Well I’d disagree with Taiwanese eating mostly Chinese foods when living overseas. I pretty much accept any type of foods (Middle Eastern, Mexican, Italian, Mongolian, Jp, Korean, Indian, etc). When I first live in US, I ate McDonalds, BK, and Burger Kings constantly due to convenience and low cost, now I avoid those places like plague (mainly burgers, pizza, and fries) as well as Chinese food served here (grease, MSG, too many breaded and fried stuff). However I love steak, barbecue ribs, as well as cajun foods down south. If I want anything oriental, I actually cook at home. Not surprisingly, more and more Americans are steering away from burgers and fries and switch to other healthier alternatives.
Speaking of ethnic foods, I’ll be in Taiwan next week, does anyone know a good place to get Indian food? I’m talking about real authentic style in a cafe setting rather than a formal, expensive setup.
though i enjoy both, i would have to say that blue cheese ranks much higher on the gross scale than stinky tofu. it reeks, it’s squishy, tastes strong as hell, and it has MOLD all over it. and you guys bitch about weird taiwanese foods.
yeh, i guess, it’s a culture thing, in the long run.
I ate some stir fried rat meat yesterday at a pub in Keelung. They call it tian su rou san bei. Very tasty, i must say. Sorry about that, Mickey and Minny. But you guys taste good!!!
TIGERMAN: one question: why does these foods DISGUST you so much. Spill the beans. Am curious. Disgust? Why such a harsh word for food millions of people love?
Okay, you don’t have to like it. But why do you find it disgusting? How were you raised? In a white bread Wonder bread cellophane warpped household?
TIGERMAN: one question: why does these foods DISGUST you so much. Spill the beans. Am curious. Disgust? Why such a harsh word for food millions of people love?
Okay, you don’t have to like it. But why do you find it disgusting? How were you raised? In a white bread Wonder bread cellophane warpped household?[/quote]
I think I already answered that question when I indicated that food preferences and aversions were largely due to cultural factors.
No, I was raised in a very open type household. My father’s professional associates were a black man and a Jew. My oldest and best friend is a Jew. While growing up my family hosted several exchange students from Europe so that I now have a Swedish sister, a German sister, a German brother and a Norwegian sister. I married outside my race and live in a foreign country. Just because I subjectively find certain foods “disgusting” doesn’t mean nor should it even imply that I was raised in any type of household. What would you think if I told you that I think certain cheeses are “disgusting”?
My Chinese father-in-law eats nothing but Northern Chinese food and believes that everything else is crap. Do you think he was raised in a “white bread Wonder bread cellophane wrapped household”?
I wouldn’t call this the most disgusting dish, but it’s probably the most unusual I’ve ever heard of – had squid eyes for dinner tonight. Or at least that’s what the lady at the cafeteria said they were, and they looked like it. Small, round white things with what looked like optic nerves dangling off of them, kind of how the various tendons and whatnot dangle off of the severed duck tongues. But the actually tasted pretty good. . . for squid eyes.
I used to work as a tour guide for Taiwanese tourists back home. At least the tourists prefer Chinese fare - by a very wide margin.
Take the MRT to the Nanjing/Fuxing station. When you get off, cross Nanjing road and walk towards Dunhua. Turn right down the first lane (behind UWCCB). Then turn left down the first alley (look for a parking lot). 50 meters down, you will find an Indian restaurant called “Kunming”. Their lunch sets are good and their daal is great.
tigerma, thanks for the background info. yeh, you is right, disgusting is as digusting does. SMILE.
true, some food smells are disgusting. But i still maintain that no food in itself tastes disgusting, just the smell or thought of it. try it, you will like it. SMILE.
okay, i take your point and agree with you. You are an international mensch of the first order! More power to you and yours!
I voted for “bitter melon” as the nastiest–owever I think #1 should reallly go to “any kind of Taiwanese bakery products”. Those stores like “Dan Bi”, Min Xin, etc. have the nastiest bakery products I could imagine. They’re all oily and seem to have some kind of perfume involved, as well.
For me, fry up that bad smelling tofu anytime–at least it’s not those bakerys’ smells…
ok, this is a rumor I heard long ago – that stinky tofu vendors felt that their product was unhealthy/ dangerous to eat and so didn’t want their kids, etc eating it.
Also, I am sure that many years ago in the Taipei Times, there was a report of Taipei health officials catching stinky tofu vendors “fishing” for tofu in sewers and canals.
The frying removes all the carciogens created by the fermentation, or so they say. Given the fact that many cultures like fermented foods, such as beer, surstroemning, stilton cheese and what have you not, I don’t think there are any to start with.
If I fried stinky tofu for a living, I would not eat it too often either.
[quote=“Diego”]Also, I am sure that many years ago in the Taipei Times, there was a report of Taipei health officials catching stinky tofu vendors “fishing” for tofu in sewers and canals.
Any help here? corroboration ? [/quote]
Hmmm, in order to get the right taste, you need to put the bean curd thru a rather comples process, which I think sewers can’t really replicate. Also note that they usually start up with whole bean curds, and those are rarely thrown away.
I think it’s a rumor, most likely limited to the foreign segment of the population.
I eat stinly tofu from time to time. The taste does not bear any resemblance to the smell.
gives me the chance to add my vote for stinky dofu! smells like shit. tastes ike i imagein shit would taste. no comparison to cheese ( and i have tried stilton, taleggio, roquefort, etc)
most of the rest is tolerable, except for oysters (here).
i LOVE oysters, which is not surprising seeing as i come from sydney where we are spoiled with the best oysters in the world. the eating of them is almost a holy ritual, and the care taken in their farming, transport, opening and selecction is part of the reason that makes them so great.
oysters in taiwan are another matter entirely. they are grown in dirty seawater or ponds on chains or nets, so they grow on top of each other, meaning that they cannot be transported individually in the shell, which nis the onnly way to keep them alive and tasty… they are opened in terrible unsanitary conditions at the wharf, and thrown ito a bucket of water for storage and transport! any diseased oyster contaminates all the others. the smell and taste of the sea is washed off. they die prettty much straight away as the water is wrong, then they sit in that water for days until they get put into a soup or a pancake or omelette … i have been made ill twice by taiwanese oysters and i refuse to eat them now. heed the doctor’s advice and avoid them to!
offall is part of many european cultures so none of that stuff disgusts me. chicken feet and tongues are OK, pigs ears are crunchy, rooster balls taste and feel much the same as any other testicle. chicken bums oin a stick is a bit tooo fatty for me though.
i’ve gotten to like stinky tofu from time to time. it’s good, once you get past the smell.
the fermented tofo that comes in watery red sauce in small jars is another story though. though i know tc may be reading this, i like blue cheese, but this stuff is in another category altogether. rotten and vile!
anything with pink sauce is out, and that sea cucumber stuff at weddings. wt…?
i had my finger on the trigger,ready to educate that ignorant oz-man,i’m glad you’re there to put sense in this food forums [/quote]
Also, I remember that last time I was in France, it was oyster season and they had 'em in those little rows of shops you get outside every metro station. They had even nicer ones than the Bretagne ones – smaller, sweeter and a lot more expensive. I think they might have been from somewhere south of Bretagne on the west coast. What would they be called, do you know?
And Uro, trust me, I KNOW me oysters. The ones I’ve had in Sydney (many) are indeed good, delicious, even. But no match at all, at all. Non.
…or, as it was once called in a Jackie Chan movie – CHINESE BUTTER.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”]i
the fermented tofo that comes in watery red sauce in small jars is another story though. though i know tc may be reading this, i like blue cheese, but this stuff is in another category altogether. rotten and vile!
[/quote]
I buy that stuff from time to time. It is too strong to eat by itself and too salty to be spread on bread. But a small amount on rice or with noodles is good.
Bretagne oysters, and even those from further south-west (i think that’s Arcachon) are close to sydney rocks, but having had both, i’ll still take a good bateman’s bay Sydney rock oyster in summer over a french one… the french ones are mostly flat oysters, and are a little too large for the taste mixture that excites me in smaller oysters.
but that’s just taste preference. i like the taste explosion of sea tang and sweet cream and the slight textural variations… oh, and a bottle of Perignon or a good tasmanian sparkling if you can afford it.
but they’re also pretty good Kilpatrick style with buckets of cold guiness, sitting in the sun watching sydney harbour go by… while throwing chips at the seagulls.
BTW, pacific oysters: huge bloated things, are available here on the shell, but they taste bland and fatty.
oh, and +1 to the bread and bakery comment above too. blech.
