Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Omnivore's Hundred

Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Place an "O" next to all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Place an "X" next to any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
0
2. Nettle tea
0
3. Huevos rancheros
0
4. Steak tartare
0
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
0
7. Cheese fondue
0
8. Carp
0
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari 
0
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
x
14. Aloo gobi
0
15. Hot dog from a street cart
0
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
0
20. Pistachio ice cream
x
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
0
23. Foie gras
0
24. Rice and beans
0
25. Brawn, or head cheese
0
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
0
28. Oysters
0
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
0(yay The Bake Shop!)
33. Salted lassi
0
34. Sauerkraut
0
35. Root beer float
0
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
0
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
0
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
0
42. Whole insects 0
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
0
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
0
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut  0
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer 
0
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
x
56. Spaetzle
0
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
0
59. Poutine
0
60. Carob chips
0
61. S’mores
0
62. Sweetbreads
0
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
0
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain 
0
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
0
71. Gazpacho 
0
72. Caviar and blini
0
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost 
0
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
0
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
0
82. Eggs Benedict
0
83. Pocky
0
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
0
87. Goulash
0
88. Flowers
0
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam 
0
92. Soft shell crab
0
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish 
0
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox 
0
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta 
0
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Another note: honestly, I don't think this list is complete or optimal...what should be on here that isn't? Anyone?
I'm thinking moose, bear, raw tuna sushi with wasabi, a kebab from a street vendor, homemade chocolate-chip cookie dough furitively eaten, fish and chips with vinegar, pickled daikon, snow, papaya with lime, and a perfectly ripe mango. 

6 comments:

Samantha said...

I want to work on this list! yay! when we are back sometime next summer we might have to have some.....very interesting dinners

Liz said...

ha, yeah :) but its like the breakfasts here. seriously, did i tell you about breakfast? not like everyday, like weekends. its the smorgasbord thing (thats not what they call it though) but basically you start with either fresh baked bread or a cracker and pile it with six or eight kinds of cheese, meat, shrimp, shrimp salad, italian salad, salad salad and other vegetables, avacado, tomatoes, sliced egg, caviar paste, jam, butter, preserves, sliced ham, smoked salmon, prosciutto, in whatever combination takes your fancy. All of the above are, of course, present on the table. Seriously.

Rianne said...

I have had 26 of those foods.

Samantha said...

i've had 29, and will definitely be working on it!

Rianne said...

Takako and I are conducting a wing-wide survey of who has eaten which of these foods. So far, we have maybe 20 people's answers. I'll keep you updated. Note: We have 1 absinthe, and 2 roadkills.

Rianne said...

So I was looking back at this again, and realized that I never posted the final results of Takako and I's survey, this having been concluded, oh, a year and a half ago. We talked to 32 people, 9 of whom were girls, including us. (Yeah, engineering dorm...) Most foods tried: Skaggs, 66; Chris, 55; Robert 45. Most foods tried by a girl: Anna, 37; Takako, 34. Average # of foods eaten: 32. Least foods tried: Kristen, 5; Cat, 15. The only thing everybody we talked to had eaten was a PB/J sandwich. Things nobody ate: Bagna cauda, phaal, kaplin, gjetost/brunost, baijiu, lapsang souchong, criollo chocolate, rose harissa. It's possible somebody had, in fact, eaten one of these foods and not known the name, but nobody claimed to have eaten them.