Eating Bizarre Foods (before it became a hit show on the Travel Channel)

A meat market in SE Asia showcasing the innards of a

recently butchered cow -- tripe feast to say the least!

Reminds me of the time my parents brought home bags

of meat from a cow they butchered...including its innards that

I helped cut up for hours and hours.

While preparing some authentic Lao/Thai cuisine for dinner tonight (one of my favorite things to do), my mind started drifting down memory lane as this particular meal not only evoked images of my mother cooking for us all the time, but it instantly reflected how my mother directly inspired and influenced my love for cooking. Not to mention I was also cooking a meal that my mother used to make for us, a stewed chicken and vegetable vermicelli soup flavored with fresh dill (thom gai) served with sticky rice. I also bought some Chinese greens that I sauteed with oyster sauce and made my own roasted chili dip (jeaow) -- it was like a walk down memory lane.

I'm not so certain everyone says this about their parents, but I can definitely say without hesitation that my mother is an INCREDIBLE cook. Now I'm not saying she can out-cook a James Beard/Michelin rated chef, nor am I saying I can throw her into a Top Chef quick-fire and she'd concoct some foie gras dish infused with Italian White Alba Truffle oil. What I am saying, is that she's got the perfect palette and expertise for creating out of this world flavors for her native Lao cuisine.  One thing you have to understand about SE Asia (specifically in Laos or Thailand) is that people there LOVE TO EAT. Yes yes...I know...this can be said for many other countries (Italy/France), but in SE Asia -- they eat ALL DAY long. I'm not talking about sitting down every hour of every day to eat a big overflowing plate of fried chicken, BBQ ribs and mashed potatoes. In SE Asia, most of the food prepared is served family style, is eaten with sticky rice (which is eaten by hand, so small bites) and a lot of the dishes are vegetarian and incredibly spicy (so you can't consume some crazy amount without stopping to calm your flaming mouth down). Growing up, I remember there being food sitting out at all hours of the day because my mother cooked ALL the time it seemed when she was home or at the store my parents owned. We were (and still are) blessed to have such delicious food around and a mother who cooked it so well.

My mother didn't cook any other cuisine for us that often and funny enough, the one American dish I remember her making for us was a very midwestern casserole made up of quartered chicken, rice and probably Campbell's Mushroom soup mixed together! Ha! As bland and simples as this dish was -- she still made it well and it became synonymous with what midwest cuisine is known for: comfort food. I feel like she made this when one of us was at home sick and I remember watching The Price Is Right with her (which she was also good at guessing the answers to).

Anyhow, while my mother cooked all the really good authentic Laos/Thai dishes like papaya salad (thum mak houng), ga-thuew (aka pho), laab gai (or larb as some people spell it), stewed mushrooms and bamboo shoots (gang na mei) and red curry noodles (kah boon) -- on very random or special occasions, she'd cook or bring home some real delicacies.
Below are the most memorable of these delicacies that she either brought home (from a local Asian grocery) or cooked for us, some of which have been featured on the popular Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. I will say that some of this stuff I really liked and others...not so much! No matter if I liked it or not, it taught me a lot about my culture, my parents and how fun it is to be adventurous when it comes to food. You can't really know you don't like something if you don't try it once right?

Presenting the bizarre dishes I grew up with (in no particular order):

1) Duck Blood Pudding. Now I don't remember my parents making this very often -- it seemed the only time they ever prepared it was when we were hosting a large get-together at my house. I remember my parents purchasing the duck (a real live one), slitting it's neck and draining the blood into a bowl. They'd mix in similar ingredients to when you make Laab (fresh herbs like cilantro, mint, green onions, fish sauce, etc), put it in the fridge (so the blood can coagulate) and served it once it reached the right consistency (like Jello). Sorry to disappoint you, but I NEVER tried this dish. I was too young and my palette was not that adventurous. To tell you the truth...I'm not sure I'd try it to this day!

2) Balut. This is traditionally a Filipino delicacy and some would say is the "national dish" of the Philippines, however balut can be found pretty much in all of SE Asia. What is balut you ask? Well, it's a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg that has a nearly-developed embryo inside that gets steamed in the shell and enjoyed (or not) by many SE Asians. This isn't something we ate a lot, but I do remember my parents purchasing a few every time they'd go to a particular Asian grocery. Did I ever eat balut? The answer is yes -- but hold on, I NEVER ate the actual "nearly-developed" part (the chicken/duck). I only ate the egg white. How did it taste? Like an egg with an extra poultry taste. Duh! ;) My mother to this day claims she did the same, but I seem to remember a different story. Hee hee!

3) Ant Larvae. Yes, you read that right -- real ANT LARVAE. I don't know how else to really describe this. Ha ha! Again, this wasn't on the lunch or dinner menu often...but I do remember it being served more than a few times. This is something I never tried either, but could see that it was seasoned the same way another fish dish (pboon baa) was, which was fish, or should I say in this case "larvae" is minced with a ton of fresh herbs, fish sauce and sprinkled with crushed roasted rice. I've been told the ant larvae has a sort of acidic taste (surprise surprise) to them and also has a texture similar to corn kernels. Hmm...a big no thank you for me during my childhood years. I suppose if I were presented with this dish again I guess I'd try it...why the hell not? One little larvae couldn't hurt (right?) -- it is the size of an ant.

4) Snail Stew. This one was actually one of my favorites. I found it sort of fun to eat as it required getting your hands a bit dirty and you got to really slurp/suck the meat and juices out of the shell. I can't quite describe the stew they simmered in, but it was thick and made with herbs indigenous to SE Asia. Sort of similar to the taste of gang na mie (bamboo stew). This picture doesn't look anything like the stew my mother made, but it was the only one I could find on the internet that looked similar. The stew my mother made was dark and murky, almost the same color as the snails themselves. So, what does a snail actually taste like? Well, not fishy -- they were tough, sort of like mussels but a lot smaller and a tad tougher. They were river water snails, so they tasted a lot like a river actually. Sort of like a tough mussel that's been eating river algae and living on river stones?

5) Raw Beef Laab. I think of all the dishes -- this one is the "safest" of all delicacies because here in the Western hemisphere, eating rare steak or steak tartare isn't uncommon. I actually find people who eat a nice cut of beef "well done" are nuts and clueless about how steak is supposed to be eaten. This is why food is so personal I suppose, but in any case -- if you've never had raw beef laab, this is one to try perhaps with some fresh raw lettuce, cabbage and fresh herbs like cilantro or mint. It's so flavorful and I believe highlights the original flavors and spices of SE Asia.

6) Beef Bile. Now doesn't that sound appetizing? Let's get right to the burning question: have I eaten this? Yes - yes, I have. Did I like it? No - no, I didn't. What does it taste like? It's incredibly BITTER -- not bitter like the taste of beer or black liquorish. Bitter like the taste of bile. What is bile? Well, according to Wikipedia: Bile or gall is a bitter-tasting, dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by the liver of most vertebrates, that aids the process of digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In many species, bile is stored in the gallbladder and upon eating is discharged into the duodenum. Bile is a composition of the following materials: water (85%), bile salts (10%), mucus and pigments (3%), fats (1%), inorganic salts (0.7%) and cholesterin (0.3%). I can't say this is the worst thing I've ever tasted (but it was not to my liking) and it was never served so people could consume it in large quantities. It was used as a dipping sauce for meat or used very sparingly to season meat dishes (like Laab).

7) Homemade Fermented Fish Sauce (baa dack). This ain't no clear fish sauce you buy at your local American grocer. No no! This is the stuff that still has fish heads/tails still floating in it and in no way, shape or form is it clear. No sir-ree-bob - this stuff is thick, murky and boy is it fishy! However, this stuff is safe to eat as it ferments over a long period of time and cures itself. This stuff for the most part is primarily used to make papaya salad (thum mak houng) or used in chili dips (sohm) for young mangos, apples, etc. I always used to wonder what the people in our small town growing up would think if they ever discovered the huge containers of this stuff my mom used to keep in the cupboards. Trust me, we didn't even have a Chinese restaurant in town...so you can imagine how "exotic" this would be.

Well, this concludes my list of childhood food delicacies -- I really hope this inspires you to be as adventurous as I was (and still am) when it comes to food. I do agree with Andrew Zimmern that food is one of the best ways to connect with the beat and culture of any place in this world. Just don't serve me fresh coagulated blood pudding.