Bizarre Foods

As Americans we have our preconcieved ideas about what is healthy to eat, what tastes good, and what is acceptable to eat. I agree with Professor Helmer that, "it is not taste that determines what we like to eat, but culture." This statement is very true. Our culture permits us to eat items such as hamburgers, spaghetti, salad, mexican food, desserts, and etc.., while other cultures may eat things such as insects, rodents, or even cow's blood. I personally would never eat any of those items unless it was a life or death situation, but that is how I have been brought up. Those other cultures probably look at our American cuisine and think the same things. No doubt, people around the world have extremely varied diets.

The strangest thing I have ever eaten was pate (diseased duck liver). My family and I were in Lyon France for a vacation in the summer of 2004. We had had the amazing opportunity to see the Northern coast, Paris, and Lyon in the two weeks we were there. On the second to last night, we went to a traditional Frech restaruant. The food was very good, but one of the entrees was pate. We were told that pate was a duck liver that had come from a diseased duck. The farmer would feed these ducks corn, which completely destroys their liver, but we were told that the ducks loved it and ate it up. Then, they would harvest the diseased liver and cook it in restaurants. We were served both cooked and uncooked pate. The cooked pate was not bad at all. I even enjoyed it. The uncooked pate was completely different. It tasted like a paste to me. It was about the same consistency as toothpaste, and did not have a good taste at all. But, being a good traveler, I ate it. Diseased duck liver is the strangest thing I have ever eaten, but I am very glad that I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to try it.