Weird Eats

I Don't Like SPAM!

What could I possibly say about SPAM that hasn't already been said? Probably not much, so I'll just leave you with a assortment of informative and entertaining links on the topic.

Official SPAM Home Page - Hormel
The Amazing SPAM Homepage
Don Garcia's Spam Homepage
SPAM Museum - Hormel
SPAM Museum - Roadside America
SPAM Limerick (Spamerick) Archive
SPAM Haiku Archive
SPAM Sculpture - Engineered Food Series
Love SPAM - Modernsurf.com
The Lighter Side of Spam - Slate
A Tribute to Spam, the Meat - Wired
French Fry Spam Casserole - RecipeSource

Image: Hormel Foods Corp.

Are You Gonna Eat That?: A Guide To Yukky Cookery

Are You Gonna Eat That?: A Guide To Yukky Cookery
by William I. Lengeman III

Food preferences are a subjective thing, if I may begin by stating the blatantly obvious. We all like what we like, and while many of us would gag at the prospect of wolfing down lamb's brains or badger, there are probably those who might be equally repulsed by Pringles or peanut butter.

If you've busted the bindings on your Joy of Cooking or Fannie Farmer Cookbook and you're ready for something more adventurous, these books may broaden your culinary horizons. Even if you never prepare a recipe that utilizes treasures like herring semen, they make for some thrillingly vicarious armchair cuisine.

Kobe Beef Hot Dogs

If you're among those haven't had a chance to sample Kobe beef yet, perhaps you're a vegetarian (present company included) or maybe you're just not ready to fork over a hefty sum of money for a piece of meat.

For a somewhat less pricey alternative, you might want to give Kobe (or at least Kobe-type) beef hot dogs a shot. Though, in many cases, they tend to be much pricier than a regular wiener. Here are a few places where you can sample one.

Cooking Bugs: Essential Insect Cookbooks

(Update)
Here's another one for you bug eaters. The public radio show, Weekend America, recently aired a segment called Midwestern Nymphomaniacs. If you're keen to snack on some cicadas, listen and gather more info here, where they've kindly provided a link to Cicada-Licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas, among other things.

(Original Post)
Insects are a great food source and people all around the world eat them on a regular basis and blah, blah, blah. But you know what? They're still bugs. No matter how nutritious they are, you won't catch me chomping down on a grasshopper or a handful of flies anytime soon. Maybe if I weren't a vegetarian, but even then I'm not sure.

Meatpaper & Burger Museum

"Meatpaper is a print magazine of art and ideas about meat. We like metaphors more than marinating tips. We are your journal of meat culture."

Indeed. A magazine about meat. What will they think of next? By the way, this magazine about meat is not to be confused in any way, shape, or form with one of those trade magazines about meat. You know the ones - Meat & Poultry, Meat Processing, Meat & Deli Retailer and Meat Trades Journal.

Exotic Meat Restaurant Closing Up Shop

Last chance for rattlesnake, shark, alligator and the like. That is, if you plan to eat it at Taboo by the Delta, a restaurant in Stockton, California. The AP reports that the exotic meatery will be closing June 1 when the current owner retires.

Among the other items that have appeared on the menu there - frog legs and turtle. Once upon a time they also did kangaroo and black bear, until the authorities got wind of it and said no more.

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10 Tasty Cannibal Movies

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars. (Abbie Hoffman)

Long pig. Some would say that it's the ultimate in weird eats. But I guess everyone likes what they like. If on-screen depictions of cannibalism are your idea of a rollicking good time, here are a few good titles to get you started. And remember - Soylent Green is people...

Alive (1993)
Cannibal! The Musical (1996)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
Delicatessen (1993)
Eating Raoul (1982)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Ravenous (1999)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Soylent Green (1973)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

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Peanut Butter Hot Dogs & Hamburgers

Craving peanut butter and hot dogs - at the same time? Head for Palumbo's Meat Market, in Du Bois, Pennsylvania. They've dabbled with exotica like jalapeno-cheese hot dogs and wild boar jerky, but the peanut butter hot dogs they introduced in early 2006 have been hurtling off the shelves.

Palumbo's bare bones Web site is here. Here's another local listing for the market, which boasts the slogan, "You Can't Beat Our Meat!" Here's an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the "peanut butter hot dog craze" Palumbo's has sparked.

Kangaroo, Raccoon & Other Weird Meats

As a vegetarian, I'm immune to the charms of meat, regardless of the source. But it's always been my theory that if you're going to consume one type of critter, then why not consume them all? What makes a cat or a rat any less suitable for snacking than a cow or pig?

It's SPAMARAMA Time

If a "pandemonious potted pork festival" sounds your idea of a good time, you're in luck. SPAMARAMA will be getting underway again - for the 29th year in a row - in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2007.

There will be a SPAM cook-off, of course, and a SPAMALYMPICS, which includes such events as a "SPAM® Disc Shoot, the SPAM™ Call (remotely similar to a hog call), the SPAM™ Can Relay and the SPAMBURGER® Eating Contest." Also on the schedule, live music and all that other food festival type goodness.

For more info, check out the SPAMARAMA site, here.

For an assortment of links to entertaining SPAM site, look here.

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