by Emily Schilling
EditorWhen it comes to food, I think I’m pretty adventurous. I’ve eaten alligator, snake, octopus and snail. I’ve tried buffalo and raw puffer fish. I’ve sampled cuisine from Morocco, Ethiopia, Peru, Thailand, Russia, Germany and Japan. Most times, I’ve even liked what I’ve eaten and have, as they say, gone back for more!
Though I’m game to taste test some unusual edibles, there are some things that just turn my stomach. I recently came across a recipe for heart stuffed with rice. Yes, you read that right: heart. I love hearts as long as they’re in chest cavities doing what they’re supposed to do. I love them when they’re symbolized on Valentine’s Day cards. However, I don’t want to see one on a serving platter.
That goes for other organs: livers, kidneys, brains, tripe (stomachs) and sweetbreads (a way-too innocuous term for pancreas). I just learned all these consumable internal organs have a name, “offal,” which is actually quite appropriate. It’s similar to “awful,” and that’s how I feel when I think about eating a brain or a pancreas.
They could be quite delicious. Proper preparation with the right seasonings, after all, can make many foods taste good. Julia Child probably made a mean braised brain. Nevertheless, I can’t help but flash back to junior high science class when we studied internal organs. Wimp that I am, I almost passed out then. So, being reintroduced to offal at dinnertime doesn’t sound like a good idea, at least for me.
Everybody has his or her own personal culinary preferences ... and taste taboos. It’s funny how even adults can unashamedly show childlike disdain for let’s say, lima beans or turnips: “Eeeww! Yuck!” Sometimes, the mere mention of what would seem to be an inoffensive food can make someone make “that face”: that eyes-crinkled, lips-frowning cringe. I guess when it comes to eating, we’re all just kids at heart who never quite get over our first taste of beets or an unfortunate childhood case of stomach flu after a Spaghetti-o supper.
Still, shouldn’t we just throw caution to the wind and give a longtime food nemesis another try? We face up to so many more difficult challenges in life; why should beets beat us? If the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” can make a brain sound so appealing, shouldn’t I skewer some cerebellum on a fork and munch away?
Yes, I should … maybe when the Wizard grants me courage!