Taiwans Bizarre Foods

I'm so glad I checked my morning newspaper TV listings yesterday. Though I pay only little attention to TV, I do watch some specialty channels from time to time. One, the Travel Channel, has a series I have seen once or twice called 'Bizarre Foods'. The foods are not necessarily bizarre to everyone, but to the host, a chef from the U.S., they are not seen much outside of the country or region each episode features. What is bizarre in one country is the norm in another. Today's episode was from Taiwan and featured some regions around and including Taipei.
I saw this show once time when it did an episode on the bizarre food of Japan, and most of the foods were disgusting to me and so strange as to be indescribable. Many Japanese that appeared on that show also said they found them disgusting, that the foods were esoteric specialties favored by only a few Japanese. The other time I saw the Bizarre Food series the show emanated from New York City's underground food scene, mostly ethnic foods of the stranger type like Irish Haggis (sheep innards) that were brought to NYC by the many immigrants there. The foods shown on the NYC episode had less bizarre food than Japan's, and the food shown in Taiwan's episode were somewhere in between , but foods I would try (unlike what I saw from Japan) most of what I saw in was eaten in Taiwan.. I do believe that one can better understand a culture when eating that culture's foods. So I have tried some unappetizing looking foods abroad in my travels.
Here is a "taste" of what I saw on this Taiwanese episode. In the Shilin Night Food Market in Taipei the show host/chef Andrew Zimmeran tried an oyster omelet. That one is not too bizarre and according to Andrew is a local favorite. He gave it an "ok" rating. Then he ate barbecued chicken butt basted in soy sauce on a stick. Ugh! Andrew said he could skip that one next time. I think my own butt is disgusting enough and can't imagine eating a chicken's. Finally, Andrew sampled "coffin bread". This one he liked very much and said that it is bread that is filled with "various things". It looked tasty.
Now to the inevitable scourge of mankind-tofu! First Andrew went to a town outside of Taipei (I can't remember the name) to seek the best fried tofu on a stick that the local street market had. Andrew loved it, saying it was excellent and did not smell or taste like tofu when cooked. That tofu was fried and stuffed with a fermented cabbage, and I must admit looked tasty....Blind fold me and don't tell me it is tofu and I might like it too.
To sample some other tofu dishes he went to Taipei's famous "House of Stink". Haha The tofu smelled so bad there Andrew had trouble staying in the restaurant. He was shown by the owner how it was made. Frozen tofu (He said that 80% of all Taiwanese tofu comes from two factories in Taiwan and is delivered frozen to food sellers) is dropped into vats of purple colored fish and vegetable fermentation to pick up bacteria. After 14 days it is taken out and re-frozen for later cooking at the House of Stink. Haha Andrew gagged when eating all three dishes saying the awful taste was only matched by the awful smell. Well, that fits the reputation tofu has in the west. Next, three more dishes were sampled at a street food market: chicken uterus (he said it was OK), cock "coins" (delicious according to Andrew but it sounds a little gay to me) and geese tongue and geese head (He loved that one). Well, If you asked me to try those I think that I would try them all if you promised not to make me eat that stinky tofu!
Andrew next went to eat a medicinal food in Taipei- black chicken. I had heard of blackskinned chicken but have never eaten it. Andrew said it tastes like....well.....chicken...identical to non black chicken. This chicken was cooked in a delicious broth that Andrew said was outstanding. Whether or not the black chicken is curative it sounds and looked good to me. Andrew's side dish was rooster testicle soup. Hmmmmmm Another testicle dish.... there seems to be a gay element in Taiwan food...Maybe that is a food version of viagra for gays? Oh...he also sampled a black and white rooster ball soup while there that he liked very much.
The final stop in Taipei itself was at the tallllllllllllll 101 building (he claimed it has the fastest elevator in the world) to see what locals ate in the food courts. He tried some bizarre offerings there: pigs intestines and pig blood cake (he said it was ok); sacks of fish roe (he loved it) and marinated pigeon eggs (he said it was awful).
It was on to the city of Pinglin, known as the tea capital of the region, for tea foods. He tired fried tea leaves (good), noodles and tea oil (crispy and delicious according to Andrew) and "Streaky Pork" that was served in a bun made from tea powder (he liked the pork and hated the bun). All of the tea foods sound appealing to me. I'll eat them if I ever have a chance (you can have "my" cock testicles while I eat the tea foods...hehe).
In the last city Andrew searched for bizarre foods, Wulai (the site of curative hot springs), the goal was to try some aboriginal foods. He had one dish of vegetables that featured high mountain bees. That one he liked. The bees were not mushy as one might expect, but instead were crispy. Then he ate betel tree bamboo shoots (he liked it, but I am not interested in eating wood of any sort) and finally the highlight- Doma. Doma is a raw pork that is fermented for 2 weeks in a jar. It is served on a plate with ice. Andrew said it was ok, and that it tasted like thin slices of beef that had been dipped in lemon.
I enjoyed the show and the cultural aspects of Taiwan that were shown were very interesting. Most of the foods (but not the stinky tofu) looked appealing enough to try, at least one bite of them. At the very least, I think it would probably shut me up for a few minutes. That in itself is EXCELLENT.