Nutritional sleuthing ftw! There’s a class component to the European dismissal of spice. It is predictably both sad and hilarious.
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I grew up in (98.5% white) Maine, then moved to the city. I’d always heard about “Clean air kids” initiatives where kids from the city would spend time in rural settings, but once I got out I’ve since wondered where my “Dirty air kids” program was. Kids from Maine could use some exposure pre-adulthood to the larger world. I know I would be a lot further along a lot of learning curves if I’d had the opportunity…
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I gather that Garum was made of many kinds of fish, but anchovy and carp was very common. Some quick research suggests most of the usual suspects that would have been used in the region at the time are today considered kosher. (Possibly not back then, though.)
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Thanks. That was excellent!
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is it?
I use California Olive Ranch-- yes, it does have a different taste than Safeway’s, which sort of settled the matter, but I’m not going to spend $100 to conduct a blind taste test among several different brands.
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My Unitarian Church School had me volunteering in urban soup kitchens at 13.
Looking back, I’d have turned out entirely differently if it weren’t for that guided introduction to humans and humanism. Don’t mean to proselytize.
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If we crowdsourced it we could organize a tasting for dollars a piece. Just need “someone trustworthy from the internet” to purchase and divide the bottles for us, I’ll ask my Canadian Girlfriend ™ if she could do it for us? 
Really though, i’ve known chefs and foodies to go in together on expensive things they both want to taste, but more likely (and especially true of the chefs) they’d try to out-gift one another these ludicrous food totem items… which tend to command high prices for good reason among those in the know.
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Lea & Perrins
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Really, all this is boiling down to is “No True Scotsman” denigrating of many common seasonings. As well as denigrating whoever showed off her cleaned-up collection.
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Oh, in my experience it’s definitely a Midwest white people thing. You can wave a bottle of Tabasco around some people and they’ll recoil more than if it were a loaded gun. I’ve been to more than one gathering featuring unseasoned, well-done burgers or lifeless mostaccioli. Not poorly made, just staid and bland.
I made that macaroni and cheese recipe posted here on BB about a year ago for a small gathering of friends and someone complained it was too spicy. Among the exotic ingredients you’ll find a teaspoon of dry mustard and a pinch of paprika.
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That’s my experience as well; I grew up in Ohio, ‘the heart of it all.’
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cc @jerwin one of the best things in Top Chef is the blind tasting challenges. They have to actually TASTE ingredients they may never have tried solo or raw. Its awesome!!!
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What flavor is “Flavor-Flav”?
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I’m lucky enough to have spent time in other countries, to greatly expand on my german/irish american upbringing, and then to marry someone from an entirely different cultural background, and have only ourselves to please and try new things out on. But food is always a very personal thing, and you can definetly mix things up with a few core spices and seasonings and eat very well. If you’re interested, you could start slowly and expand. A spoonful of chili black bean sauce is an easy way to make a stir-fry veer into Chinese dish territory, for example.
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From my experience with two trips to Iceland I can clearly say that Hakarl is strictly a novelty for:
- The occasional 10th century viking frozen in ice who just got de-thawed
- Travel show hosts/bloggers looking to scare viewers
- Tourists who read about it and want to look daring to impress the local ladies (who really just want to see how long it takes for the tourist to puke)
The cuisine of the country has developed by leaps and bounds in the last decade or so that there is no compelling reason to eat the stuff for any kind of sustenance. Especially when you have tender luxurious whale to eat
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NO ONE wants the answer to this question.
Ask Brigette if you really want to know.
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I gotcha, on a side note the English language drives me bonkers on the words spice and ingredients that make a food spicy. The words are somewhat linked but not the same, but can often lead to confusion.
For example, in Venezuela where i was raised food is rarely prepared spicy. But all food is spiced and seasoned. People there typically will individually add heat to their dish with some nice homemade picante.
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Not sure, but I hear Chuck D is bitter.
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I could never in good consciousness have whale steak. Hakarl i might try if given the opportunity because why not? But i’m not going to go out of my way to find the stuff.
When i went to Sweden i really wanted to try Surstromming but my swedish friend and my aunt there both wanted nothing to do with it 
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