Category: Food Critic

Would you eat a tarantula?

The other day I watched a little bit of the TV show “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern“.  I don’t usually watch it, but it can be interesting (and quite gross at times) . In the clip I saw, he was in Cambodia, and he showed people who eat tarantulas.  And of course he tried it.  I don’t think I would try that…

Yummy... NOT!

The story of how this happens is unusual also.  A husband and wife team go into the forest to catch tarantulas, then they de-fang them using a stick, a knife, and their hands, and they sell them for 12 cents apiece.  Imagine if that was your job!  It’s dangerous enough to find and catch poisonous spiders, plus the other dangers in a forest.  Then they remove the fangs and poison.  What could possibly go wrong?  And to get only 12 cents per spider… I realize the economy is on a different scale there, but that still seems quite low for the amount of risk involved.

A woman buys the tarantulas, rinses them off, seasons them with a mixture of powdered instant chicken soup, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar, then fries them.  While cooking, they make whistling noises and popping sounds (like a small explosion).  While frying the hair/fur falls off.  Supposedly they are quite tasty, with a sweet and nutty taste.  The woman sells them in town for 25 cents each, and makes about $25 a day, which is a really good living there.

Reading about it doesn’t do the story justice.  You should watch this short clip to experience it a little closer.

To answer my original question: No, I would not eat one.  I’m not scared of spiders, but I’d still rather not eat them, especially when they’re potentially poisonous.  There’s plenty of other foods I would rather eat.

the Krispy Kreme milkshake

I heard that there’s a restaurant that created a Krispy Kreme milkshake.  If you’ve ever had a fresh Krispy Kreme donut (doughnut), your mind has probably already concluded this might be one of the best milkshakes ever.  I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has already left for the store to get donuts to put in your blender.

This Krispy Kreme milkshake is made from two donuts added to a blender with a vanilla milkshake.  How could that not be awesome?

I found a review of the Krispy Kreme milkshake, and the author said he couldn’t finish it because the sugar rush was “formidable”.  I can imagine it being quite rich, but I’ve never met a dessert I couldn’t conquer.

It looks like the inventor of this is the Flip Burger Boutique in Atlanta, GA.  The menu looks like a gourmet place, with “burgers” costing between $7 and $21, without a side.  (I say “burgers” because some of theirs don’t even have beef.  In most circles those items would be called sandwiches.)  It seems like an odd fit because the restaurant appears to feature only fancy novelty type foodstuffs.  While a donut milkshake is quite the novelty, it doesn’t seem as “sophisticated” as the rest of their sides.

If I find myself in Atlanta, I hope to try one, solely for research purposes, of course.  🙂

FYI, while researching this story, I saw a news article saying Krispy Kreme had created their own frozen beverages a few years ago, which were effectively a drinkable version of their doughnuts.  I’ve been in a few Krispy Kreme stores and never noticed this, so perhaps they didn’t stay around.  In a way I can see that — while it would surely be great tasting, when you’re in a Krispy Kreme store and can get hot doughnuts that melt in your mouth, why would you pass on that?

What do you mean “out of bacon”???

I went to a local Mexican restaurant at lunch today, and there was a problem.  One of the guys with me ordered fajitas with steak, chicken, shrimp, and bacon, which is an excellent combination.  Sometimes I order that dish, but today I changed it up.  I ordered a dish called pollo zapata, which is like pollo asado (grilled chicken breast covered with cheese dip) but with mushrooms and bacon.

When the waiter (who I know) brought my food, he said, “Sorry, we’re out of bacon.”  That’s it.  The rest of the food arrived, but to me it was incomplete.  The bacon from this place has a good smoky flavor, which is most excellent.  (Of course, it’s good regardless, because it is bacon, after all.)  He didn’t inform me until my food was delivered, then nothing extra was done about it.  That’s disappointing.

I asked my friend if his fajitas had bacon, and they did not, but the waiter didn’t even say anything to him about it.  Needless to say, he was disappointed also.

So what should they do when bacon is missing?  I’m sure there’s varied opinions here, but they could at least let us know before they fix the food, in case we want something else.  Or they could offer a discount.  Or they could include extra cheese dip.  But nothing was done.  That’s also disappointing.

Maybe this is just another sign that the Buffet o’ Blog staff should open our own restaurant.  If we had the required funding, I have no doubt that we could create one of the most awesome restaurants ever.  We have so many great ideas.  Plus, we’d make sure we didn’t run out of bacon!  If our stockpile was ever in danger of reaching its expiration date, we’d cook it up and give extra bacon to the customers.  Or we could put up a sign outside that said “FREE BACON!”.  I guarantee that would bring in some extra customers!

See, why don’t other restaurants think of stuff like this?  Obviously we must have a dizzying intellect, or have boundless inspiration and creativity, or think so far out of the box that we’re like, “What box?”  Or maybe all of the above.  Either way, we have a copious abundance of epiphanies when it comes to designing the ultimate restaurant.

We would like to see this come to pass, for a few reasons — it would be exciting; we’d want to eat there a lot; it would make lots of money.  So if you’re an investor type person with lots of extra money, have your people contact our people.  We’ve been documenting our restaurant ideas for a while now, and we’d like to see this come to pass.

ultimate destroyer BBQ sandwich

I really enjoy watching Man v. Food on the Travel Channel.  Adam Richman is great as a host, and he can eat a mountain of food, but the food itself is even more impressive.  One episode I saw was about Kansas City, and I wish I had seen this before I went to KC a while back!

The challenge in this episode was a BBQ sandwich called Papa Bob’s Ultimate Destroyer.  It was huge, but also a little unusual.  It’s built on a 12″ hoagie bun, and the bottom layer of meat is a half pound of pulled pork, then a half pound of hickory smoked sliced pork.  All that is covered in BBQ sauce, then another layer of bread is added.  Next is a half pound of hickory-smoked ham and a half pound of hickory smoked turkey breast.  Then more sauce and more bread.  But wait, there’s more!  Next is 3 half pound hickory smoked hamburgers*, topped with sauce and more bread.  In case that’s not enough, there’s a half pound of brisket and a half pound of BBQ sausage, with, you guessed it, more sauce and the top of the hoagie bun.

It would be difficult to eat just the sandwich, with all that meat and bread.  But the challenge also includes 1 1/2 pounds of fries.  I would welcome some fries, because they go well with BBQ’d meat, but that’s a lot of starch in an eating challenge.  It’s probably part of the reason why no one has ever defeated the Ultimate Destroyer.  All together, the plate of food weighs 6 pounds.  If you don’t eat it, it costs $48.

I glanced at the release form, and it explains the sandwich and has the usual legal fine print.  I like how the small print starts out: “I AM FULLY AWARE THAT I AM ABOUT TO ATTEMPT TO EAT AN UNHEALTHY AND POSSIBLY DANGEROUS AMOUNT OF BAR-B-QUED MEAT AND SIDE DISHES.”  Dangerous indeed…

There are some other funny tidbits in the rules:
– No bathroom breaks; just sit there and eat & eat & eat & eat.
– Must keep all food down at least 5 (five) minutes after your last bite. If you launch it, you gotta clean it!! (floors, tables, chairs, parking lot, employees, customers, etc.)
– A Papa Bob’s Up-Chuck bucket will be provided at your table (just in case).
– Papa Bob’s is not responsible for anything mentally or physically that arises from eating the “Ultimate Destroyer”.

I think I’ll pass on that one.  Maybe if they have a smaller version…

* I’ve never heard of a smoked hamburger, but it sounds intriguing.  When Adam got to that part, he said it was tasty but a little dry, so he had to add sauce.  I’m thinking some cheese and Miracle Whip would help with it.  And of course, you might as well add bacon.  🙂  I’ve gotta get me a smoker someday…