I hope some of these stories can take our minds off the darker side of life.

Hands down, the weirdest thing I ate in Vietnam was a raw, still-beating snake heart. That, like most weird things women over there like to make you eat, it supposed to be good for "men's health."

I have two brothers-in-law in Vietnam. The younger is in his early forties, and the older is about 55. The younger of my brothers, who doesn't speak English at all, kept telling me how excited he was to introduce me with snake meat, and he kept telling me how he would take me to this special restaurant where you can choose your snake while it is still alive.

So what they do is bring out this snake to your table (in our case, one of them was a hooded cobra, and the other was also a pretty good sized snake), and they knock out its fangs so it can't bite them, then they take a razor blade and cut its heart out and toss it in a glass of vodka. Then they turn the snake upside down and drain the blood into a pitcher. They mix the blood about 1/2 and 1/2 with wine, and you are supposed to drink this. Then, some lucky person gets to eat the raw, still-beating snake heart. You just down it whole, like an oyster.

The younger brother had been buttering me up for this for some time, but when the moment of truth came, he decided to let his older brother take the lead. So anh Huỳnh (the older brother) and I downed the snake hearts simultaneously. I wasn't so much worried about eating the heart in and of itself, but I was a little worried about what might happen a few hours or days afterwards. Luckily, I suffered no ill effects at all, although it is a very curious sensation to feel the beating heart in one's stomach.

After all this, I found out that NONE of the family, including anh Nguyên, the younger brother, had ever eaten the snake heart before, they were too scared. I felt a little gypped! I thought they did this all the time!

Anyway, please tell your stories about weird (to us) food. I am curious to know how you fared in Asia as a non-tourist. Anyone eaten dog or cat meat yet?

P.S. My American brother-in-law, my sister's husband, did try a little of the blood/wine, but he chased it pretty quickly with a whole glass of water. Haha.

I'm sorry if I sound rude.... but that sounds absolutely rude to me!!!!

The weirdest thing we eat in Canada is Putine (french fries with cheese curds and gravy)!!!!!

Ain't no question. You have to adjust your thinking when in Asia.

My wife is from Malaysia and keeps saying "you made me eat cheese while I was in the US so I'm going to make you eat Durian when you come to KL"

Dog in S. Korea, monkey and balut in the Philippines, snake while in Jungle Evasion Survival Training in Okinawa and a whole bunch of different kinds of fried bugs in Thailand.......

I'm much like you there. I will try anything as long as eatable. Sometimes I don't eat for taste...I trained myself to eat that way because I was an ex-military guy. If you can eat the military original Meal Ready to Eat (MRE)...you can eat anything.

Not weird but smart eating:
Fresh of the farm shrimps with heads and tails, still jumping.
Freshly chopped coconut.
Cut a big enough hold on the top of the coconut, open it up like lit, then deep the fresh jumping shrimp inside the coconut. Cook it with all the acid in the coconut juice (so they say!). The shrimp did get cooked and very juice!
if you want a little wassabi, go ahead! Fresh shrimp tastes so great anyway you eat it!

Regards about the Snake Heart. Not sure if the boys in VN were scare, but it's true not all Vietnamese men get to eat the heart. Just because there is only 1 heart at each party, and most likely the guest of honor would get to eat it, they wouldn't have been to that many Snake Heart Party! So, it's true they never eaten the heart, but I doubt it because they are afraid!

Heart and Blood: I would be more concern about the blood Hep B and C! Oh well, the blief is the vodka will kill the virus/germs so drink up and eat up!
Cheers

PS. Great story!

Durian is good. I'm not sure why people make a big deal out of it. Tastes like vanilla custard. Strangest thing would be insects but that really isn't strange.

I should add, the smell of Durian is a little strange (sulfur like)...you will definitely remember it a day or two after eating it every time you burp. I couldn't get enough of it but it is pretty rich.

OK, I finally got my fiancee to admit that she eats chicken bones. I knew she ate chicken feet and heads, but I could never seem to catch her eating the bones. I would look over at her plate, and there were no bones, and I said, "What happened to the bones? Did you eat them?" She only laughed, and wouldn't answer.

The people of Hanoi seem to have unusually strong teeth, and I guess they can do things like that. I wouldn't dare, I've got way too much money invested in dental work!

I ate balut and that was weird. I actually had five of them at one sitting but think the San Miguel had some influence in that

Durian isn't really weird. But I don't care for it. It doesn't taste as bad as it smells, but you do get an aftertaste for a at least a few hours afterwards when you burp.

Durian reminds me of fermented herring that you can get in Sweden. Very strong smell.

ohhh u r brave souls thats all i can say.

I've eaten Hot vit lon and incubated quail eggs.

Posting for my husband - it's avocado juice

He thought it was weird at the beginning but he said it actually taste good.

For me, durian is acquired taste. Personally I do not care about it at all, but there are people who crave for it (my dad is one )

http://www.tatravelcenters.com/taweb/Conte...spx?page_id=732

Disgusting!

Say what you will about some of the "weird" foods, but on the whole, Vietnamese eat a lot better and a lot fresher than we do. I hope Mai Anh can adjust to not being able to get everything fresh every day. I can't say I have a lot of good things to say about American food comparatively. I am just thinking about all the processed crap we tend to eat. I hope she isn't too disappointed.

I have stomach problems, but I noticed I felt better when eating the foods over in Thailand. As soon as I came back here to the States, I had problems again...all the processed crap here.

I have Crohn's Disease and the only time I do not have issues with it is when I live abroad. To top it of, the stress you have to deal with here in the States in 10X more than anywhere else......

When I got back from my first trip to VN. It took me weeks to adjust to the food in the US. I had an upset stomach everytime I ate. I don't get heartburn when I go to VN either. Preservatives probably cause more harm to us than we think.

I think we discussed this at one time before. I have Crohn's as well. Doesn't bother me much, but when it flares up, it sucks.

Balute & pig intestine in Phils, "Nearly dead" Sashimi in Japan.

I will try anything once having lived in Japan for 4 years o fmy life i was exposed to a lot of different foods,customs and cultural differences all over SE Asia.

Yeah, it's a shitty disease..............pun intended.

hey as long its not Human,Bugs,pop, and its not balut! I'm good! i'll eat anything... I mean I eat normal food!

I LOVE DURIAN!!! It's the stinkiest fruit on the earth, but it hardly tastes like it smells...really!!