Do you eat/drink outside of your comfort zone?

[Big Calhoun]

Do you eat and drink outside of your comfort zone? Most of us probably dealt with one or two main types of cuisine growing up. For me, it was down home Southern and West Indian cooking. But as I got older, I branched out and I really enjoy a wide variety of foods. Por ejemplo:

Bubble Tea...from asia. Flavored tea with tapiaca balls (bubbles) at the bottom.

Samosas...Indian...really, alot of Indian food I like. But I can eat meat samosas (turnovers/patties) all day. Lassi is another favorite...a drink made with yougurt.

Vietnamese/Chinese/Thai food...each type of cuisine has it's own little nuances. Vietnamese food has got to be the strongest flavor I've encoutered from Asian food. Thai is one the most interesting cuisines.

'Critters'...racoon, possum, snake, gator, squirel, rabbit, bear, elk... You'd be surprised at how many southerners, country folk, and hunters can't eat 'game' meat.

So how about you, will you try to eat outside of what you're used to?

[Az.]

I will eat pretty muh anything...I grew up eating copious amounts of french food, snails frogslegs and a whole range of seafood
I like all types of food...indian, thai, mexican...anything really....I will try pretty much anything

The only thing I wont eat is Gherkins and tripe

[Big Calhoun]

Tripe is some good stuff!!! I'll admit, it's not much to look at and smell. But with the right seasonings and some red/orange scotch bonnet peppers...I'll throw down!

The one thing I can't bring myself to eat, at all, from any culture...are brains. I've been offered them at an Indian (Monkey) and Colombian (Cow) restuarant...can't do it...just the thought...

[Gothen]

I will eat almost anything as long as onion is not an apparent flavor. I gag and vomit at the smell of onions. They can be IN the food, I just can't taste them. Like in pasta's or curry.

I am half Pakistani, and even when my dad left me at age 4, I still visited his family all of the time, and my mom had even picked up recipes from them. I was raised on Pakistani food.

At the same time, my grandfather was a Mexican immigrant and so my grandma cooked nothing but Spanish food, so my mom has even more Mexican recipes.

And then you have my brother's family, from Tennesee. They are into huuuge homecooked meals like the family in The Nutty Professor (the one with Eddie Murphy). The only difference is, they're all weightlifters and bikers, so instead of overweight people, you are bigger than Hulk Hogan.

I've tried so many different kinds of food, though. I'll try anything as long as onions aren't really involved. =)

[birdgirl73]

I'll give anything a fair try, and I mean pretty much anything. I've done a lot of traveling and have tried everything I could on those travels. I'm not much for brains, either, although that was something my Louisiana farmer granddad used to scramble up with eggs in the mornings. And I can pass on crawfish, too, for some reason. Just don't like the texture or flavor. Menudo's good, so I guess I can say I like tripe.

I love Indian food of all kinds, including samosas, and I adore Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. Kim-chee is never going to be something I develop a taste for, however.

I think my favorite cuisines are Italian, Indian, and Spanish (from Spain rather than Mexcio). Followed closely by home-cooking like collard greens and cornbread.

[Fengzi]

I lived in China for a while and my in-laws all still live there. I'm not Chinese though, so I've done a lot of eating out of my "comfort zone". I've eaten everything from jellyfish to sea cucumber to tripe to still living shrimp. I always try to keep an open mind and will try everything at least once. Some like jellyfish, have been great. Some, like sea cucumber, are disgusting. If I didn't eat things that were nasty looking or disgusting sounding I would have missed out on a lot of really good stuff.

One of the things I like best about living in the San Francisco area is that we have such a huge mix of cultures and so many different foods. I have Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian(really good), Korean, etc etc restuarants all only a few miles away. Great when you get the munchies.

[Gothen]

Kim-chee is never going to be something I develop a taste for, however.


Birdgirl, you're breaking my heart, here! Kim-chee is absoLUTELY one of my favorite flavors!