I could not begin to address English gross out foods. I am far too sensitive to contemplate such things.
America's gross food is probably Twinkies and Vienna sausages and stuff like that. Or fucking aspic jello salads. When my grandfather was growing up in rural Tennessee they'd all fight over the squirrel brains, but it turns out you can get a prion disease from eating them.
But I LIKE Twinkies, and I'm not even American! The last time I bought a hot dog from a street vendor, it was a bratwurst, rather than a frankfurter. In Thailand, you can buy hot dog waffles, which is exactly what it sounds like, a hot dog sausage encased in a waffle, rather than a roll.
that depends on the hot dog, though. You can get bad hot dogs, but at the root it's a sausage in a bun. It would be unfortunate to label hot dogs as essentially gross--with hot dogs grossness is an incidental property. I like them too, but the grossness of twinkies is more like an objective fact that a person can choose either to regard or ignore. I enjoy them, but the fact that what I am eating is gross is always there in my mind. I choose to ignore it. Maybe that says more about me than about the twinkie though.
Being from the Black Country, turning vegetarian was hard for me. I’d spent 30 or so years eating meals that were basically pig. Scratchings, belly draft, liver, faggots and paes (note the spelling). Then there was everything else like black pudding… I still miss it. It was a total change of life style. When I ate meat, I ate anything. A lot of my students are devastated when I say I ate horse. Amazing what culture does.
No idea what a Vienna sausage is, but you’re right about Twinkies! I don’t see them as a gross food, though, it’s just that shit inside! I mean I have a sweet tooth but whatever that crap is in the middle… well I just don’t understand how or why anyone would eat that.
My short term memory is… well none existent, really. I hear a song on TV or whatever, grab my phone and ask Siri to identify it, and in the time it takes me to navigate to YouTube, I’ve forgotten what she said.
They're sold here under Ye Olde Oak brand as hot dogs in brine. I can confirm that they are indeed disgusting.
The events I’ve just witnessed can only be fully appreciated if you witnessed them yourself, and I fully expect the reactions of those reading would be exactly the same as mine, if I were reading someone else’s account of things, namely ‘Meh’ and ‘Oh, you’re mistaken’. I am, of course, mistaken, because the alternative isn’t possible, but I’ve just seen a man walking in slow motion. Not walking slowly, or strolling. Walking in full-on slow motion, just as though he were in a film that was slowed down, Tarantino style. I was the passenger in the work van, making our way to our next job. On my side of the street I noticed a postman making his way up a garden path. My view of him was partly obscured by bushes but I could see there was something ‘off’ about his movement. As the van drew alongside I turned to look and the postman was now half way up the path approaching the front door of the property, but doing so in full-on slow motion. His walk, and the way his leg floated slowly and steadily through the air, was just like the way the characters walk during the opening for Reservoir Dogs. I’m a very rational person, but this one has thrown and unsettled me. I was unable to talk and had full body goosebumps for a good five minutes following this experience. I have no idea why I saw what I did.
Apple’s weekly screen time report isn’t 100% accurate. The report includes time I spend listening to music at work, or audio books in the car… so no, I do not really spend an average of 18 hours a day playing on my phone.
FAO: @Iain Aschendale I know you live in Japan but I’m trying to track down a couple of snacks I bought from a Chinese wholesalers once. One was like a bag of what I think was fried dough - small miss-shaped, slightly crispy strips with a savoury but sweet taste, reddish and a little sticky. The other was this bag of weird shredded stuff, like savoury candy floss in texture. I think this one was shrimp flavoured. [ETA] Found this one. It’s called pork floss! Any ideas?
Not sure on the first, but there's also a kind of shredded squid called saki ika (image just for confirmation, I don't eat it and don't know if this is a good brand):
I had something new today. An Empanada is like a turnover pastry usually stuffed with meat filling. This one was Argentinian style stuffed with cheese and caramelized onion. Four bucks from a vendor at a street fair. Not bad.
i had a sweet one of those from my local Mexican takeaway. It had a sort of sugary cinnamon filling with white chocolate dip. Oh my days.
Fried gluten? Pork floss is great, it's a good filling for Chinese buns (aka nikuman in Japanese). I prefer the coarse variety.
