It ain't a Steampunk Party unless there's Squid on a Stick

[bicyclebuilder]

You know what I'm talking about! And rocks aren't plants, Dreamhazard. 

[DreamHazard]

You know what I'm talking about! And rocks aren't plants, Dreamhazard. 

Yeah, I know, but I had just mentioned my desire to try eating live octopus, so I thought it best to mention something I don't eat too

Also lettuce. I believe it is the demon spawn sent to populate our salads and burgers, with its foul taste and obnoxious ubiquity.

[Heckler]

Off topic somewhat, but it's worth mentioning that tinned Tuna isn't that at all, it's the smegma from Satan's Old Chap.

[bicyclebuilder]

You know what I'm talking about! And rocks aren't plants, Dreamhazard. 

Yeah, I know, but I had just mentioned my desire to try eating live octopus, so I thought it best to mention something I don't eat too

Also lettuce. I believe it is the demon spawn sent to populate our salads and burgers, with its foul taste and obnoxious ubiquity.

Our 3 year old daughter usually picks out the lettuce from our burgers when we occasionally go to McDonalds. 
A couple of years ago I went to Canada. At a restaurant I got the menu card from the waitress. the waitress then asked me if I wanted something to drink and what dressing I liked. Apparantly it was manditory to eat lettuce.

[DreamHazard]

You know what I'm talking about! And rocks aren't plants, Dreamhazard. 

Yeah, I know, but I had just mentioned my desire to try eating live octopus, so I thought it best to mention something I don't eat too

Also lettuce. I believe it is the demon spawn sent to populate our salads and burgers, with its foul taste and obnoxious ubiquity.

Our 3 year old daughter usually picks out the lettuce from our burgers when we occasionally go to McDonalds. 
A couple of years ago I went to Canada. At a restaurant I got the menu card from the waitress. the waitress then asked me if I wanted something to drink and what dressing I liked. Apparantly it was manditory to eat lettuce.

McDonalds will make a burger without lettuce if you ask them. It also ensures you get a fresh, hot burger and not one that's been sat for a while. I do this on the odd occasion that I eat McDonalds. KFC's burgers aren't so bad because they use much bigger bits of lettuce, so they can just be pulled out without much effort

[Capt. Dirigible]

McDonalds will make a burger without lettuce if you ask them

..and a burger without beef if you let them!

[DreamHazard]

McDonalds will make a burger without lettuce if you ask them

..and a burger without beef if you let them!

come on, let's be fair here... I mean, the chicken nuggets have nothing but chicken in them. Whole chicken. All of it. Bones too.

[bicyclebuilder]

McDonalds will make a burger without lettuce if you ask them

..and a burger without beef if you let them!

come on, let's be fair here... I mean, the chicken nuggets have nothing but chicken in them. Whole chicken. All of it. Bones too.

Did you see what Jamie Oliver did with home made chicken nuggets?  

Jamie Oliver - Nugget experiment epic failure

[DreamHazard]

He said the magic words: "This experiment works EVERY SINGLE TIME". Physics works all the time, no questions asked. Physics EXPERIMENTS - They NEVER work.

I say fair play to him for taking the time to at least TRY to teach kids something though.

[bicyclebuilder]

True. And looking at the kids face when they react, I think they where pulling his leg.

I want to give our kid a wide taste pallet and a "try before you say no" attitude. So far it's working but she's only 3 and a bit. I think part of the secret is to practice what you preach. And we often let her help with prepairing food. She has come to the age where we let her sometimes experiment with different tastes and combinations. Brussels sprouts with scrimps and saté souse is her latest creation. Before that it was banana/chocolate spread sandwiches. We've also had a tomato, mandarin and raisins salad. Going to buy, prepair and present food gives pride. It tastes better when you do it yourself.

Sometimes she says "I don't like that". Our reaction usually is ignoring her. Ones she finds out there is nothing else she's getting, she eats it anyway. You can't force a kid to eat. Trying to only gives them power over you.

Back to the squid on a stick: I would try it without blinking. If it has been eaten before for decades by millions of people, it's probably safe to eat and it must be tasty.

[DreamHazard]

I haven't tried squid since I was about 8, so I don't remember what it was like, though I do remember catching a mackerel with the leftovers.

My parents did that with me, we were never allowed to eat the same thing two days in a row, and I think it's influenced me in other aspects of my life as I've grown up, I keep an open mind in most things. Though if I decide I don't like something, I DON'T LIKE IT. Potatoes fall under that category, as does the aforementioned lettuce. Interestingly I can eat spinach in the place of lettuce though, it's much nicer (and healthier, and a good source of iron - GO SPINACH!). Cooked, it tastes like peppered earwax.

My parents also tried to get me to eat things I didn't like, but there was always a massive hole in their strategy, my mum's incredible aversion to tomatoes. We weren't allowed them because she couldn't even have them in the fridge without gagging. This made it fairly easy to veto foods, but only on the supermarket level. We could say no to food in the supermarket, but not once it was back in the house. And even then, only sometimes. I used to abhor onion, now I can tolerate it if it's cooked well, and my sister could only eat mushrooms raw, as I think is still the case. It's odd how we all have different tastes, but we all have the same needs.

[bicyclebuilder]

Ehm, does your sister know how mushrooms are grown? 

[DreamHazard]

If you take out the stalk and peel them, they're clean enough. If you'd rather not, you can still wash them but they do go squishy.

[bicyclebuilder]

If you take out the stalk and peel them, they're clean enough. If you'd rather not, you can still wash them but they do go squishy.

There are also brushes for that. Just brush of the "soil" and eat. I've been told never to wash mushrooms. They are like sponges.

[LiverandMonk]

Early in life I accepted my place in the food chain.  I am a Carnivore with an adventurous and omnivorous pallet
The scariness and gross factor of any animal that crawls, runs, flies, slithers, slinks, swims, oozes, or eyes me with rows of teeth are all rapidly replaced by a predatory change in position and a lust of their flesh once you realize they taste good.

Like it was said.  Many things on the planet have been eaten for centuries by billions before us, I just realized it must taste good for it to be so, so squid and octopus was a no brainier from raw to steamed to sauteed.

Life is an adventure from the day we are born till the day we pass on to the next reality.  Eat up!

[Lachlan_MacAuslander]

I've been told never to wash mushrooms. They are like sponges.

Alton Brown debunked this on "Good Eats" - wish I could find a link to the clip, but it's about 2 minutes into "The Fungal Gourmet" episode. Washing 2 pounds of mushrooms allowed them to absorb a whopping gram of water per 'shroom... and took a lot less time than brushing them.

[bicyclebuilder]

I've been told never to wash mushrooms. They are like sponges.

Alton Brown debunked this on "Good Eats" - wish I could find a link to the clip, but it's about 2 minutes into "The Fungal Gourmet" episode. Washing 2 pounds of mushrooms allowed them to absorb a whopping gram of water per 'shroom... and took a lot less time than brushing them.

I'm going to try that the next time we have mushrooms for dinner. 

[Madasasteamfish]

Back to the squid on a stick: I would try it without blinking. If it has been eaten before for decades by millions of people, it's probably safe to eat and it must be tasty.

TBH that was my reaction to the octopus I had in a Japanese resturant once (even if the placement of the skewer was slightly awkward), once you get past the whole tentacle thing (which is mostly culture shock) it's actually quite nice.

[akumabito]

Somewhat related to this thread..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAJ2AJjp3pY

[Smaggers]

Somewhat related to this thread..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAJ2AJjp3pY

ah, you beat me to it.