Being in university normalizes a bunch of stuff which may be considered outlandish in the outside world. One of those things, which I may or may not have experienced firsthand, is eating cold pizza. More specifically, falling asleep while eating it for dinner and waking up to a fairly pleasant breakfast in bed. Now, most of us may agree this is a reasonably weird breakfast choice, however, there are breakfast foods out there which are just bizarre.
In this beautiful world, filled with delicious eggs and (I have been told) better-than-most-things bacon, some people choose to eat diseased corn, sometimes referred to as “corn smut” for breakfast. This Mexican delicacy is called huitlacoche, and refers to a type of corn fungus. It is used as a filling in quesadillas and soups and is priced higher than normal corn. But to the defense of people who like eating this food, mushrooms are a thing a lot of us like.
If you are ever in Jamaica and want to start your day off with a healthy and delicious fruit which is brightly coloured and pleases the eye, consider eating an ackee. The fruit is packed with vitamins and nutrients and is known to increase bone strength and immunity. It is served with saltfish and must be eaten when it is ripe for more reasons than to just enhance the flavour. This is because this fruit is poisonous when unripe and causes sickness. Needless to say, do not go ackee picking on your own unless you know what you are doing.
Closer to home, some states in the USA, are producers and consumers of scrapple, a meat product made of pig scraps. Parts of a pig that would not usually be used as meat are boiled and minced, mixed with cornmeal and seasoned, and voila! Now you have meat, from previously inedible scraps of meat. But hey! At least you are reducing your carbon footprint (I hope).
Finally, a breakfast food that boggled me to no end is a stick of butter, deep fried, on a stick. It is prepared exactly how it sounds, where a stick of butter is breaded and deep fried (in more fat) and sometimes put on a stick so that it is less cumbersome to transport. This food originated in Iowa, USA and has popped up at many fairs ever since. A version of this dish includes dipping frozen butter in cinnamon and honey flavoured batter and deep-frying it until brown. This food, albeit redundant in its use of butter and sticks and sticks of butter, also provides no benefits except for comfort and satisfaction.
Food is an experience and a form of art which needs to be cherished, says the girl who may or may not have eaten stale pizza for breakfast and found it delicious. My point is, if any of these foods appeal to you, go ahead and try them! I found them weird, maybe you don’t. What’s the worst that could happen? Other than illness, disease, or diabetes?
Leave a Reply