Omnivore’s 100

I just ran across this while poking through Just Bento and Just Hungry. I’m not sure it’s *exactly* the 100 foods I’d choose for such a list, but I’m too tired to think up my own list right now. And since it’s a slow blog week for me (tired, sick, cranky from traveling last week), I figured I’d share. And then count up how many of these 100 I’ve actually eaten. Hee.
From VGT:
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.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
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
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
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
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth 60 pounds/120 dollars or more
46. Fugu
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
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. 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
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
I have eaten all but 11 of these 100 foods. And of the 11, most of them are because I’ve not yet had the opportunity to try them: I would totally eat roadkill or horse or haggis if the opportunity presented itself. I have had bagna cauda on the brain for a while, ever since I read a lavishly photographed magazine feature about it. Epoisses is just a luck-of-the-draw failure; I’ve eaten so many exotic cheeses, but I’m pretty sure never an Epoisses. I’ve had expensive whiskeys, but never one quite so rich, so I guess that one’s a technicality. I’m on the fence about fugu, but I think if I really had the chance in a fine fugu-ya I guess I wouldn’t be able to pass it up.
And whole insects. Yeah. I am really not into insects, and I think that the little limbs would be grody grody grody, a worse texture experience than even chicken feet, but if it was a dare I’d probably do it.
But here’s the other really interesting thing. Of the 89 items that I *have* tried, a shocking number of them fall into my “holy crap, yummy” category. I am not fond of pistachio ice cream, especially industrial versions. Raw scotch bonnets are a little insane. Cognac I just can’t get into, not when there’s delicious bourbon I could be drinking instead, for much much cheaper. Sweetbreads are a little mushy, but they’re tasty enough; ditto for chitterlings, they’re a little funky but tasty enough. Absinthe I’m mostly meh about. Baijiu tasted like gasoline, but it was kind of fun anyway, or perhaps because of that.
So that’s 7 of 89 things that don’t totally float my boat, but the other 81: NOM NOM NOM NOM, bring me some more. Am I weird? Or just lucky enough to be both omnivore and widely-traveled? Either way, I like it.
Update: my dad claims I’ve eaten kaolin because he gave me Kaopectate as a child… not sure if that counts or not, but if so that puts me at a solid 90% of the list. Woot!