, oyster crackers - that a 5 Way. Yum.

Oh, and can't forget beignets in New Orleans loaded with powdered sugar at Cafe du Monde. The stuff that dreams are made of.