So, I’ve been thinking about all the “strange” foods I’ve eaten since coming here, here is a short list of foods, some with brief explanations when necessary:

Not in any particular order…

Natto – Easily one of the most disgusting foods I’ve ever eaten. It is fermented soybeans. The people in northern Japan love it. It’s like crack for kids, and most Japanese in my area eat it everyday for breakfast. This is easily one of those love it or hate it foods. It looks like snot. It smells like… well, it’s bad, and it tastes terrible. It was so bad, I was actually crying after taking just one bite.

Grilled Pork Intestines – Tasty, but chewy.

Cartilage – Not sure what animal this fine meal came from, but I had it in two ways. The first was Yakitori (meat on a stick). It was bad. It was tough and chewy. Then, I had some smaller pieces that were battered and fried. That was actually pretty good. It was crunchy and pretty tasty.

Beef Stomach – Another one of those foods I’ll probably never eat again. I’m not even 100% sure it was completely cooked. It was pretty bad.

Beef Tongue – This stuff is tough. It’s kind of tasty… I guess. If you put enough sauce on it. I tried it once, but I don’t think I’ll be having this fine meat again.

Beef diaphragm – AMAZING. This is a wonderfully tender muscle, and so juicy.

I know there are a couple others that I can’t think of. Usually, I have to have a couple drinks to force myself to try some of these new foods, and the worse it looks… well, you get the point.

There are a few of the foods that we think of as being normal that I’ve had here too, such as liver. They love their sashimi, and that doesn’t just stop with fish. Beef liver and horse sashimi tend to be fairly popular. I have sworn that I won’t try horse for two reasons. First, they eat it raw, and I have a serious problem with eating raw red meat. Secondly, because like a dog or a cat, a horse can be a good friend. I don’t want to eat my friends =)

So there you have it. It’s my first (not complete at all) list of new foods. There are photos of some of them in my albums.