Is grating salt rock just a gimmick?

[buckytom]

bucky Think about some of the other things people eat, where they eat foods that are severely fermented - stinky tofu, thousand year old eggs, and rakfish, come to mind. And then, of course, there's cheese, of which there are many choices out there, for those who like (or are immune to) that rotting smell. These ingredients are only used in small amounts, and those bad tastes are gone, by the time you eat the food. And once you've used them, you notice their absence, when left out.

I do wonder sometimes, who, way way back, was the first one to eat some of these things? Was it somebody starving, or something like that?

Oh, yes, I understand, pepp. I liove kimchi, and durian, and the stinkier the cheese, the better. Although I'm not a fan of ammonia tadting foods, like shark, and overripe brie. And I won't go out of my way for kombucha.

I remember having a strange German wine at a wedding once that was only served to the wedding party. It was from a vintage from before WW1. Something like $2k per bottle. While everyone gushed over the price, they must have been faking it about the taste. It was like someone soaked their old socks and a catcher's mitt in it.

As far as being the first, I agree with taxy. Someone must have been really hungry.

And you don't always get sick from funky food. I recently had some duck eggs that I didn't realize had expired before I ate them. They had gotten pushed to the back of the garage fridge, and my son had pulled the package forward when looking for something else.
I thought they were new, so I fried up a couple of them. I thought the albumen were kinda weird, almost watery, but they tasted ok after cooking.

It turns out they expired in November of '19, lol.

But that black salt seems more fitted to a practical joke.

 

[larry_stewart]

I have wondered the same thing and have come to the conclusion that it was very hungry people who tried it. Otherwise, why would anyone have tried eating rotten milk (cheese curds) or rotted shark or surströmning (rotted, fermented herring)? Who first thought that it would be a good idea to eat mouldy cheese, e.g. blue cheese, Brie, Camembert? But, oh boy, I really enjoy my mouldy, rotted milk in those forms.

Got to add Olives to that list
Raw olives are the most biter, miserable fruit ever. Whoever was the first to decide to, then master the technique of making them taste good is a genius.

 

[Just Cooking]

Got to add Olives to that list
Raw olives are the most biter, miserable fruit ever. Whoever was the first to decide to, then master the technique of making them taste good is a genius.

Absolutely!!!

When I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9, I tried a raw olive from a friends olive tree.


Ross

 

[dragnlaw]

According to my late mom - it is not an experience you will forget! LOL

 

[taxlady]

Got to add Olives to that list
Raw olives are the most biter, miserable fruit ever. Whoever was the first to decide to, then master the technique of making them taste good is a genius.

I agree it was genius to make olive fruit tasty. But, I think people were using olive oil before they learned to make the fruits themselves appetizing. I'm going to make a guess that people tried to make them pleasant for a long time, if they already knew that the oil was edible. It's not quite the same as trying rotted shark. I think the choice with the rotted shark (and some of the other rotted things people tried) was eat it and risk dying or don't eat it and die of starvation.