Posted on: Thursday, October 12, 2006
'Fierce' foods whet only brave appetites
Associated Press
Let's say you like your burger medium-well and wouldn't have it any other way.
Maybe your pasta has to be al dente. Your bananas slightly overripe, and your broccoli served with butter, please, never margarine.
Then you're probably not a candidate to sample any of the fare on the menu in "Fierce Food: The Intrepid Diner's Guide to the Unusual, Exotic, and Downright Bizarre" (Plume, $14).
Christa Weil has assembled and arranged, alphabetically, descriptions of dozens of foods from around the world that, for those accustomed to a meat-and-rice local diet, may be considered acquired tastes.
Here are five of the book's fierce foods to feast upon:
Corn smut. One farmer's blight is another's delight. This fungus that attacks and ruins corn crops dismays American farmers but brings glee to those tending the soil in Mexico. There, the fungus, called huitlacoche, is scraped from the cob and "used as a rich mushroomy flavoring. ... Considered a delicacy, it commands a premium price." (Oh, that a single Mexican restaurant in Honolulu would feature it.)
Durian. A huge — and hugely popular — fruit in Asia, where it is called the "King of Fruits." Its fragrance is akin to "sewer stench" and "the taste, for some, is just as revolting: a musky, caramelized sweet garlic with faint overtones of strawberry."
Surstro¬mming. A "signature dish" of Sweden whose name translates as "sour herring." This is eaten on a thin slice of bread ("tunnbrod") that has been slathered with butter; add a slice each of boiled potato and raw onion, and dig in!
Clay. Yes, as in "dirt." It can be "eaten ... raw or cooked and seasoned." Preparation varies in regions, which include the rural South, Haiti and parts of Africa.
Fermented mare's milk. This is a popular summertime drink in Mongolia, where it is called "airag" and is consumed in large quantities. "It is considered a food as much as a beverage, and it has a mild alcoholic quality." (Perhaps that explains it.)
