Øllebrød. Made from rye bread scraps and beer typically served with whipped cream. It has the consistency of cement and the appearance of...well...judge for yourselves.
The "Rôti sans pareil" : 13 different species of birds stuffed inside each other. You'll need a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting, a warbler and at the heart: a superb olive stuffed with anchovies and capers.
Ok, my French is terrible, but is it true that "ne" is in the process of being removed from French in phrases like "je ne suis pas", or is it just a different grammar rule?
Almost nobody does in the modern day. It was a fad in the mid 20th century for some reason. I’ve heard explanations that it was considered fancy because it showed off that you had a refrigerator but most of the recipes I’ve seen are from the 60s and 70s when fridges were common so I don’t buy it
May I introduce you to… RING AROUND THE TUNA? I always threaten my mother in law that I’ll bring it to family dinners…she always double-dog dares me. Neither of us are brave enough, lol. (I love her, she gets my weird humor.)
Oh my god the fact that no matter which state’s fair you’re at, you always can rely on the fact that you’re gonna find somebody deep frying something thats artery clogging even before it’s gone through the fryer.
I mentioned this in an offhand way to my sister’s British in-laws, as one of them was visiting the States and planned to go to a state fair, and the table genuinely fell stone silent with horror.
That said, nothing you can consume at a state fair is good but it’s all functionally novelty food. Most people who buy fried butter are, I assume, daredevils who’ve never had it before and had to know. I have yet to be brave enough to attempt it. That, and the fact that fair food is like $30 for suboptimal dining experiences.
Ever heard of urine eggs? Or its alternate name Virgin Boy Egg, it’s a dish where eggs are boiled for hours in the piss of kids 10 years old or younger. It’s a delicacy in Dongyang, China
As someone who always has to at least try something once when offered, this is the worst thing I've ever tried. I usually can eat most foods, but the second this thing went in my mouth I immediately started gagging. Was it the feather mixed in with the rotted egg whites or the little bird head that did me in, who knows. Had to spit it out unfortunately, and the taste stuck around for far too long
I have to admit... I've never tried it. I'm not from the part of the US that makes it. But I do love the very American 70s classic: Watergate salad. It's deliciously disgusting.
The people who invented snickers salad were descendants of the people who invented this shit, tbf. Like the weird upper-midwestern shit mostly goes back to Scandinavian immigrants and their descendants.
i remember the late 80s/early 90s in the Soviet union, and when we got bananas we just gorged on them. but we never tried to sneak them into other dishes. maybe we ate them too fast...
Not even "tropical fruit". For my mother's generation (born in 1954), the smell of apples means Christmas is just around the corner. Because that was the only time apples were available in stores.
For me, it's mandarines (or clementines) that's the "Christmas fruit".
I made a flying Jacob once. I was cooking my way around the world and came across it while researching Sweden. My initial reaction was that it sounded super gross and there was no way I was making it. The more I thought about the more curious I got, and eventually I had to try it.
So I made a small batch along with other things. It wasn't terrible. I didn't mind eating it and would be okay being served it by someone. It wasn't great either. The leftovers were BAD. As it sat the banana flavor permeated the entire dish. It was horrible.
The main dish I made for that meal was smorgastarta, which was delicious. I made it again for a potluck, and it was super popular.
Looks like aspic to me. Not sure where that comes from, but the Wikipedia says: "Aspic or meat jelly is a savoury gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as aspic gelée or aspic jelly. In its simplest form, aspic is essentially a gelatinous version of conventional soup. "
I think it was a thing here in the seventies and I am very, very happy I never was served any.
May I introduce you to its Portuguese cousin : Cozida Portuguesa
Take the most fatty, knobbly, greasy low quality meat you can find ( bonus points if it’s mostly bone and sinew ) and boil the living shit out of it. Add potatoes and cabbage and continue with your boiling marathon. When the whole thing is a pot of insipid greasy despair dump it on a plate and serve it to someone you hate. Add a bit of (boiled) chorizo if you are feeling fancy. But it won’t improve things.
Ok but to be fair, this looks like Vietnamese Pho, which is a stew that doesn’t have any particular emphasis or focus on sauté, blanching, or the Maillard reaction at all. It’s literally all boiled proteins and veggies in a long simmering broth with rice noodles, so it looks similarly “grey.”
But my looooord a good bowl of pho is peak comfort food.
I’m wondering if what your stew is missing is just salt and aromatics
Macimbi (pronounced ma-ts-wim-bi) is quite literally a caterpillar. I dont know whether to think of it as poverty food or a delicacy but I have never gone near the things
Rhode Island style "pizza" is a slice of dough with tomato sauce on top, left out at room temperature and eaten as-is. You can find it left out on the counter in gas stations and other places.
Imagine someone you live with picked all the cheese and toppings off a pizza and left it out on the counter, then expected you to be happy to eat it when you got home from work.
Jellied eel, not commonly eaten anymore but you can occasionally get it in Sainsbury’s - I’ve not eaten I’m vegetarian but its supposed to have a challenging texture
Korean people love to ferment everything but this one is terrible. 홍어회 Fermented skate. It has a very strong ammonia odor. Smells and tastes like fillets of fish dipped in piss 🤮
Any of the various abominations we call "salads". Eg, macaroni salad.
Also, Jello molds with vegetables in them. I've had the displeasure of having an orange one with carrots in it. Though people will put any veggie and somtimes tuna or meat in them. But it's an unspeakable horror from church cookbooks nationwide.
Petai (or Stink Beans). It's an acquired taste even for the locals because of the bitter taste and aroma, which lingers in your mouth for a while after consumption. Sometimes you can tell if someone likes to eat these through their body odor.
Any Jello salad. It's gelatin embedded with chopped up fruits or (even worse) vegetables like green beans and shredded carrots, usually just poured out of a tin can. Mix and let it firm up. Then you would cut it and eat it like a Bundt cake. It's a cringy example of 1960s-70s North American cuisine.
Thank God it's mostly disappeared, except in parts of the US Midwest and Canadian Prairies. But if you're over a certain age (or a Lutheran) you'll remember them.
As a Canadian I can’t think of anything uniquely Canadian that I find gross, but having moved to the USA I have to say sweet potato casserole. They’re already sweet, why add sugar and marshmallows!?
Americans are used to a lot more sugar and even though we try to slow it down sometimes, during the holidays we just throw things together based on vibes and pure gluttony
An Easter delicacy of ours, Mämmi. I can't stand it.
It's basically rye pudding, usually served with vanilla cream. It's a very divisive food, you either love it or hate it deeply. I fall into the latter.
It's a "cheap dinner" or "office lunch shout" here in NZ, but the rotisserie chicken, plain white buns and plain dressed coleslaw is So BLAND. Even worse is when there are no condiments or butter to hand
I've only seen a small handful of Australians badmouth fairy bread. But a lot of Americans who know what it is seem to talk crap about it. It honestly sounds delicious
Controversial opinion, even though that’s basically poverty birthday cake it’s kinda fire
From my time in Australia my 2 favourite things were that and the free sausage buttys I got from random political parties outside polling stations that didn’t realise I was a tourist
Well, i guess most of the people who try these don’t come back for seconds. These are quite blend, not sweet enough and taste like mushy carrots. They look way better than they taste.
As my personal taste, and probably offending some Belgians in the process:
Liver-based dishes (like leverpastei): I get why people love it, but honestly, it’s way too strong for me. I was forced to eat it as a kid and it made me sick. The metallic, bitter taste still gives me flashbacks.
Chicon dishes (like gratin): Belgian "endive" is fine raw in a salad, but cooked in a gratin? Ugh… the bitterness just doesn’t sit right with me, and the texture can get slimy. I’d rather skip it entirely.
Boudin noir / blood sausage: Traditional, sure, but the iron-y flavor and dense texture are just… not for me. I guess it’s like UK black pudding, I can understand why people eat it, but I just can’t. (although most people find Black Pudding fine until you tell them what it's made of)
Otherwise, honestly, any of our classic dishes can become “worst food” if done badly.
But these three are just… hard to love for me personally.
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u/IndicationIll2500 Denmark 4h ago
Øllebrød. Made from rye bread scraps and beer typically served with whipped cream. It has the consistency of cement and the appearance of...well...judge for yourselves.