I love watching people eat strange or “gross” food. I think everyone does. Whether it’s a delightfully abject slice of gourmet/shock cuisine, or a vomit-inducing bucket of rotting entrails, it's fun to challenge taste buds, stomachs and gag reflexes.

My only reservation (sorry Bourdain) about the whole enterprise is that it often strikes me as vaguely xenophobic, even prejudiced. Indulgence is often accompanied by a smug, “can you believe those people really eat this,” attitude. It can seem a bit close-minded and judgmental. But, my real gripe is that our culture has plenty of disturbing and bizarre foods. How do we regularly overlook our own gross cuisine?

Dishes range from upscale local delicacies to multi-generational, tradition-steeped peasant fare. They can be as infamous as Rocky Mountain Oysters, or as regional as possum. Some of these may make your mouth water, others your eyes; a number will probably result in pre-vomit salivary secretions. Bring your taste for adventure, iron stomach, and some Pepto-Bismol, as we set off across the country in search of the most disturbing looking foods in America.


Rocky Mountain Oysters

(image: Ruhlman)


This is, perhaps, the most well-known and revered of our native stomach churners. Don't be deceived by the endearingly euphemistic nickname; these are plain ol' bulls’ balls. These deep fried testicles are often described as glistening, crispy and succulent, yet chewy in the middle. The grizzled rancher and the prissy Aspen skier alike can tell you the meal’s signature pop is the sound and feel of male bonding.


Pickled Pigs Feet

Americans are fixated on the “gross” cuisines of other countries, because we are too afraid to hold the mirror up to our own culinary mishaps. We regard other continents with distaste because their food still somewhat resembles the animals from which it came. For most Americans the restrictions are simple: no heads, no entrails, and absolutely no feet. We see feet and think of frolicking innocence and animal love. This often results in a short-lived vegetarian phase during college. I say, instead of swearing off meat, we just get over it and pickle the things that remind us too much of our own mortality. That’s how the rest of the world does it. Take life's brevity, look it square in the eyes and eat it up.


Squirrel

Squirrel meat is a gamey favorite in some regions of the U.S. (we're looking at you "the South"). Believe it or not, squirrel prep can even be found in earlier editions of the Joy of Cooking. I don’t know whether or not squirrel tastes good, and I frankly don’t care. All I know is that I’ve lived in urban centers for enough of my life to see that squirrels are just rats with good pr and cooler clothes.


Potted Meat

Potted meat, has a pretty mixed reputation. It’s at once resoundingly American and completely disturbing. Popular brands include beef hearts, pork fatty tissue, tripe and much, much more, in their signature blends. Love it or hate it, potted meat is probably more American than apple pie; it's made with real American blood, sweat and tears, as well as 5% other permissible foreign material.


Headcheese

Headcheese actually hails from Europe and is pretty popular throughout the world. However, I grew up in Pennsylvania and can tell you that no one loves it quite like the PA Dutch. It's like jazz to those people. Fun facts: Headcheese is, in fact, not a cheese at all. It's made of meat pieces from the head of a calf, pig, sheep and/or cow in meat gelatin, with vinegar and various spices. It often includes additional meat from feet, tongues and hearts. It's the embodiment of the "snout to tail" philosophy .


Chitlins

(image: Country Living)


Chitlins (chittlins, chitterlings) are another global delicacy, created a long time ago by our innovative friends across the Atlantic. It was the Antebellum South, however, in which the food evolved into something distinctly American. And somehow, from there, these stewed intestine have endured as a beloved culinary tradition.


Possum

For the sake of consistency, I posted an image of the stringy, scavenger meat simmering in a stew pot. It’s pretty disturbing; but, I really wanted to include a truly unappealing picture of a live possum, shrieking at a camera, rabies-inflamed eyes eerily reflecting the flash… what the heck, here ya go…



Beef Tongue

With the exception of maybe Spam, beef tongue is probably the most versatile dish on the list. When it's good (Jewish deli, for instance) it's great, but when it's bad... Try ordering a burrito con lengua from an East L.A. greasy spoon sometime, and you'll know what I mean. It's one of those foods that can literally offend all the senses at once: smell, texture, look, taste... even the sound it makes when bitten into is wretch-inducing. The general unpleasantness is exacerbated when one considers that not long ago this food could have been tasting you.