The Friday Five on a Sunday

[nanila]

1. What is the most adventurous food you've ever tried?

For me, learning to enjoy spicy food has been the most adventurous activity. I used to flinch at the mere sight of a chilli flake. These days I can eat a madras curry.

2. What is the most adventurous food you'd be willing to try?

I haven't tried much in the way of cooked insect, but I've read that they are crunchy and delicious, so would like to try them someday. Keiki and I once saw an old video of David Attenborough eating a honeypot ant, and we'd both like to try that too.

3. Would you have a problem eating dog meat and why or why not?

Context is important here. If I needed protein and it was the only option, I'd eat it. Or if it would be culturally offensive to refuse something I was being served by my hosts. I don't draw the line on any particular food solely because of its source.

4. For the most part, do you consider your diet to be balanced?

Yes, although my portion sizes tend to be too large, so I'm working on reducing them.

5. Which is more appealing: being a vegetarian for the rest of your life or being a strict carnivore for the rest of your life?

Definitely the former. I would not like to experience the state of my digestion with the latter. With veg, fruit, grain and pulses, there is a lot more readily available variety, and if eggs and milk are allowed I would miss very little apart from seafood. The veggie substitutes for meat items these days are genuinely amazing, unlike twenty years ago.

Comments

[kirundo]

One of my vocational trainings was all about motivation and us having to convince our clients to change their ways and nobody does that super easily so there is a lot of resistance obviously. The trainer tried to show us how it feels by setting us up in pairs and handing out fried meal worms, grashoppers and a few other things and you had to convince the other person to give it a try.

I found mealworms were very nutty and chrunchy, wouldn't mind having them in a salad. Grashoppers on the other hand were very chrunchy but not nice. Soo chewy given you know it's just legs with nothing much to it. So yeah, the poor trainer had an easy victim with me :D

[nanila]

Ha, I can see how mealworm would be more appealing - crunchy exoskeleton, no legs. Grasshoppers have too many limbs!

[cactus_rs]

Who in the world would seriously want to be a carnivore for the rest of their lives? Like. How would you poop. I feel like anyone on that eg "lion diet" is either cheating or only on it short term because otherwise RIP (and tear) their guts.

[nanila]

Agreed, it doesn't sound sustainable. "The rest of your life" would probably be quite short.

[hilarita]

Having tried insects (mopane worms) on one visit to South Africa, I have to say I would not be keen to try them again.

[nanila]

Huh, they're actually caterpillars. I don't much care for the appearance of them on a plate. I'd probably want them to be disguised in a sauce.

[hilarita]

I can assure you that a sauce is not enough. It's not the taste of them that's the problem per se; I found that most of it was fine, but the texture of the legs was absolutely 100% revolting.

This was part of a formal dinner. I tried to drink a lot to forget, but I merely ended up with a hangover and an indelible memory.

[nanila]

Yeesh. That sounds awful in so many ways. I'm sorry you're stuck with that memory.

Mental note to avoid mopane worms.

[coffeetime]

I agree on the veggie substitutes. I'm partial to Quorn, mainly because it agrees with my fiddly insides.

I REALLY miss spicy food! I was such a hothead in my youth. Now just a couple of bites is enough to play hell with my innards. *sigh*

[nanila]

Having tetchy innards is a pain. Sorry to hear that you don't get to enjoy the spice any more. :(

[omnipotent]

Being carnivorous for the rest of one’s life sounds, frankly, really awful. But I love fruit and veggies so I guess that’s why such a lifestyle would be unappealing to me, not to mention sounds like a great way to invite gout and digestion problems.

I feel like spice tolerance has to be built up for a lot of people. Still hoping to someday get to eat spicy bulgogi.

[nanila]

I've been working on my spice tolerance for years. I'm happy it's paid off in terms of being able to try new foods but I'm not sure I want to take it any further - I don't want to be a competitive spice eater!