Stomach-turners to most, a delicacy to few
Hillary Smith
Every person and every culture has certain foods that they think are enjoyable to eat, but those foods are not delicious to everyone. Somewhere in the mind of each person there is an invisible line between which foods are acceptable and which foods are not.
The selection of food a person consumes has a lot to do with where and how they were brought up. If the food is not acceptable within their society, most likely it’s considered taboo.
Food taboos are foods that are either thought to be unappetizing or forbidden by religious or cultural belief. Most likely, the only way a scorpion or cockroach would find its way onto an American dish is if they were to crawl up on it themselves.
In that case, the restaurant would be shut down immediately, but in some cultures these insects are on the menu.
In East Asia there are restaurants that specialize in fried scorpion and shots of the still-beating heart of a snake.
Some believe eating the snake and drinking the blood promotes better health and increases the libido.
Markets around the world carry food desired by the people shopping in them. America, as a melting pot society, is accepting and welcoming to other cultures but maybe not as much to their food.
At Lee Lee’s Market, on the northeast corner of Warner and Ray, they sell everything from jewelry to chicken feet.
“Many Americans do not buy the animals feet,” said a man behind the produce counter.
Crunching on the bones of an animal is not too appetizing for everyone, but to others it is a delicacy.
In Poland, friends or family might sarcastically threaten a meal of fast food for a punishment, while here in the U.S. a lot of people have a regular diet of fast food.
Many dishes like dog, which are offered in Japan, are not sold very often in the U.S.
Some Japanese restaurants though, do share a little bit of their culture with us through raw fish and quail egg shooters.
Not everyone is willing to try these courses. SCC student, Lindsay Marriott said,
“The only time I came close to dining on insects was when I accidentally ate half a worm that had made a home in my apple.”
What some think is normal and eat on a daily basis, others believe to be unacceptable and
gross.
