As I read Mausi's recipe for "onion cake," it occurred to me that there are probably plenty of things that we eat in America that other cultures think are disgusting. When Laura first came to live with us, she couldn't bear to try peanut butter, but by the time she went back to Germany a year later, she was eating PB&J sandwiches regularly. (And yes, some people love peanut butter on pancakes. Me... not so much.)
I LOVE fish tacos, preferably at Taco del Mar, Rubios or Baja Fresh. (Links provided as a service to my German ex-pat friends who seem to miss Mexican food second only to missing family.) I thought fish tacos were disgusting before I had them too, but oh man, what a treat!
One of my favorite concoctions is banana-peanut-butter toast. It consists of a slice of toast with peanut butter (I like extra chunky) spread on top, bananas sliced on top of that, and cinnamon sprinkled over the whole thing. (We were running out of cinnamon, thus the sparse smattering in the photo.)So what's your favorite s "seems-disgusting-but-actually-yummy" concoction?
ooooh I have a little list of European delicacies that usually grosses out the Anglo-Saxon part of the world. Let me try:
ReplyDelete* a Belgian traditional: rabbit with dried plums.
* very Belgian too: our most important addition to the worlds culinary world: french fries....but with mayonnaise. Of course with mayonnaise. With what else? (I only realised very recently that other nationalities frown their eyebrowns at this combination).
* French but adored in Belgium too: snails with garlic butter, froglegs, some of their 'charcuterie', ...
* Black pudding as they say in Scotland, which we call in dutch 'blood sausage' because that is what is is.
* Scottish specialty: haggis. I am probably one of the only non-Scottish together with Jan who love it as well.
....
So who can I invite over for some dinner at our place???
Many friends find my love of sushi disgusting, but I ignore that one given sushi's popularity on the west coast.
ReplyDeleteThe oddest one I made - my guests gave me very odd looks until they tried it - was a beet and cucumber salad covered in a sour cream and dill dressing.
Man was it tasty. Tom Robbins (Jitterbug Perfume) is actually the one who roused my interest in beets.
Labskaus - probably only known in Northern Germany. You boil potatoes, mash them and add browned ground beef and cut up dill pickles. Add salt and pepper to taste. It's yummy and even American hubby loves it, although he does not understand my love of crunchy peanut butter and banana toast (minus the cinnamon).
ReplyDeleteOh I adore fish tacos! (I actually went to school with Rubio's son...once upon a time...)
ReplyDeleteI'm always eating things that other people turn their nose up at...so the list is long. But I half to say that Calf Fries is the one that makes most people squeamish. (English black pudding is a close second for my family back home.)
They say there is no good Mexican food in Canada and they may be right because I had never even heard of fish tacos until a couple of years ago. Of course I had to make some and they were a big hit! Yum.
ReplyDeleteOnce in English class my son's German teacher was discussing what American school children eat and described a peanut butter sandwich on white bread cut on the diagonal. My kid immediately held up the sandwich I had packed him and said "Oh, you mean like this one?" :-)
Germans eat fries with mayonnaise too and I myself am very partial to Cheese Whiz and rasberry jam on Stoned Wheat Thins.
I love zweibelkugeln! And peanut butter and fish tacos. It was funny, because Rebecca James and I had a brief correspondence of the fact that she eats vegemite on toast most mornings (something I have yet to do) and she'd never tasted peanut butter (which I have on toast many mornings).
ReplyDeleteI had crunchy peanut butter and sliced bananas (on a toasted English muffin) just this morning! That's my favorite running-late breakfast to grab on my way out the door. If we're out of bananas, it's garlic hummus on Rye Krisp.
ReplyDeleteMy 13-year-old self, along with my gang of friends at the time, loved to eat dill pickle/ potato chip/ mayonnaise sandwiches on squishy white bread. Clearly, we had no concerns with sodium back then.
That peanut butter and banana toast looks yummy, it's one of my favourites...ciao:)
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