The Omnivore's Hundred
This is making the rounds on food blogs. It's a list of 100 things the folks at London-based blog Very Good Taste think "every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life."
I'm posting it here for any of you who have blogs, but also for nonbloggers' recreational pleasure. What have you eaten? What would you refuse to eat, if anything? What items do you think should be on the list but are missing? And if any of you have eaten kaolin, please let me know how it was.
Here are the instructions:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
And here's my list, with comments in parentheses.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (as often as possible!)
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue (my New Year's Eve favorite)
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (now I'm craving it for lunch)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (and more notably, from a truck: Speed's!)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (still one of my favorite meals)
25. Brawn, or head cheese (thanks, Jamie Bissonnette)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (as often as possible!)
29. Baklava (I make a mean one)
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (I've had both, but not together)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (how did I get through college without trying this?)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (not to my knowledge, at least)
43. Phaal (in my dreams... or maybe my nightmares)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (it didn't have much taste, but I lived -- ate it here)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I've had bites, but I don't think I've ever had my own)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips (child of the '70s here)
61. S’mores (though never with carob, thank goodness)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (and durian ice cream)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake (um, all of the above)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette (the latter. did. not. like.)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (see story here)
74. Gjetost, or brunost (my BFF is Norwegian)
75. Roadkill (I know there is an ethical argument to be made for this -- my Alaskan friend regularly eats deer that have recently been struck -- but I'm not going there)
76. Baijiu (I've had shochu -- the shiso-infused version is amazing -- and soju, but I don't think I've had baijiu)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (I love nasturtiums in salad)
89. Horse (don't mind if I don't)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (I've never had it! I confess!)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa (had lots of the non-rose variety)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano (if this isn't bolded for you, try Angela's Cafe in East Boston)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (I suspect I ate it in China, but I'm not sure)
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This is what Mike Barnicle used to do when he had no idea for a column; make a list that would rile people up. It's just as idiotic here.
Bit high-falutin, never having Spam and only bites of a big mac
No Rocky Mountain Oysters??? Look it up - Oysters listed don't count.
1.) Polish-style potato pancakes with sour cream and honey
2.) Fried large whole-body clams (in Maine, so are large and fresh) with a combo of french fries, thick onion rings and fried calamari on the side
3.) Wild rabbit - fried or grilled
4.) Home-made Ukrainian vodka (makes the brand-name vodkas taste like brackish water) - made from many types of fruits plus grains
5.) Ukrainian-style blini (super-thin pancakes) with meat, vegetable, fruit, whatever fillings/toppings
Cod Cheeks
Veal Cheeks
Correction - Peanut Butter and Fluff (Fluffernutter). No Jelly, this is New England
I was thinking the same thing as Tom ... might have had a bite of a Big Mac? Never tried Spam or a Hostess Fruit Pie? I am surprised that you lowered yourself to eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
Isn't kaolin a rock?
Missed one:
101) Soylent Green
1) Shepherd's pie
2) Wild, self-caught trout grilled with pancakes
3) Cod tongues (once common in Newfoundland)
4) My sister's lasagna!
DKB: This is a blog, not a column.
Why would a list like this "rile people up" ? It's just this dude's opinion. Make your own list if you don't like it - or don't participate... but I doubt the intention was to offend people. Jeepers creepers, lighten up people.
As an addition to the checking off, how about also identifying which of these 100 you've actually prepared yourself in some way and eaten!
Bon Appétit !
Pity there is so much shellfish on the list. I'm very allergic, but many more won't eat them because of religious reservations.
Guess I'll never realize my full potential.
Also notably missing are things from the Cajun/Creole world (boudin, jambalaya, etouffee), Japanese (sushi/sashimi), Thai (pad thai), and a lot of other cultural things that are pretty unique to that culture. Not to mention ANYTHING from the BBQ world -- ribs, pulled pork, brisket, all of which are very unique and special.
Hey, what can I say? I'm more of a McD's cheeseburger and Hostess Cup Cakes person. Not sure why I've missed out on Spam (though there's certainly plenty in my inbox).
Kaolin is a clay, and a somewhat random inclusion on this list. If you go to the FAQ with the list on VGT, you'll see their reasoning. Apparently it also used to be the main ingredient in Kaopectate...
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (how did I get through college without trying this?)
Dude, you never did a Jell-O shot? Did you go to a Mormon college or something?
I can never respect the views of a food columnist or critic who has not eaten foods like a Big Mac or Hostess cakes. Oh well, just another prime example of the Globe missing its audience.
See aforementioned cheeseburgers and Hostess Cup Cakes. I just don't like "special sauce" -- I'll have a few bites of someone else's Big Mac, but I'm getting a cheeseburger, and don't think about touching my fries. Fruit pies, eh. If I'm eating Hostess, it's going to be chocolate.
I nominate 1,000-year-old egg in Taiwan.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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