"Eskimo" Cuisine?

[still kicking]

Anyone on here consider themselves to be a "foodie"? I'm not -- don't even like to cook, particularly, tho do love to eat. However, due to recently recovering from a medical condition, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands, and thus watching lots of TV. I'm not sure I would have signed up for sattelite TV if I knew how many of the channels were info-mercials, but I digress. During that time, I really got into watching the Food Network. What attracted me was the show "Chopped", where 4 chefs compete for a cash prize. Anyway... so I've only recently been exposed to the world of trendy food fads. Then tonight I was watching the show "Human Planet" on Discovery. There was an episode about the arctic, and it showed some Inuit (Eskimo) people in Greenland, who survive winters on what to most of us, I think, would be a disgusting concoction. They catch hundreds of "little auks" (birds), stuff them inside of a sealskin, and then bury it. It ferments for several months, then in the middle of winter they dig it up and eat the fermented birds, bones and all. Apparently it smells so much they have to eat it outside. Whoa! It made me wonder, though, if it will eventually become a food trend. I mean as with everything, it becomes harder and harder to be unique, so I figured some day some avant garde chef would try to introduce this kind of cuisine as the Next Big Thing. Anyone think it stands a chance?

[isshinryu5toforever]

Nope, or else Balut would have been on the food scene a long time ago. Anything that's extremely off-putting to an overwhelming majority of the population will never become the next big food craze. People who love to eat strange and unique foods will try them, but outside that small group of people, of which I am one, it won't get much publicity.

[still kicking]

OK, ya got me, Isshinryu... what the heck is Balut?

[isshinryu5toforever]

To quote my TKD coach, "Balut is an aborted duck fetus."

It's a partially developed duck embryo that is boiled before it hatches. A lot of people drink the fluid and then eat the bird. It's feathers, beak, and bones aren't full formed, so you just eat the whole thing. It actually has a kind of interesting flavor. It's in the same category as what you mentioned, but it isn't fermented, therefore doesn't have the same kind of stink.

[mindsedgeblade]

To quote my TKD coach, "Balut is an aborted duck fetus."

It's a partially developed duck embryo that is boiled before it hatches. A lot of people drink the fluid and then eat the bird. It's feathers, beak, and bones aren't full formed, so you just eat the whole thing. It actually has a kind of interesting flavor. It's in the same category as what you mentioned, but it isn't fermented, therefore doesn't have the same kind of stink.

Sounds like egg drop soup to the extreme.

[isshinryu5toforever]

In a way yeah, except the liquid is inside the egg, and the egg acts like the bowl.

[JusticeZero]

Doubt it'll be the next thing anytime soon.. but part of that is understanding why they make Stink foods in the first place. Now, with the people in my nation, it's not small birds, it's things like beaver tail or fish, but they still bury it for a few months.

If you live in inland Alaska and you keep with a very locavorous diet, it would start to be appealing; there's some nutrients that are released from the bones that decomposition frees up that are in short supply in the area otherwise. I suppose that you might be able to get them from things like hot dogs (contains a lot of bone meal) or whatnot, but they didn't have the equipment to shave bones like that.

Drives the FDA up the wall; they keep trying to get people to substitute sugar and ferment it instead, which would be a completely different process and end up different.

People try to substitute in plastic bags for the traditional skin bags, and when you seal it like that it makes the salmonella risk - which was high with that preparation method to begin with - skyrocket. Kids go to school in the big city and get homesick, they get some fish from the store and put it in a glass jar and put it in the sun, decompose it much faster, the salmonella risk goes off the chart.

Personally, if I feel homesick, I just order some pilot bread. *shrugs* We were south of the mountains, never really needed the nutritional kick that I know of.

[still kicking]

Interesting post, JusticeZero. At first I was confused where you were from, though maybe Angola, ha ha. I am sure that people in extreme locations who are forced to survive on food that most of us would consider disgusting get used to it and find it enjoyable. I once had the experience of craving liver, even though I normally hate it, when I became very anemic and low in Vit. B-12. Then after I got well I hated it again. As far as craving comfort foods from childhood, for me it would be velveeta on wonder bread or tater tots. I guess those are kind of disgusting, too.

[GeoGiant]

Everything I've read in this thread sounds... ummm not so appetizing but I'm not much of a food guy. I don't like shopping for food, cooking it, or cleaning up after. To be honest I could take pills not eat and I'd be fine with that.