Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Changing my Standards

Until last night, I thought I could write about anything. Even topics that I find offensive, I can usually spin in such a way that I am content that I haven't offended my personal moral standing. I also thought I would try anything once. Now I can say I've changed my stance. There are some foods that not only will I not try, I won't even write about. Chocolate covered insects, no problem.
Some of the eggy treats that are popular on islands not going to happen, ever. Head cheese, it wouldn't be my first choice, but I'm not completely saying no, fermented fish paste, never. By the way, that fermented fish paste is the extent of my disgusting food writing, anything more disturbing than that, I won't write about it, I don't care if I am getting paid.

My new aversion to certain foods was triggered by two pages of web content I was hired to write last night. The project was to write about the World's Most Bizarre Foods. I did some research, gagged for a while, and then wrote the paper. When I turned it into the client I let them know about my new found limits and told them if they wanted content about the more disturbing foods, they were going to have to find a new writer.

In the end, the foods I wrote about were

1.Escargot-Not only have I tried this, but I actually like it.

2.Jelled blood-I can barely stand the sight of blood, so this was tricky. I only included it because I was able to tie it into the whole Twilight craze. The only problem was I couldn't figure out what it is served with. Does the host just plop a jelly mold of blood on the table and every one digs in, or does it get served with something.

3.Birds Nest Soup-The first time I ever heard about this expensive delicacy was while watching an episode of Bones, so now I'm constantly thinking of it as bird spit soup. Also I keep stumbling across information about the harvesting of swiftlet nests. Even though the idea of making a meal of bird's nest seems ridiculous, someday I might just try it. Of course since its really expensive, a kilogram of swiflets nest can cost $2000+ it will probably be awhile before my budget lets that happen.

4.Head Cheese-I'm not in a hurry to try this, there are other foods I'd rather eat, but maybe someday. I do seem to be becoming bolder as I age.

5.Fermented Fish Paste-Yuck, gross, unsanitary. I'm pretty sure I would rather starve before eating this.

6.Fufu-this was my vegan contribution. Personally, I think this West African dish, which is made out of potatoes and yams actually sounds kind of good.

7.Fugu-This falls into the category of why would anyone even think about eating this. The Fugu (Puffer) fish is toxic. It naturally produces tetraditoxin which is a very lethal poison. On badly prepared fugu fish will kill a human. I've looked up tetraditoxin, it's a horrible way to die. Before eating fugu, check and make sure that the sushi chef is very experienced with Fugu. On a less scarey note, there has been a great deal of success developing a non-toxic pufferfish, at least no one has died after eating this hybred.

What about the rest of you writers out there, are there any topics you refuse to write about?

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