It's All About Perception

I like to try on foods like I try on expensive clothes. That is, I'm almost always up for tasting interesting dishes at least once, even if I don't want to buy them after.

And the world is full of a lot of fashionable foods.

In my many travels around the globe, I've come across foods that made me gag, foods that made me puke, and foods that had me traveling to the toilet more than the beach.

And yet, some of these monstrosities are my absolute favorite. Because I experienced them.

Philippines

I've been to this lovely country a few times. Glorious beaches. Blue water so reverent you'd swear it was a painting and artificial. Lovely people always willing to talk to and help a traveler from a foreign land.

It's here where I was on the shores of a small island, imbibing in some Red Horse brew. We were chilling with some locals and as it happens anytime you give a bunch of young bucks enough beer and place them in a circle around a fire—we got competitive.

The drinking challenges were easy enough. The physical ones were a mixed bag. But then came the food challenge.

The balut.

A dish so disturbing to the western palette it sticks out in my mind forever entrenched as the most interesting food I've ever eaten.

Balut Recipe:

1. Take one 14-18 day old duckling in an egg
2. Boil it
3. Serve with vinegar and eat directly out of the shell. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Try not to puke while going through the various textures. Especially the crunching beak.

Taiwan

While walking around the intriguing mix of Chinese and old-Japanese architecture can truly be an out-of-world experience for those not used to it.

Many people that visit the large cities of Taiwan affectionately call the city layouts "concrete jungles."

And they are amazing.

If you have the time, pick a neighborhood, and start walking. Tiny alleyways too small to fit anyway other than sideways. Sparkling bricks that bristle in the street light. Chinese lanterns strewn about hanging slightly overhead.

If you go late enough at night, the experience can be surreal.

Until you inevitably encounter it. If you've ever smelled it, you already know what I'm talking about.

Stinky tofu.

The bane of my peaceful midnight strolls through Taiwan. The food stalls that cook this lovely dish are always noticeable long before you ever see them.

Because the smell is almost indistinguishable from a malfunctioning sewer. Excrement fills the nostrils in such an overbearing manner that some people are rumored to have puked the first time they came upon it.

I wouldn't blame them. This is a dish to be tried once and then ran away from. The memory of it is enough to last a lifetime.

Stinky Tofu Recipe:

1. Take one chunk of fermented bean curd, a splash of white vinegar, and a bunch of cubed tofu
2. Place all of the ingredients into a sealable container and refrigerate 24-48 hours
3. Extract the tofu, wait for it dry, then deep fry it
4. Add toppings like onion, chili peppers, and salt to taste.
5. Relax, put your feet up, and hope your friends smell your feet instead of your new dish because it's preferable.

Germany

Traveling around Germany is an eye-opening experience. Especially with their traffic lights. If you don't keep your eyes open long enough, you'll miss the incredibly short opportunity to cross a street at their intersections.

But the food there. Oh man, the food. From Middle Eastern fare to English breakfasts, they have everything. And it's all incredibly delicious.

I had the opportunity to stay at a fancy business hotel on one trip. The kind that's usually way above my social status in this world. It was amazing. Every morning before work, I went down to the massive restaurant and feasted my eyes upon one of the most glorious buffets I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.

But there was one section I dared only try on my very last day. The opportunity for side effects ruining my workday was just too large a risk.

One section, one beautifully laid out portion that was purposely raised up and featured for all hotel guests, was 100% beef.

Raw, uncooked, spiced pork. It's called mett. Or in a buffet, mettigel—mett hedgehog.

Seeing a giant tray of fashioned raw meat isn't something you'd usually see in the world, outside of a butcher's or supermarket. You especially don't expect it to be laying beside delicious smoked sausages, bacon, steak, and every other imaginable delicious meat.

The dish doesn't look offensive. Almost like pre-cooked meatballs with bits of garlic or onion chopped up inside. And hell, the taste, that was pretty damn good too.

I will never forget the next 24 hours of my precarious untouched North American stomach. I made sure to have an escape plan to the nearest bathroom at all moments. I was positive the unknown bacteria would rip a hole through my internals faster than I could miss a traffic light.

But I was lucky. Or perhaps this was the normal experience. The feared bowel movements never occurred. And I had another strange food from around the world ticked off my checklist.

Mett Recipe:

*Not advised to make this dish yourself due to the risk of trichinosis. In Germany, mett preparers need to keep the meat at 2°C at all times, while grinding, selling, and serving the dish the same day it was made.

1. Take a chunk of lean minced pork and salt and pepper to taste
2. Place the entire amount into a freezer for an hour
3. Remove from freezer and place on halved buns or bread
4. Add chopped onions or garlic on top and serve
5. Pray to the heavens above you don't have a bad reaction and enjoy the sandwich!