Weird Meat Project Intro

Hello and welcome to Weird Meat. WeirdMeat.com is the online representation of a purely academic project I began a few years ago. I was studying the Humanities in college, comparing different cultures, and one aspect that really struck my curiosity was how different cultures around the world feel about food. Some foods are taboo, some are forbidden, some are considered inedible -- depending on the culture. Why does one human refuse to eat dog, and another refuse to eat pig? Why does one culture eat haggis, another one delight in slimy fermented soy beans? Do we only refuse some foods when we know what they are? Why?

For several years I was a dietary vegan. I was considering a long trek in the Congo with an ethnomusicologist -- also a strict vegetarian -- and he asked me would I eat meat if my life depended on it? I said no, but I realize that was foolish of me -- I am an animal and it's my instinct to try to survive. He had been to the region before and was served monkey for dinner, while stuck injured in a rural area. He survived.

So far I've survived all of my "weird meat" experiences. In fact, I've rarely gotten a stomach ache after these experiments. I've eaten dog, cat, rat, cockroach, camel penis, bee larve, scorpions, spiders, night hawk, and pre-born duck embryo without feeling ill. Can't say the same for Taco Bell or McDonalds.

So, I'm not here to mock or offend anyone or any culture. If you're timid, you can go away. I just want to document how different cultures have different eating habits, and how each has its own food taboos. I want to dispell some of the myths about weird meat. I'm quite serious. But I also have a sense of humor. Hope you enjoy weirdmeat.com

Here is the beginning of my list of the "weird" things that I have eaten. Keep in mind that these "weird" things are only defined as "weird" in my original culture -- I was raised in California, USA -- and even still, only considered "weird" by the majority populace. (I grew up as a WASP Caucasian middle class male -- the majority, dominant culture).

In fact, my first "weird meat" experience was in California. When I was in high school I had dinner at my friend's house. They were a Vietnamese immigrant family, and I ate dog meat for the first time. It's illegal to eat dog (and some other) meat in California, but California has a large immigrant population, so yes, some Californians eat dog. There are the jokes and the stories and the rumors -- probably overblown -- and I wish to remain objective here, but I wonder who's job it is to tell us (all of us) what we can and cannot eat. And if so, why? I'll explore that later.

What's the weirdest thing you ever ate?

Share your own stories of eating weird things -- meat or not. Tell us -- what's the weirdest thing you ever ate? Leave your comments below. (Unnecessarily crude posts will be deleted).

Testicle Champions!

I am hoping to go to next year's World Testicle Cooking Championship in Serbia. I guess Serbia's tourism industry needs a new spark? Last year the buzz was all about the Aussy chefs cooking up some nice kangaroo, ostrich and camel gonads. What'll it be this year?

I've never been to Serbia, and I don't have much experience eating testicles. But I know you care, and I know you want to see and hear the details. So consider donating to the good cause, and toss us a little cash to document this unique and exciting event! We won't be eating donkey balls in Serbia without your help. This will be the Weird Meat event of the year!


Addition Aug.2005: Serbia's Testicle Champion Cookoff appears to be on hiatus this year. Weird Meat will be exploring other options for adventuresome eating in 2006.

Now this may sound a little weird, at least to you readers without balls, but I admit I feel a little, well, quiver, in my private parts when I think about eating animal testicles. Is it just me? Am I a freak? I don't feel my stomach turn when I eat tripe. (Perhaps you do?) And I think most of us don't feel weak in our chests when we eat chicken breast, or pain in our ribs when we eat ribs. But something about those testicles...

Vegetarian Meat

I guess this would qualify as weird meat to most people, at least those outside of Asia. Even some long-time vegetarians in Western countries have little experience with "fake meat." I've had it countless times, and in so many various forms, I could not list them all.

Tofu is quite common in America now, I believe most people know what it is. It's a popular meat substitute for vegetarians and health-concious eaters, especially in California. It's got protein, which you need to survive and function as a healthy human being. So a lot of food products in America are using various derivatives of tofu, from sandwiches to pizza, from fake hamburgers and hot dogs to Tofurky -- a fake turkey popular at vegan Thanksgiving dinners in Berkeley. (Ok, yeah, I'm tired of the Berkeley jokes too, I'll stop there). There's also tofu yogurt and ice cream and 'cheese'cake. I used to be quite fond of Tofutti -- tofu-based, non-dairy ice cream sandwiches made for lactose intolerant Jews -- but I read the ingredients had hydrogenated vegetable oil (awful for Jews, and everyone, actually).

But tofu is not usually a "meat-substitute" in Asia. That's a Western notion. In China, tofu is usually served with meat sauce all over it, or stuffed inside. In the west, tofu is almost always served to vegetarians only, and never with real meat in the same dish.

Just like with any kind of food, there is good fake meat, and bad fake meat. The best I've had was at a vegetarian-Vietnamese restaurant in the Tenderloin in San Francisco. Golden Era it's called. If you're there, check it out. The fake beef soup is quite convincing. I'm also fond of Vegetarian Life Style in Shanghai (3 locations) -- they have a huge menu full of all kinds of esoteric fake meats, and it's all quite good. Perhaps the most curious item is the Wuxi spare ribs -- they look like the real thing and even have a fake bone in the middle!

Vegetarian "meat" is a centuries-old tradition in East Asia. In countries like China, Japan, Thailand, etc., Buddhist vegetarians have kept alive a special cuisine that resembles real animal meat -- made from soybeans, wheat gluten, and other non-animal sources. Originally made as a special cuisine in Buddhist monasteries, it's now available at all vegetarian restaurants and shops, and there's usually a few fake meat items on most large restaurant menus in China.

I've had fake goose skin, fake bbq chicken, fake fish, fake shrimp, fake offal meats like kidney, and fake spare ribs complete with fake bones made from a starchy vegetable. When I say "fake" I mean "vegetarian." But only in the kindest way ;)

Often the fake meat has been formed into the shape, texture, color, and flavor of the real thing. The stuff found at most American health food stores is usually quite bad -- obviously formed from reconstituted powder, with little imagination. The vegetarian meat I've found at shops in Asia or Chinatowns can be quite delicious and satisfying, and charmingly creative in appearance.