Friday 23 November 2007

Lovely with buttered toast

Here are twelve things, ten of which are considered edible, though obviously not by everyone:

Fried cockchafers
Sonofabitch stew
Icelandic moss porridge
Cajun wild toad
Prairie dog
Crunchy sand-bugs with honey
Pandowdy
Stuffed baboon’s nostril
Apple slump
Yuk-sik
Rendang
Wart-necked piddock

Ten of them are in the Oxford Companion to Food (you'll have to buy it: it's not online). The other two are merely creations of a diseased mind; see if you can decide which before you look at further details.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ortolan bunting may be less revoltiongly named than these delectables, but it surely merits inclusion on any list such as this...

Then again, on reflection perhaps it is too pedestrian a choice for OMF.

Anonymous said...

No, nothing pedestrian about it, outeast, but all the others on the list either sound or taste disgusting, or both. Ortolan bunting sounds rather romantic and is actually a great delicacy, so it didn't fit.

Froog said...

Wonderful word, Ortolan. I think I may adopt it as an online alias.

Froog said...

Ah, yes, but on the quiz...

Well, I know Rendang is a Malaysian curry.

I'm guessing that Yuk-sik is made-up (could be an Indonesian language, possibly - but it seems just too improbable that a foreign language would inadvertently mimic our English words for disgust like this).

And I suspect the baboon's nostril is a Tonyism.

Am I right? Let's go and see.

Froog said...

Rats!

How could I overlook Korean, a language replete with words that are unfortunate false cognates with English?! I mean, they used to have a Prime Minister called Bum Suk, for heaven's sake!

Anonymous said...

Yes, but did you spot the fictitious ones?

Unknown said...

Oh, please, I've tasted yuk-sik and it is what it says it is. Definitely not tablegrade. But you didn't mention skunk cabbage, now that's a real delicacy.

Anonymous said...

Nothing wrong with Yuk-sik; with a nice bit of Kimche it's a feast fit for Kim Jong Il.

Is skunk cabbage real? It sounds like an Arkansas delicacy. If so, what's the recipe?