"The 5 dishes even Japanese people are freaked to eat"

[yanpa]

Extreme cuisine: The 5 dishes even Japanese people are freaked to eat
Decades-old pickled stinkfish or maggots on a bed of rice? Be our guest ...

As the world and his dog know, the Japanese are famously open-minded eaters, and their cuisine is full of tastes and textures alien to the foreign tongue.

But plenty of foods that strike terror into expat hearts are actually pretty damn good when you get right down to it. Seaweed, konyaku, oden, natto ... I've braved them all, and my life is the better for it. In fact, sometimes I even find myself craving them when I'm away.

But there are certain dishes that can cause even a native gourmet to lose their lunch. Think: Reptiles, amphibians and insects (oh my!).

So, allow me to present a rundown of the top five freaky Japanese dishes I’ve encountered on my travels. For the faint of heart, I've ranked them in ascending order of difficulty to digest ... or at least to get down.

...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Extreme cuisine: The 5 dishes even Japanese people are freaked to eat
...more...

Sorry Charlie*, but the "freaked to eat" list forgot the worst of the worst of Japanese cuisine, shiokara (Wikipedia), femented raw squid guts.

ika_no_shiokara.jpg

...list...
5. Habushu
..."viper liquor"
4. Inago
...soy-and-sugar sauce...preserved...grasshoppers
3. Hachinoko
...super-sweet teriyaki marinade... larvae of wasps
2. Sanshouo
... endangered species...several-meter-long Japanese Giant Salamander
1. Kusaya
...'stinkfish"... sticky liquid remaining after each preparation, it is re-used again and again, year after year after decade...

[sirwanksalot]

I've had all but the #2 salamander. Kusaya was good with beer but smells like horse shit. I got some for free (2 for the price of 1) when I went to Niijima and kept coming back and eating the free samples. The inago was gross but edible. Hachinoko was pretty good. I own a bottle of habushu to treat my house guests. The worst food I've tried here by far was basashi and the worst drink was hireshu

[Russell]

The only one I tried was Hachinoko, and it was OK, though I did not repeat the experience...

[wuchan]

the salamander is not endangered, officially it is near threatened.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

[Mike Oxlong]

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

Neither have I...nor rice pudding, for that matter.

[matsuki]

The worst food I've tried here by far was basashi

Basashi is awesome. So is whale bacon for that matter

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

Neither have I...nor rice pudding, for that matter.

Cilantro, A1 sauce, pinto beans, root beer, etc. etc.

Maybe it's just me but the pickiest eaters I know are all from the Kansai region.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The worst food I've tried here by far was basashi

Basashi is awesome. So is whale bacon for that matter

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

Neither have I...nor rice pudding, for that matter.

Cilantro, A1 sauce, pinto beans, root beer, etc. etc.

Maybe it's just me but the pickiest eaters I know are all from the Kansai region.

I can eat A1 Sauce but why would I?

[matsuki]

[Taro Toporific]

My favorite gross-out of Japanese cuisine is Hansuke, grilled eel heads.

hansuke-eel-porn-girl.jpg

Fuckedgaijin, first in eel porn

[Samurai_Jerk]

I guess if you're cooking Aussie beef you do need something to mask the flavor.

[matsuki]

[Mike Oxlong]

Score!

[Coligny]

You found persil ?

Still missing to the list of stuff japanese would not eat:

Humble pie...

[kurogane]

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

Yes. Or Root Beer.

Is this an Americvnt talking about Weird Food? Has this dvmbfuck ever watched an American food show?

Atlas just laughed so hard he ripped one and took out Indonesia.

No loss.

[Wage Slave]

You found persil ?

Still missing to the list of stuff japanese would not eat:

Humble pie...

[kurogane]

Humble pie...

Unfair. They eat that crap the same way you and I eat Shiokara or French food: with a slug of beer, a toothy grin, and a silent curse.

[yanpa]

You found persil ?

Well call me crazy, but Persil is something you will never catch me eating.

[Russell]

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

If you give it to them from a young age, they'll love it.

[Coligny]

You found persil ?

Well call me crazy, but Persil is something you will never catch me eating.

ok, but call me maybe ?

Persil and annette... abomination that should be addressed in the geneva convention...

koma-comic-strip-comixed-this-is-crazy.jpg

-call-me-maybe_20120527184948.jpg

call+me+maybe.+i+was+saying+boo+urns_5f0586_3620100.jpg

call-me-maybe-kitten.jpg

(you can thank me later for the ear worm)

[Coligny]

I've never known a Japanese that could eat licorice...

If you give it to them from a young age, they'll love it.

I heard the same thing aboot spanking...

Worked perfectly well for my dominatrix sister...

Me... not so much...

So I guess it's a draw...

[Kanchou]

What's wrong with Shiokara? It's not bad... Better than Shirako, at least.

Whale and horsemeat are also meh.

Dr. Pepper also doesn't go over too well here.

[CrankyBastard]

I've always liked 'shiokara', though the salt content is too high for my blood pressure these days, I have just a little in 'chazuke' with a dab of wasabi.

Haven't met a Japanese who could eat pickled beetroot yet.

[Mike Oxlong]

Haven't met a Japanese who could eat pickled beetroot yet.

Now I could do with some of that. Has been a coon's age...

[kurogane]

Haven't met a Japanese who could eat pickled beetroot yet.

I have never met a human that should want to.

Anyways, Shiokara = Yeccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, but it is definitely better than Shirako, which is retchworthy on origin alone. That must take the cake on the scale of Gross Stuff These Heathens Eat.

Good pull.

At any rate, a really crappy Ameridumb article even for CNN, if only because of the simplistic comparisons between Japanese and Foreign (aka KFC twice a day American).

Is there no cure for cultural universalism? That clock has been ticking for about 80 years now. Lose that and it might have been a clever and enjoyable fun piece. To be fair, he's probably one of that 58% of Japanese speakers, so he could be simply regurgitating the Native Idiom he was forcefed, which has somehow become a sign of culturally integrated sophistication.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Haven't met a Japanese who could eat pickled beetroot yet.

Now I could do with some of that. Has been a coon's age...

Recent trip to Germany was enhanced with a hamburger with beetroot on it. Thought Australians were the only ones stupid enough to do this.
J wife hates it, can't understand why it's so sweet. A lot of Japanese are into the salty pickles, which would make them ideal for Dutch licorice. Still no go.......
Wareware nihonjin..

[Russell]

A lot of Japanese are into the salty pickles, which would make them ideal for Dutch licorice. Still no go.......
Wareware nihonjin..

I find Shiokombu taste somewhat resembling Dutch licorice, but indeed most Japanese won't have the latter, because they find it taste like medicines.

Chinese, on the other hand, tend to have no problems with Dutch licorice.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

I find Shiokombu taste somewhat resembling Dutch licorice, but indeed most Japanese won't have the latter, because they find it taste like medicines.
Chinese, on the other hand, tend to have no problems with Dutch licorice.

Star anise is not so different in base taste.

[yanpa]

The wife loves pickled beetroot, but then she's weird and is always complaining about how hard it is to get coriander.

Myself... I come from an era/culture where something called "Chow Mein" was seen as daring and exotic.