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Aside from the taboo and the (heavily, if not completely, cultural) disgust, I have to say that I've never liked seafood (prawns and such, but also oysters, cla
by gordaco 13y ago
Aside from the taboo and the (heavily, if not completely, cultural) disgust, I have to say that I've never liked seafood (prawns and such, but also oysters, clams, etc), and this is the main reason I'm not willing to eat insects; I suspect they would taste similarly. I sometimes say half-joking that I only like to eat hot-blooded animals (I do eat fish, but just because it's healthier; I don't enjoy it). So yeah, I position myself along Randall Munroe.
Here in Spain, snails are considered somewhat of a delicacy (they're usually served inside their shells, with a somewhat spicy sauce); I don't think that's too different than, say, eating oysters and other sea bivalves (also heavily consumed in many varieties), but I think that the cultural shock for Americans (and possibly most Europeans) is similar to that of eating insects.
- aaronem 13y agoThat's certainly true for most Americans; in the United States, escargot is not a delicacy but a perennial joke. (I don't find it unpleasant, particularly, but I also don't really see the point; it strikes me as one of those things people eat, not for its own sake, but rather to be seen so doing.)
- davidw 13y agoI've had snails - "bovoeti" is the local term - here in Italy, and... yeah. There was so much garlic you couldn't really taste much else. And there are other, better things to eat, like octopus. One of the things I'm very proud of as a father is having cultivated a wide range of tastes in our ~6 year old daughter, who happily slurps down octopus tentacles at one of the local food carts. And they are good - I'm happy to take anyone who stops by Padova to have some.
- aaronem 13y agoMy Neapolitan grandmother taught me similarly, by the simple expedient of not telling me what I was eating until I had already decided I liked it. Smart woman, my grandmother.