Travels with a Gourmet: The Omnivore's 100

(From L to R) Top row: Baba ghanoush, Steak tartare, wild strawberries; Middle row: flowers in a salad, goat's milk cheese, blood pudding; Bottom row: churros, foie gras and smoked eel, beetroot gazpacho

The Omnivore's 100 is a list of special food, strange and not so strange, that Andrew, a UK blogger from Very Good Taste, thinks we should have tried at least once in our lives. It's surprising to see how many I've actually tasted and interesting to discover several that I should keep on my shortlist to try soon (e.g. curried goat, S'mores, Hostess fruit pies, Absinthe, rose Harissa, currywurst), a few that I can leave out for good (e.g fugu, snake, whole insects, roadkill) and some that I had never heard of (e.g. Phaal, Kaolin, Gjetost). Have fun!

How the Omnivore's 100 Works:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional: Post a comment at Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

My Omnivore’s 100:

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare [blogged]

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding [blogged] - both the English and Spanish versions

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush [blogged]

11. Calamari [blogged twice]

12. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle [blogged]

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns [blogged]

20. Pistachio ice cream [blogged]

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries [blogged] - they were fraises des bois in a restaurant, does that count?

23. Foie gras [blogged]

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn or head cheese - A.K.A. tete de veau

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche [blogged] - plain, ice cream and on lots of things. my husband is Argentine, need I say more?

28. Oysters [blogged] - raw, cooked and frozen

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - in San Francisco at the Fisherman's Wharf

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar - more cognac and less fat cigar

37. Clotted Cream Tea

38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail [blogged]

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat's milk [blogged] - lots of times in cheese but never straight up

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel [blogged] - smoked and in sushi

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine [blogged] - plain and with foie gras in Montreal's restaurant Pied de Cochon

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads [blogged] - this is one of my favorites

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake [blogged]

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings or andouillette

71. Gazpacho [the traditional tomato and modern-style beet and fancy green tomato]

72. Caviar and blini [blogged]

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang Souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom Yum [blogged]

82. Eggs Benedict [blogged]

83. Pocky

84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers [blogged]

89. Horse - by accident when I lived in Paris and bought rump steak from a butcher and only found out afterwards that it was a butcher specializing in horse meat.

90. Criollo chocolate [blogged]

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose Harissa - just read about this in Jamie Oliver's column in Easy Living's September issue

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano [blogged]

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake