Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Ok, what do "they" eat which you could consider "different"?

We had until now on the forum:

Pig blood with cokos, Bats, Sparrow, Dog... (and some meatbal rat soup )

I only heard of lizards (Alu) who could be eaten...

Frogs?

They eat snails, I think you can find them in the rice fields, and you can buy them "goreng" in plastic bags, like krupuk.

Little shell things from the beach... Dragonflies..... ??

Horse, pretty tough though

Ants with Nasih Putih

Yep horse...available all over in France...like tougher beef, but good for casseroles/stews...

Snails and frogs legs are yummy...and the french love using all parts of an animal...quite common to find mixed ready made salad 'fixings' with meat 'a la tete' (of the head)...oh yeah and I have eaten the pituitary gland of a horse too (in a risotto)...that was great

Most unusual thing I have eaten is gerbil in Peru...

Gerbil in peru?

More worrying than the thought of eating a gerbil is the concern as to where it's been..

Ct

More worrying than the thought of eating a gerbil is the concern as to where it's been..

...you'll need to ask Daniel about that!

I know Guinea Pig is eaten in Peru, I never heard of Gerbils being eaten there though.

I have also eaten frogs legs in France.

Horse in Greece.

Friends in England think it is exotic to eat water buffallo but we eat it often in Lombok - not sure if local beef in Bali is cow or buffallo.

Bat is probably the strangest food I have eaten in Indonesia though.

Python, dog, spiders, cuscus.

[quote="Bert"]Ok, what do "they" eat which you could consider "different"?

In Australia one can buy kangaroo and crocodile meat. I have tried kangaroo meat once, didn't like it so much. But never tried crocodile meat.

As a child in Bali, I have eaten frog legs, snails, eels, dragonflies and some other things I don't know the English words for. My grandmother made pesan 'a parcel wrapped in banana leaves and roasted in charchoal'. The 'meat' from them are mixed with the residual/thickened coconut paste left after the process of making coconut oil. One can still buy the paste in traditional market - I think.

There is a saying in Bali 'Cara nglawar capunge, lebian gae' meaning it is like making the Balinese Lawar with dragonlies, too much work for little result.

I think in the old days people also ate dedalu (white ants that had transfromed into flyng ants - not sure what the English or Indonesian terms for this). Apparently they tasted yummpy roasted.

Just realised that all the strange things listed are animals. What about strange berries and plants? I am sure there are many that regular people won't touch. Durian is one that many Westerners wouldn't eat.

For me, Stinking Cheesefruit or Noni Fruit or in Bali called Tibah (Morinda longifolia). I have read and been told they are healthy, but .....

Hmm I forgot about Kangaroo - I have eaten that too but in UK.

Made also takes the honeycomb from the nests in our roof and cooks it with bees and all in in it (those that havent left) boils it in banana leaf. I havent tried it, it looks quite disgusting, a couple of our guests have tried it though.

I love frogs legs and still try to track them down when in Bali.
I have eaten lots of odd innards and stuffing stuff for want of a better description , in Ubud in the late 1970's that accompanied delicious babi.
I also ate turtle steaks then before I became 'aware' of animal cruelty. It tasted just like chicken as I find most unknown meats do.
I ate dog in Chiang Mai in 1978 and that wouldn't have bothered me except it was a lovely little dog who followed us through very barren hill terrain for 3 days and when we stupidly said we were sick of rice and hanging out for some meat, they shot the poor little thing for our dinner.
WE didn't know until it was too late. It tasted like roast lamb.
I still think many English dishes the most foul.
Tripe uuggghhh.
I do like sweetbreads and black pud though.

This is not meant to sound horrible, but correct me if I'm wrong with Balinese it's more a case of what they DON'T eat

I asked a Balinese mate about this and he said the only thing really off the menu was cat, maybe someone else may be able to back this up?

When my wife wife and I used to stay in a kos in Legian the owner would regularly 'harvest' water monitors from the big drain behind the compound when they occasionally turned up. I hated that, they are awesome animals, I think. I spose at least he ate them, I have seen a few big lizards killed for no good reason other than to kill them .

From what species of bird do those little speckled eggs come from that can be bought around the place? My wife never gives me a definitive answer, just says 'from burung in the sawah'. They taste great with a beer or bakso.

Adam, these eggs are from quail birds. I love both the eggs and the birds. Don't know the Indonesian name but in Bali it is called Puwuh.

I think the older generations would eat many things that younger generations won't eat. I guess it was because meat like chicken, and pork were not available all year round like they are now (only for special occacion like Galungan etc). My grandparents and parents used to tell stories about how tough things were and that young people like myself are too spoilt and don't know the meaning of going hungry and without food!

With dog meat, there are certain areas in Bali where dog meat is still eaten but not from the village I come from (well at least not to my knowledge).

BTW, be careful when you order Sate Kambing some people said the goat meat used have been replaced by dog meat (as it is cheaper and tastes similar). So maybe many of us have unknowingly eaten dog meat!