The Unqualified Culinary Critics

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A quick heads up, this episode contains language that may not be suitable for all listeners, so please be advised that mature audiences are recommended. Thank you. Hello, and welcome to the Unqualified Culinary Critics. We are a Vegas-based podcast that celebrates food and culture. Join us as we talk about our food and cultural experiences, and we do hope that these stories connect in some way to each one of you as well.

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Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. Today we have two very special guests. If you've listened to previous episodes you know that we have Jennifer and RT here with us. Would you guys mind saying hello real quick just to give everybody a reminder of who you are? Hey, hey good day. Great to be back. Hi there. Looking forward to continuing the conversation. Yes and we're super excited especially with this particular episode, because we are going to be talking about odd foods that we have eaten before. So I don't know who would like to start, but I am very excited to hear the list of like weird exotic foods that we have tried. Actually I think I'm just gonna start just to get the conversation rolling, you know, but yeah, so like I think the weirdest thing I have ever eaten is Chapulines, which is like grasshoppers, but honestly even with like these foods I don't really necessarily think they're like weird foods. It's you know more of a cultural thing, too But yeah, but it's like grasshoppers They're not really too popular in the area of Mexico where my family's from but they are more popular in like southern Mexico.

0:01:39
Yeah, a lot of food is totally tied up into culture. I mean, you can take a culinary class and travel the world, you know, and learn about it basically. Because yeah, it's all so cultural. But something weird that I surprisingly ended up liking, which I was kind of shocked at was one time my brother handed me a piece of escargot, which is a snail, which is I think is like deep fried. And yeah, I ate it. He told me that it was chicken. And then I was like, Oh, that was a good chicken. And then he told me what it really was like, Oh,

0:02:19
well, it's still pretty good. No, I'm right there with you. Like I've said this a million times on here, but I'll try anything once.

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So, yeah.

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I'm not nearly as adventurous.

0:02:32
I am usually pretty cautious before I eat anything. So it usually takes a little bit more convincing for me to get me to try something. I have had a few different foods. One tried, I can't say that I was a huge fan, but I was proud of myself for at least trying it, was rattlesnake. Rattlesnake? Yes. How was that? You know, I honestly, I can't remember too much. I want to say that it was a little bit greasy. It may have just been the way that it was prepared. And for me, it was mostly just like trying to get it down to say that I actually ate it. That is so interesting. I'm like, I mean, was it like, like how did they prepare it? Because that's what I'm interested in. So it was an appetizer. It was, I remember my husband and I were on vacation and we were visiting Arizona, Phoenix area, and it was at a restaurant there and it was just an appetizer that they had prepared. And so we ordered it. We were with a large group and we all tried it. So it was different. There were a few people in the group that said that they really liked it. I am not a fan of snakes. So for me, just tasting it was like enough. What about you, Ashley?

0:03:59
Okay, so I do have the list, but I'm very hesitant to bring out a lot of stuff just because it might Some of us may not have ate lunch yet. And well, I haven't eaten so I think i'm gonna be really careful with what I put out here Um, okay So one thing that I did try and I had eaten before and this was like almost 10 years ago was beef cheeks Like yes facial cheeks from the cow. I was in Oakland. Yeah, yeah, it is. You tried before, like recently?

0:04:30
Uh, I mean, not recently, but, uh, I mean, I, I have friends who will barbecue anything. And yeah, I've tried some barbecue beef cheek before. That's good. Because like, when I was in Oakland,

0:04:42
you know, we were in, we were in a Chinese restaurant, and I don't even know the name. Because like I said, it's like almost 10 years ago and They served it on the table and I tried it as I it's not bad But just knowing that it's beef cheeks. It's you know from the cow. It's from the face not like, you know Steak or any other place I was like, okay But I mean it wasn't too bad like as long as they cooked it right and it's healthy and well safe, you know Then yeah, I'm fine with that as well But like I'm also on Jennifer's side when I say this, but I'm not very adventurous. I also approach things with caution, so I'm very, um, I can be like, I it will take, like she also said as well, it'll also take some convincing for me to try new things as well. But I'm kind of slowly getting out of that, but at the same time I would expect that to take the rest of my life to toughen up a bit, but yeah.

0:05:39
So then I have a question for you. What convinced you to try beef cheeks?

0:05:44
You know, I think it was less stinking than just go for it. I think that's the simplest way to put it. But at the same time, I don't know what was in my mind at the moment I was at the table, but I guess maybe the presentation looked really neat. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure my father, my father was adventurous. He really liked to try all kinds of things and the list that I have kind of reflected on what he liked and then as a result, I've heard of those things, but we can get to that in another part of the show or the episode.

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So then I have a question for everybody. When you guys are presented with like a new food, is the presentation what gets you to try it, even if it's something that you know you're hesitant about trying

0:06:28
Yeah, presentation usually has a lot to do with it and and you know there have been some things that have been like Presented to me where it's like I just I just I don't I'd say I still don't want to from time to time. It's not very often, but it's it's uh I don't know It's just it's things on principle like for me for example like all the the non meat meats that are out there now, like I just will not eat them. Because I was just like, just give me a real burger. Like I'm a carnivore, I eat real meat. So it's like I don't ever eat one of those. I've had friends try to pull one over on me before and I just kind of like look at it. It has a different look. It has a different look. So yeah, I've been able to tell and I've been able to avoid it in pretty positive.

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Yeah, you can't be bamboozled.

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Yeah.

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I would agree.

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Presentation is part of the selling point, I think, on any dish. Yeah, I agree. But yeah, so then, would you guys try any of those foods again? Well, I mean, at least the ones that you have brought up so far.

0:07:40
Yeah, I'd probably do escargot again if it's, you know, if it's kind of done the same way. Because like I said, when I tried it, I'm pretty sure it was deep-fried, so it was, you know, it just tasted like chicken. So I'd be cool with that.

0:07:52
I might. And yeah, and I've tried other things before, kind of for a similar, you know, in a similar situation, where it's like, everybody's trying it. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna be brave. Yeah. I think for me, I definitely would try chapulines again. It's, it's interesting, because they're prepared different ways. Like there's, you can add like chili and like lime to the and stuff. But yeah, I think I would I would try them in different ways. Like, you know, not just that way that it was prepared. You know, have a little

0:08:35
variety. And it's like with kind of the way food trends have gone in the last, I don't know, 10, 15 years or so. That's what like some culinary creators who are like trying to do things that are sustainable and, you know, trying different proteins and things like that, they're turning to things like crickets and, you know, other types of bugs and, you know, they usually grind it up into a powder so, like, you wouldn't even know the difference, but it's basically just another source of protein and, you know, nutrients in a different form.

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It's weird.

0:09:11
All right, I think we should get on to our next next item What's something else that you guys have tried? another odd food Hmm

0:09:24
I mean I tried bitter melon. Oh, sorry. No, no, go ahead.

0:09:26
I was just gonna say I've tried bitter melon, which is like I'm hoping it's a fruit or vegetable It's it's something but bitter melon. It's pretty much self-explanatory. I mean, I can't really, see, I think this is debatable because it's like, why would you say it's odd, you know? Well, I think it's just the taste. It's not just the look of the item itself, it's the taste because when you're eating it, it's just really bitter on the tongue. Pretty much that's how it's done, how it's cooked. Because like I've had dishes, you know, when I'm in a Chinese restaurant, they would have like bitter melon with eggs or bitter melon with chicken. And it's like, I'm eating it with my family. But I just will not I can't really stand for the taste that much. But yet I'll still eat it, which is interesting. But I mean, it's healthy in many ways. But bitter melon isn't bad. But I just don't like the taste, if that makes any sense. But yeah, yeah, no, I just I looked, I looked it up right now because I had I've heard of it, but I had no idea what it looked like.

0:10:29
It looks like a dehydrated cucumber.

0:10:31
Pretty much. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, but I would try it too. I'm about to find a place and we can all just go and try it then. Yeah.

0:10:38
Okay. So one thing that I've tried and this is something that we used to do here with my job at UNLV TV, we produced a cooking show. And so we would have chefs, you know, around Las Vegas come in and prepare dishes. And normally they would do, you know, I guess you'd say more traditional entrees and items, but we did have someone come in once and he prepared ostrich. And I had never had an ostrich steak. And that was something that was really surprising to me to try ostrich.

0:11:17
Loved it.

0:11:17
So it was good.

0:11:18
It was really good. And I don't know, you think of an ostrich as, you know, typical kind of like poultry. Yeah. It's actually more like a red meat. So if you wouldn't have known, you would have thought that maybe it was just like a beef steak. And it could have been the preparation. I don't know, but it was delicious. Yeah, I hadn't, that is not an animal that had crossed my mind that could, you know, be edible. I guess anything, any animal can be eaten. But yeah, yeah. And supposedly it's healthier than, you know, beef. If you're like red meat, but you're worried about, you know, I guess either the fat or anything within beef, ostrich is a option. That's pretty interesting.

0:12:06
That's cool though.

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Yeah, so I've been on the lookout. It's not very common. So every time I go to a restaurant, I scan the menu to see if they have ostrich because it's something that I would like to try again.

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Yeah.

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Next time you're in more of a prairie state, I'm sure you can find it.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah, that sounds interesting.

0:12:28
I would totally try that. Yeah, we were working another episode of that show. I don't remember if I was there for the ostrich or not.

0:12:31
I don't think I was. But we were working another episode of that same show and one of the guys who would come in, he made a steak tartare that had a quail egg on top. And if you don't know what a steak tartare is, it's basically, it's a seasoned steak, thinly sliced, and it's not cooked. So it's served raw. And it was also served with a raw quail egg on top of it. And I was pretty apprehensive to even taste it, just because I was thinking, well, that's raw meat. You don't do that. It was delicious. It was really good.

0:13:16
Yeah, I'm with you on being apprehensive because I'm like, what about salmonella?

0:13:23
Yeah, exactly.

0:13:25
I don't know how to describe it. It was definitely different tasting. From what I remember, because it was a while ago now, it was pretty buttery tasting but other than that like I don't know yeah I would try it again just because like what was that again just to kind of get that experience one

0:13:44
more time yeah I think um like the other like weirdest thing that I've eaten is like chicken heart but like that's something that like I've eaten before and like I actually really did like so I'm like I'll definitely try and eat that again.

0:14:04
If I can.

0:14:05
I remember like in Mexico, cause whenever my family would make pozole, they would cook the whole chicken. So like me and my cousins would fight for the chicken heart. And I like, I was wondering, are there like any like weird foods like that, that you guys have tried that you're just like, that like became, you know, kind of part of your diet because like it's like like ever since I moved back to the US I haven't eaten chicken heart I don't know if they just don't sell it or what but yeah and then like something that is part of my regular diet is cow tongue because I love like tacos de lengua like cow tongue tacos. Yeah I know, I thought it was the landlord is really good.

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I remember going to lunch with somebody and they asked, like, do you know what that is? And I told them, they were like, they freaked him out a little bit.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, the first time I ever heard of that, I think I was pretty like nervous about it. Then I tried it, I was like, oh, it just tastes like, ow, it tastes like beef.

0:15:08
Yeah, yeah, it's really, like, I am a very textures person. Like, I like texture a lot and I feel like that's why I like it so much because it has like the texture of it is weird but it's weird in a good way. Yeah. Yeah I would say one thing that I was raised on that some of my friends found odd but it was just something that we always ate was oxtail. Oh. And so like oxtail soup is like my favorite soup in the world. I've never tried oxtail before. I recommend it. It is so good. I've seen people online because like, I guess a lot of like influencers have started to discover oxtail, you know, like usually like, everybody starts wanting, you know, one type of food or whatever, like the prices for it go up like this, like with avocados and like guacamole and stuff like that, quinoa, all of that. So people on Twitter, there's like a campaign going on right now where they lie about oxtail. They'll be like, oh, oxtail is so dangerous. Within 30 minutes of consuming it, your liver will stop working, to like hopefully derail people from trying it and making the prices go up.

0:16:25
It's so funny.

0:16:26
That's funny.

0:16:27
It's like, sometimes it can be hard to find. But it is so good.

0:16:32
I didn't realize when I was younger,

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when my mom said, well, we're having oxtail soup. I didn't like connect that it was actually an ox's tail. But I love it. Yeah.

0:16:41
Yeah, that's, yeah.

0:16:42
I definitely do still have to try it. I know they sell it a lot in like Asian like restaurants and stuff like in Chinese restaurants or Vietnamese like all that sort of stuff so I'm like I got to go to one where they serve it. You do you should definitely try it. What about you Ashley what's another rare food that you've

0:17:09
tried? Okay I don't know if Jennifer and Artie sees my list but it's like when you mentioned steak tartare RT and then when you mentioned oxtail soup Jennifer It's in my list as well cuz like I am it's just just completely coincidental right here But yeah, I've tried steak tartare like once and for some reason when I tried it the first time I wasn't I don't know I just it's like the whole mentality with the beef cheek sting I just like went for it. But part of me goes I just wanted to try it for the experience. And admittedly, I won't do it again, just because of the risk factors and stuff. But with oxtail soup, I grew up eating that as a kid. So that's like a huge staple in my family. Because we're like, we're Asian, we're Chinese, Filipino, Spanish background. So having oxtail soup is something that stayed with me as a kid. Like if my grandma came into town, my mom would cook it and I remember just like, we would have the string beans, we would have the cauliflower, the carrots, and the, like the oxtail as well. And then one thing that for some reason I like, but it's like not meat, but it's still a part of the oxtail is the bone marrow, which is pretty much the blood and stuff. I don't know why. It's like for some reason like it tastes it tastes good but at the same time it's like it's like the mentality of eating chips where it's like oh I don't want to stop. I was like well you kind of have to stop because you only got one bone marrow in the pot so like you're kind of out of luck on that but I mean bone marrow wasn't too bad for me. Like I know what it is but I just don't let it phase me for some reason but yeah I it's like it's not bad, but I don't do it all the time, but it's just like kind of a really odd thing for me. But yeah, like if you want to try Oxdale, I try going to 168 in Spring Mountain, if that's like the only location here in the valley. Or Seafood City, there's like three, four locations here. I think I've seen those just like already prepared.

0:19:10
You can just get it on the go, but it's not into soup. So. Okay. That's interesting. And it's, you know, you mentioned your background and my, my mother came from a Danish background. So my mother or my grandmother is from Denmark. And so the oxtail soup that we would have, I think was, had more of that European type influence. So I'm interested in maybe going to one of those restaurants that you mentioned and trying an Asian oxtail version of the soup. Yeah, that's interesting because I didn't even like, you know, think about it and realize that, you know, different regions would have different versions of that soup either. Because like, usually when people talk about oxtail, I just think of like Asian cuisine or because that's where I've heard of it a lot. Or even I think I've seen some like African cuisine with oxtail too before. So yeah, that's that's pretty cool though. Yeah I don't know. I I feel like some of the foods I eat like, you know it's like like you said earlier with like the oxtail where you don't you didn't realize it was like something weird or not considered like something super common here and I feel like that's probably how I feel right now because I'm like, I was trying to think of like the, the weird stuff that I've eaten. I'm like, I feel like most of this is normal, you know, just cause we get so used to our cuisines and our cultures. Yeah. And I think that's one of the fun things about exploring different cultures and traveling is trying some of the different foods. Yeah. Yeah. Cause like, even for me, like something like I mean to be fair we do use lamb in Mexican cuisine but like my family particularly we don't use it too often. So like even with foods with lamb I'm just like oh that's that's weird. Like a lot of like I know a lot of Mediterranean cuisines use lamb.

0:21:08
Yeah I was gonna say I really I really like lamb because uh whenever I get a gyro I always get a lamb gyro. It's just so good.

0:21:17
Yeah, see I think I'm a little traumatized with lamb though because my um when I lived in Mexico as a kid my fia used to have some and so whenever they would disappear we would randomly like they would randomly disappear and then the next day we would have beef fia. So then you know we kind of connected the two. Oh. And I'm just like oh yeah no I'm gonna stay away from that.

0:21:40
Yeah, birria is actually super popular now at like basically any Mexican restaurant that you go to.

0:21:47
It's all birria, but it's all beef birria rather than lamb birria.

0:21:51
Yeah, yeah. I've never seen like lamb birria here in the US. That's really funny that you mentioned that because growing up, we used to have ducks. I grew up in part of my childhood it was in a more rural area and so I had like three pet ducks and so to this day I cannot eat duck dishes just because I'm spicy if I like little pet ducks. Yeah but um no even like even duck that's another food where I'm like I feel like that's something outside of my culture so even with that I'm like oh eating duck is um that would be like something you know rare or a little odd for me to eat because you know at least where my family's from. Yeah no I totally get that. So and those were kind of talking about like poultry now. One thing that I tried again this was during the cooking show that we were I was producing. I had a chef that prepared squab and that to me was just like crazy that people actually eat pigeon. Oh yeah. So squab was one of those things that's like again it was kind of a peer pressure situation but you know depending on where you live and in your culture it can be much more common but for those of us here in the U.S. I think we look at pigeons as like flying rodents. So yeah. Yeah how how was that though? Was it good? I was not a fan. It seemed to me to be like really kind of greasy. So it's not something that I would try again. Yeah. But I can say I've tried it once. That's weird. I wouldn't have imagined it to be greasy. Yeah, it was it was very different. It's more of like a dark meat. It seems like but it was very different. I feel bad like even thinking about it because my immediate like reaction to like you guys telling us like these weird like meats that you guys have tried is like does it taste like chicken? Yeah I feel like everything gets compared to chicken. That's carguras. Yeah so at least that one does. I know but I've always thought about that and don't you think it's funny when everybody uses chicken and it's always like, oh it tastes like chicken. Then it makes me wonder, okay, so what does that say about chickens? Yeah, yeah. I feel like it's, chicken is such like a neutral meat, that's why. Yeah. Sorry, I'm just like, I'm reading up on squab now, I'm like, this is so interesting that people eat it. Yeah, you know, like in my- It has a lot of iron.

0:24:45
Oh, didn't know that.

0:24:50
Yeah.

0:24:51
Yeah.

0:24:51
No, I was just going to say that, you know, because of my background, my dad, like I said earlier, he was very adventurous. So he would try like any of those things. Like, I mean, we got to admit this and I don't do this anymore, but like, you know, we would eat Peking duck, but now that he's not here anymore because he passed, I'm like, you know, when you left and it's like you took a bit of the fun with you and I'm kind of like now I I don't want to do that stuff anymore cuz just kind of like ruins it just it's ruined now but at the same time like well it's not it's okay cuz I can try other things it's not bad issue at all I think that just being adventurous was I I think I can still be adventurous in my own way but like the whole situation with my dad and having that whole adventurous attitude like he will try squab like he ate that like he ate that in front of me and I'm just like sitting there as a kid being grossed out like what on earth is that so I get that um another example of his like you know being adventurous is eating century eggs with the rice porridge and if you don't know what century eggs are it's pretty much black eggs that they preserve for years and then it would just come back looking you know I believe according to last time I read it they preserve it with like ash or some some other additional elements there but when they brought it back up they would just like do what they gotta do to prepare it and then you can just put it in your rice porridge and I remember just looking at it I'm like I I would prefer to eat my my rice porridge or my congee plain but I'm glad that I I know my dad to say that I'm not so closed-minded about trying or seeing those kinds of dishes those kinds of cuisines and stuff I I don't feel bad about it at all I I'm really glad that he introduced me to those things would I try them that depends that's how I would put it but it's good to know all these kinds of stuff that he he showed me even though like I said I may not touch it but yeah.

0:26:51
Yeah, well I mean that's good you know that he exposed you to different foods so you can be a little bit more open about them.

0:27:01
So you never tried the century egg? No but I've seen it but I mean it's I don't I believe it's chicken egg but still I think it's just a presentation that threw me off but um. Yeah because it's black. Yeah did you see the pictures?

0:27:16
Yeah, yeah, I'm reading about it right now.

0:27:18
When you were talking about the century egg, I thought it was another type of egg dish, which is also very like, wow, how do people eat this? It's called a balut egg, which is a duck embryo. Yeah.

0:27:32
Wow.

0:27:33
Yeah.

0:27:34
I thought that was what you were talking about when you were talking about the century egg.

0:27:37
Oh, no, it's different. But yeah, balut's in my list too. And I remember we had a conversation about this in previous episodes. Like one of our co-hosts mentioned it but he just didn't try it because the presentation is just uncanny. And I don't blame him for not even trying it. But that's like a Filipino, I know for a fact it's Filipino but it could also be additional ethnicities. It's one of the street foods in the Philippines. But I will admit like that's that's for them that's for them I won't go for it because of the same reason that he gave so you haven't tried it no it's still look that's why has anybody tried bullet in here no no I know my son

0:28:16
a lot has did and it was okay but there's no way I could do that yeah no I'm just like looking at pictures of it I'm like okay let's not ruin our lunches right now sorry I'm like if something has eyes I can't eat it it's the same thing with fish like if someone gives me a whole thing of fish and they don't cut off the head and I have to look at the eyes I'm like I can't I'm like you can see its eyes yeah I mean I went through my list of my weird foods. Yeah, there's definitely plenty out there. Yeah, I feel like there might be more things that I've tried that I maybe I've just blocked them out of my memory. Yeah, for your own good. Yeah. For me though, a big part of food is smell. Mm-hmm. Smell and texture. And so there are some things if it smells really good I'm more inclined to try it if it has any kind of strange odor That's definitely a turn-off for me and and to some extent the texture if once you like start, you know to taste something The texture can either be like it's okay or definitely like nope. This is not going to happen Yeah

0:29:36
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I've said everything that needs to be said. For my end at least.

0:29:46
So we can just wrap up the episode.

0:29:49
RT?

0:29:50
No, I'm all good.

0:29:53
Okay.

0:29:54
All right, well with that being said, my question to everybody who's listening, who follows follows us, are there any odd foods or like weird dishes that you've tried that you may not say weird but maybe weird or odd to others, you know, like what what are they, you know, we wouldn't mind knowing. So if you could please like let us know in our Instagram which is at unqualified culinary critics or on Twitter at unqclucrit then we would appreciate that. But yeah. So we would like to very much thank Jennifer and RT for coming on. We really appreciate it. Like all the guests that we've had, it's just really awesome to hear everybody's food stories and their backgrounds and just talking about stuff that they tried or would like to try. It's just, it's really good. And it brings a lot of peace, you know, to just talking about something that's just universal and cultural and all that good stuff. So thank you two again for coming on, for putting time aside. I know it's not that bad right now because school's out, but we really appreciate you two for just agreeing to come on and just talking about food with us. So thank you again. Yeah, thanks for letting us join you. It's been really fun.

0:31:04
Thank you. Would you two like to come back on in the future?

0:31:06
Yeah, if we have the time, definitely. All right that sounds really good. Do try something out there exciting that you've never tried in your life and just one last thing like we know that we like talked about things that may not really fit everyone's stomachs and that's fine but I kindly ask please to be mindful and respectful of everybody's choices and preferences with food because it's part of our cultures, it's part of our identities, it's just the way it is, you know, it's just something that I like to put out there because you know Some people may not get it and that's on them, but we want to put the kind caution out there. So Some people may not get it and that's on them, but we want to put the kind caution out there. So Thank you very much for listening and do please take care

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