Mince Pies

Grits is roughly ground corn. I personally eat it for breakfast with butter and sugar.

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Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people
-Carl SaganFor me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
-Carl Sagan

Tragic. Truly tragic. Page not found - Mince Pie Club.

Hey Straggler, Yikes! (or is that yipes?). What did that taste like?When in China, I saw "dog" on the menu, and considered it for a moment. But I have a bad history of throwing up strange tasting meats, and ultimately declined. From up-chucking fried-chicken in Malaysia, to barfing yak in Nepal, it has almost become MY custom I bring to other countries. I've since learned to eat mystery meats in small quantities, as in Uganda when I feared it was really monkey. Or in Peru when I got to pick out my own guinea pig from the kitchen floor like one picks a lobster in a seafood restuarant (the rodent was dark and oily but it sat OK). I also took a trip to Vanuatu. This Pacific Island is/was famously known for its fearsome cannibals. Every meal served to me was looked over carefully for TOO-FAMILIAR looking "meat".ciao/chow

Grits is made from hominy, which is made by soaking dried maize kernels in a lime solution. It's one of those foods that people either love or hate, with no in-between.I love grits, hominy, and posole, which is just Mexican hominy.A cousin of my wife's from Monroe, Louisiana was sent to Boston, Massachusetts at the age of three for some delicate heart surgery. The day after, he told his nurse, "my tummy hurts!" She replied that that was because he was hungry, and that the hospital would fix him whatever he wanted to eat because he was such a brave little patient. He thought a minute and said, "I want deer meat and grits!"They had to fix a second choice.

Thit cho was OK actually. Hard to describe but I thought sort of beefish in a porky kind of way. My friend disagreed totally though. He said it tasted like that fake soy meat you get in some veggie restaurants. I have been to Vanuatu. Got absolutely stoned out of my head on kava. That definitely tasted like dirty dishwater but had quite an effect. Despite being off my nut I am reasonably certain that I didn't eat anyone.

Wow, Vanuatu is not exactly a crowded tourist destination. Kava!!! Yep dirty dishwater. VERY dirty dishwater. I remember the man who ground the roots using his filthy fingers and grubby hands. If anything should have given me violent diahrea and open sores on my lips, I thought this should be it. It was a little unnerving when I finally got up the nerve to drink it. The rest of the cannibals, er, I mean villagers, leaned forward, with eyes opening wide, . . . waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen (me to drop over?). Although I chugged it all, I remember I only got a slight buzz, but mostly just an antiseptic dulling in my mouth (perhaps to the disappointment of the surrounding men. Eeek).Straggler, I didn't realize you have traveled extensively. If you have been to a place like Vanuatu, do I correctly presume you travel mostly for pleasure? Any place still on your travel list?I still want to do a desert adventure. I've been to the Taklimaken desert, but I really want to do a Sahara desert adventure. As an American, I cannot get a Libyan VISA. But Algeria might be an acceptable option. Have you been to either?I love travel talk. It best be I make a new thread or I will de-rail this one.

In that part of the world I also went to Kiribati and Tuvalu. Before kids and domesticity became my lot in life. Both for work (I used to work for an international aid charity) and pleasure.I've been to a few countries in Africa, a few in central and South America, China, Russia, a few places in the Carribbean and a fair few in SE Asia. Would love to do both poles. Penguins and polar bears respectively. The closest I have been to either is Patagonia in the South of Argentina. Also to my shame I have never made it to anywhere in the whole Indian subcontinent. So India, Sri-Lanka, Nepal etc. would be where I would go if I could go anywhere tomorrow.Oh and Bhutan. I would love to go to Bhutan!!! Fraid not. UAE and Eritrea are the closest I have been to that part of the world. A desert trip sounds like fun though. Well in an ill considered display of macho nonsense I set out to show that the stupid foreigner could do anything the (highly amused) locals could do. The mouth numbness didn't seem so bad and the other effects seemed quite minor initially. So I went for it. Quite a few "cups" later it all went a bit odd. Like being very very stoned in a not very pleasant way. Dude there is only so much talk about mince pies even I can sustain. Foods of the world is more than on topic and if travel creeps in on the back of that then I am not gonna complain.

I've never seen or had the pleasure of trying a mince pie.But I'd eat anything.Especially if its got booze in it! Ever had tripe? or pig snoots?

Tripe and tripas both. The latter is apparently udder, not intestine. And it's delicious.

You can probably find good menudo down there in Texas.I gotta go to el barrio to get it 'round here.

Kiribati and Tuvalu? Never heard of it, you stumped me. I had to google. The people look Melanesian and the British have pre-independence history there. Somewhat similar to Vanuatu? Thanks, that was my "learn one new thing everyday" item. I think you were lucky. I believe I would be much more happy in life if I worked for an international company. Perhaps it's not too late for me to apply at UNESCO World Heritage office in NYC. I live in Buffalo, New York. For me, visiting those two frigid and snowy places would be redundant. Though I would find their animal behavior fascinating. Patagonia is on my hiking list. But the older my soccer knees get, the less I feel I can do vigorous hiking. I climbed Kilimanjaro 5 years ago, and would love to climb S America's tallest peak Aconcagua someday, but lately I find myself thinking, maybe not in this lifetime. Probably my most favorite trip. With only an english speaking guide and two sherpas, I hiked in the Himilayas in the remote Dolpa area. I was the only foreigner I saw for two weeks. I think Nat Geo had an article recently about it. One of the few economically fortunate areas in Africa? Yet I assume you were in Eritrea for charity work? How much site-seeing did you do when you were working? What were your job tasks?Just to keep this post on food-topic . . . in Vanuatu did you try Lap-lap? Chicken served over manoi (spelling is wrong, a type of root, tastes like potato) with coconut cream sauce? D-LISH-S! I really can't remember if I ever bested or matched a local at anything. Sometimes I was smart enough not to even try. Sometimes.

I tried to outdrink a German local within my first week there. it wasn't pretty. I woke up at 4 am, underground, lying in a pool of my own (I hope) vomit.

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Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people
-Carl SaganFor me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
-Carl Sagan

Since the topic seems to have turned to weird food in general, I have to put in a word for the eating qualities of the North American Grey Squirrel.Grey squirrels are a serious pest over here and they have all but wiped out the native red squirrel, leaving only a few strongholds for the reds in Scotland, Northern England and the Isle of Wight. The greys are also a menace to other wildlife, taking chicks and eggs from bird nests and damaging trees.The good news is that the little buggers taste delicious! They are easy to trap and they meat is extremely good, comparable to rabbit, but a little sweeter. The saddle meat is particularly good and there is more on them than you might think.If everyone in Britain got stuck in to the greys there might be a much safer future for the remaining reds.Mutate and Survive

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"A curious aspect of the theory of evolution is that everybody thinks he understands it." - Jacques Monod

There's a Nepalese restauant close to where I work:http://www.everestcafeandbar.com/I hit up their lunch buffet occasionally.I love curry.Edited by Catholic Scientist, : No reason given.

I believe, sometimes, the locals goad you into a challenge. For example, no one has brought up the "food", Haggis. I really believe the locals made up this "dish" to mess with tourists.