One Hundred Foods You Should Eat

by julie on August 17, 2008

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The Omnivore’s Hundred is an eclectic and entirely subjective list of 100 items that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should try at least once in his life.

He offered this list as the starting point for a game, along the following rules:
1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: post a comment on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

Those I’ve eaten are in bold.
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (I have had alligator.)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Cherry and cranberry and apple)
19. Steamed pork buns (I have a recipe. I want to make some.)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese (grew up on this stuff)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (Those are my favorite snack, truly.)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi (I’ve had mango lassi and loved it.)
34. Sauerkraut (Homemade, from a can, from a bag.. yup. I just need to make it.)
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar I’ve tried cigars. I cough. I like the smell of them sometimes, though. And I really dislike cognac.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (but I could get goat at La Mexicana)
42. Whole insects (we’ve all eaten partial ones)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (in cheese and liquid form)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (I love eel!)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (Yes please.)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (I don’t like them, but I’ve had one)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (Heck yeah.)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (I have a face mask that contains it and I’m sure I’ve gotten some on my lips)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (no, yes, yes, yes)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

How about you? Feel free to copy it in the comments.

TJ Jackson

kaolin is….clay?

he’s recommending that people eat clay?
Julie

Maybe he has geophagy. Who knows?
vudutu

This is fun Julie!

Interesting, I have had most of these foods, I can add a few, ackee for instance,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackee

Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica and ackee and saltfish is the national dish. It is a wonderful veg that is sort of like scrambled eggs, I like it for breakfast, oh by the way if not properly prepared it is poisonous.

Epoisses is something I would like to try, with the help of a friend we made chèvre this weekend from unpasturized goat milk, it was very easy and fun. FYI the Bucheron from Krauses is killer, do try it.

Steamed pork buns are very tasty!

Head cheese (grew up on this stuff) me too, one of our neighbors delighted in grossing out the kids by pulling pigs eyes out of his pocket when making this.

Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper, I don’t advise this unless it is a tiny, tiny piece.

Bagna càuda, I would love to go to Italy and try this.

Salted lassi I would like to try.

Cognac with a fat cigar, I would amend this, cognac is awfully hot, I would say Port, vintage port with a fat cigar.

Everyone should try Calvados, yum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvados_(spirit)

Clotted cream tea, I could skip this.

Phaal, toooooo hot for me, I was in Teak one time and an Indian gentleman ordered a dish and asked for it to be a 10, the server warned him and the gentleman replied “challenge me!”

Fugu I could skip this too. They are raising non poises versions now I read.

Eel (I love eel!) me to especially Unagi, I feel a trip to Matsuya in my future,

http://tinyurl.com/6dnkdb

Krispy Kreme, I could skip this too.

Umeboshi, love to try.

Abalone, can’t say as I have.

Poutine just sound weird to me, I would try it though,

Durian I could not believe it when I walked into Jungle Jim’s and saw it, I’ll pass.

Frogs’ legs, grew up on them, camping out a frog gig, a large cast iron pan ad a stick of butter were standard equipment.

Louche absinthe, had some this weekend while we were making cheese!

Gjetost is wonderful, Krause’s has it FYI.

Roadkill, yep done that.

Baijiu I would try.

Bellini, yum and French 75′s also.

Tom yum, love to try

Pocky, not yet.

Flowers, I grow nasturtiums for salads, broccoli, cauliflower, and artichokes are all flowers.

Horse, not that I know of.

Soft shell crab, love em fried on a sandwich.

Mole poblano

Lobster Thermidor, not yet.

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, yea in Jamaica.

Snake, yea, rattlesnake, think greasy chicken
Toddy-O

Jamaican Blue Mountain…..one of the best coffees I’ve ever had. Worth the money.

Digging holes for plants around here…you’ll end up with a brief dusting of clay. And it doesn’t taste like chicken!

Am surprised to see a few items missing:

tripe
Vienna Hot Dog
Cristal or La Grande Dame’
Bucket of fresh Chesapeake Blue Crabs
inflammatory writ

I demand to know where Tempura is on this list. OR soba noodles!

Anyway, I reposted to my blog and linked you. I’ve eaten a shocking amount of that stuff in my life.

http://www.myinflammatorywrit.com/2008/08/100-foods-you-should-eat.html
Terry Lee

Good list. I’ve had most of the same ones that you have bolded plus a couple others. I will say this list is missing many Chinese dishes that are typical here, but pretty strange for the rest of the world: deer or duck penis, jellyfish, lobster sashimi, steamed egg whites, crystal meat, roasted pigeon (head, beak and all).
The Donut Guy

How about strange food combinations that you’ve eaten?

I like spaghetti and tuna mixed together.

My wife can’t even be in the kitchen when I make this…..something about the smell grosses her out.
vudutu

toddy o, I would say an excellent vintage bubbly and bucket of fresh Chesapeake Blue Crabs, cooked on the beach. Oh and add paella to the list!
Toddy-O

Donut Guy….I do this with ramen noodles, a can of water packed tuna and a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup right from the can. Fake alfredo! And likewise…the wife can’t stand the smell. Never complains about the cat food though!??!
Kate The Great

What a great post! Some notes: pass up black pudding if it comes your way, but do try the haggis. Cicadas aren’t that bad whole, especially if you wash their fluttering wings down with a shot of quervo. Fois gras is so overdone but it is delicious.

God, I haven’t had polenta in a while. Damn, now I’m hungry!!
The Boyfriend

Kate–I’ve had black pudding in both England and Ireland. I actually liked it. Haggis? Can’t muster the wherewithal to do it.
vudutu

This thread got me thinking of other foods I have been wanting to try, has anyone had fried or grilled halloumi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloumi

While Googling I ran across this one, Milbenkäse (“mite cheese”),very odd.

http://tinyurl.com/5dgnsy

When I get time I want to look at this list, Travelers Lunchbox, things to eat befpre you die

http://tinyurl.com/rev4v
Maggie

The clay seemed like an odd addition.

I love halloumi. I’ve been buying leipäjuusto (bread cheese) which is very similar and also really good.

I think morels should have made the list. Here’s my post.
Chris S

I agree, morels should have made the list (along with many of the other suggestions here)

I’ve put up my list here. I was suprised with how many of the things I had tried…
Beefy Muchacho

Durian is something to behold. Not something GOOD, necessarily, but some people love it. (Tony Bourdain, for example.. dude talks about it fairly regularly as one of his guilty pleasures.)

I don’t believe Blood Sausage appeared on the list… Once you get past the thought of it… it’s really excellent when done right.
ShannanB aka Mommy Bits

Ok… I love that one of the items on the list is Hostess Fruit Pies… YUM!!!
Suz

Okay, while I wouldn’t eat 99% of those things, I either applaud or am grossed out by people who do. Anyway, the roadkill reference made me think of the West Virginia festival I saw on a travel or food show. This harvest festival has a roadkill cook-off that people are pretty serious about. It looked quite disgusting from my perspective, but for those eating adventurous, maybe you should check it out: http://pccocwv.com/festival.htm.
Julie

Thank you everyone for your ideas! I agree– the list is totally subjective and there are a ton of things I’d add myself.

I think I’ll do a strange food combinations post soon…