I grew up in a Ukrainian family where my grandma cooked real Ukrainian cuisine. Most of the food I ate was pretty normal, but a few things that I grew to love were nowhere near normal. I ate these foods as a kid, back before I realized most people thought they were gross foods. If I had never eaten these foods as a kid, and had been offered them in adulthood, there is no way I would have tried them.
Here are the foods I love to eat, that you hate to eat:
Caviar (fish eggs) – Most people in the US think of caviar as a delicacy and only have it at fancy cocktail parties. But in Ukraine, having caviar in your fridge is like having milk in your fridge. It's a necessity. My favorite is red caviar on top of a buttered baguette. YUM! Caviar on a thin crepe is pretty damn good as well.
Canned Sprats – Sprats are delicious on bread and butter, but I prefer to eat them right out of the can. Although I can never eat a fish with its head still attached, sprats are the one exception. Growing up, we always had a can or two in the fridge to snack on.
Fried Liver – This meat has a very gamey taste that most hate. In fact, liver was voted the # 1 most hated food in America. When I was served this as a child I never knew it was liver, therefore I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Chicken Hearts – Chicken hearts are small and tough. They almost taste gamey and metallicy. But, they have something about them that I really like. Maybe it’s the fact that you can pop them into your mouth like little popcorn kernels.
Meat Jelly – This dish looks absolutely disgusting, but it is delicious with some spicy red horse radish on the side. It consists of random pieces of meat congealed in a meat based stock.
Milk Soup – It’s so simple. Noodles + warm milk + sugar + butter = the best breakfast ever created!
Cow Tongue – If I knew that what I was eating when I was a kid was a cow tongue, I would have probably puked in my mouth. To me, this was just another random delicious meat that my granny made me. It was in fact cow tongue sliced into thin, porous, chewy pieces with taste buds and all. I still eat it to this day while trying to block out the reality of what I’m actually eating.
Bone Cartilage – 99.9% of people eat the meat off of the chicken bone and throw out the rest. Ukrainians believe that the shiny hard stuff on the end of the bone is the best part of the chicken leg. And guess what? They are right! Not only is it very healthy for you, but the crunchy goodness of it is so satisfying that I’m craving some this very moment.
Here are the foods I love to eat, that you hate to eat:
Caviar (fish eggs) – Most people in the US think of caviar as a delicacy and only have it at fancy cocktail parties. But in Ukraine, having caviar in your fridge is like having milk in your fridge. It's a necessity. My favorite is red caviar on top of a buttered baguette. YUM! Caviar on a thin crepe is pretty damn good as well.
Canned Sprats – Sprats are delicious on bread and butter, but I prefer to eat them right out of the can. Although I can never eat a fish with its head still attached, sprats are the one exception. Growing up, we always had a can or two in the fridge to snack on.
Fried Liver – This meat has a very gamey taste that most hate. In fact, liver was voted the # 1 most hated food in America. When I was served this as a child I never knew it was liver, therefore I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Chicken Hearts – Chicken hearts are small and tough. They almost taste gamey and metallicy. But, they have something about them that I really like. Maybe it’s the fact that you can pop them into your mouth like little popcorn kernels.
Meat Jelly – This dish looks absolutely disgusting, but it is delicious with some spicy red horse radish on the side. It consists of random pieces of meat congealed in a meat based stock.
Milk Soup – It’s so simple. Noodles + warm milk + sugar + butter = the best breakfast ever created!
Cow Tongue – If I knew that what I was eating when I was a kid was a cow tongue, I would have probably puked in my mouth. To me, this was just another random delicious meat that my granny made me. It was in fact cow tongue sliced into thin, porous, chewy pieces with taste buds and all. I still eat it to this day while trying to block out the reality of what I’m actually eating.
Bone Cartilage – 99.9% of people eat the meat off of the chicken bone and throw out the rest. Ukrainians believe that the shiny hard stuff on the end of the bone is the best part of the chicken leg. And guess what? They are right! Not only is it very healthy for you, but the crunchy goodness of it is so satisfying that I’m craving some this very moment.
6 comments:
How can you stand eating any of that without vomiting uncontrollably?
I would try fish eggs if it was a life or death situation ONLY
Oh those stuff are yummy!!!
My grandma still makes similar foood to that..mmmmm
love cow tongues!! liver, no way..but caviar! omg!! delicassy!!
I think you like caviar more than I do Jenny Poo :)
I'm part Ukranian on my mom's side but have never tried most of these! I think the most we ever did was kielbasa and some bread with Ukranian Pysanky eggs baked in on Easter morning lol - honestly don't know if I could stomach most of what you wrote about, but very interesting reading!
I like the first two - caviar is delicious! :) And liver is acceptable too...
Others I mostly have tried,but didn't really like them -.-
LOL I grow up with all of them too, except the milk noodles soup one. I like them. Hahaha... we also have oxtail soup or grilled oxtail, frogs, ah the list goes on. =p
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