What are the Coolest, Weirdest, or Most Disgusting Things You’ve Ever Eaten On Purpose?

I know we’ve all eaten things by mistake. I once swallowed a wasp, I know I ate a spider when I was a kid, and I’m pretty sure I ate a dog turd when I was little because I thought it was a Tootsie Roll. But what we’re talking about here is food we’ve eaten on purpose.

I’ve always been willing to try anything. I’ve never been satisfied with the regular meat and potatoes menu served in most southern Ohio houses. I mean, I like that stuff just fine and I’ll eat it, but I prefer to be a little more daring, ya know?  Give me something I can’t get every day.

When I’m in another country I want to eat what the locals eat. And no, I’m not talking about going to Sandals Resort in the Dominican Republic and ordering the Tenderloin Brochette. I’m talking about really eating the local fare. Like I said, something I can’t get at home.

Note: My enlightening blog regarding a Caribbean “Resort Vacation” as compared to an “Actual Caribbean Vacation” will be forthcoming.

And I’ve always been amazed at folks who go on vacation to some exotic locale and order a cheeseburger and fries. Please. Live a little, kids!

Believe me, I understand that what’s weird for some is normal for others. I get that. When in Montserrat I’ve eaten tree frogs, goat meat (and a delicious soup called goat water), and some stuff that I never knew the name of and never asked.  One day at the beach somebody handed me the plate pictured below and I ate it without blinking. Guess what? It was delicious. I had to work my way around the bones but it was well worth it. By the way, the tastiness surrounding the fish are rice, goat meat and Johnny Cakes, which are made with goat milk. I think.

Some of the food I like is pretty normal, like raw oysters, sushi, calamari (squid), ostrich, and dolphin (the dolphin fish, not the mammal, like Flipper). And I absolutely love alligator, whether it’s BBQ’d or fried. Ooh, have I mentioned crawdad? They make an absolutely fantastic Creole Crawdad appetizer at Tortugas Lie in the Outer Banks. Yum.

And hey, I’m from southern Ohio so I’ve eaten squirrel and rabbit, and I even tried rattlesnake once. It tasted like, uh, rubbery alligator.

But let’s get to the really weird stuff. Believe it or not, I have eaten both chocolate-covered ants and caramel-covered grasshoppers.

The chocolate-covered ants weren’t bad at all, as they were in candy bar form and sort of tasted like a Nestlé’s Crunch Bar. Does that sound gross? It does, right? Seriously, it wasn’t bad at all. I finished the whole thing off.

The caramel-covered grasshoppers? Not a good experience. It was just like it sounds – a grasshopper with a light coating, or glazing if you will, of caramel. I decided to dive right in and go for the head first, and I sort of had to really gnaw on it to get it off.

It did not taste good. At all. Especially the juicy stuff that oozed out. It was very bitter. However, I finished it like a boss and chased it with a cold brew.

Quickly.

So bottom line, I’ll eat just about anything that won’t kill me. I guess that’s sort of obvious now.

So what’s the coolest, weirdest, or most disgusting thing you’ve ever eaten on purpose? Discuss.