After a long delay, I realized its been a while since I’ve made another proper food post so I thought it was time to dish up some more food from around the world. Most of these foods cover my travels through Northern Europe into Russia, down to Mongolia and then south from there into China. Let me know if you want me to send any of this your way…
If there was a Doner Kebab contest going on in Berlin at the time I was there, this monster would have made it to the finals..
The Official Icelandic Cheeseburger. Since they opted to go ahead and throw the egg on top, maybe its best to just eat it that way…
Whale in Northern Iceland. They may be one of the last remaining countries that serve this…
Aside from whale, this is another traditional Icelandic dish… Dung Smoked Salmon. Yes, dung smoked. You can see that I didn’t want to go for the whole fish just yet!
The world’s smallest banana?
These were a homemade batch of Russian cookies that were given to us by one of the locals in the hostel. They were ‘kinda’ like sugar cookies but not really. Hard to describe…
Ahh yes, the MY-MY buffet in Russia. It’s actually pronounced ‘Moo Moo’ in Russian. It was my best option while there because you can just point to the food you want
Russian KFC!
Yes, it does look a bit gross but it was delicious. Steak and mushrooms in sizzling sauce which I caught in a small town south of Moscow
Some fine Russian Chocolate!
One of my new favorites… Russian smoked cheese! I took three packs of this on the Trans-Siberian train. Its best served with a tall cold beer…
After sharing a cabin on the train with my Russian counterpart on the way to Mongolia, he left me with this. It was new to me but most of you have probably had a pomegranate before. He had two sacks full of them which probably weighed at least 100 lbs. The funniest part of the whole thing though was the fact we had spent hours communicating without knowing each others language. Thankfully I had my ‘Point it Dictionary’ along for the trip!
My Mongolian ‘Great Energy Vitals Soup’ so far has been the grossest thing I’ve tried yet on this trip. Consisted of Mutton heart, liver, kidney, lungs, inside stomach (as was described on the menu). It tasted just like it sounds like it would.
A Mongolian Buffet Experience. Actually, the food was great. Most of it had yak meat in it and Mongolians Loooove yak meat. You’ll find it in just about everything.
You can’t throw in all this food without sneaking in at least one beer. “The Mongolian Classic Lager”
More yak meat, this time with a bit of noodles thrown in…
Who doesn’t like dumplings?
Looking like more Yak meat but with some pure fat thrown into the mix!
I’ll take some sausage, and some… you know what, just give me the whole pig head.
What do you do when you’re missing your fork (and chop sticks) on a 4 day journey in the Trans-Siberian train? You grab your tweezers and dig in! MacGuyver skills 101 at its best! And in case you’re wondering, that is a meatball in my grips…
After crossing the Mongolian border into China, this was my first adventure purchase. A Chinese Pepsi and the mystery package which turned out to be some type of salted crunchy beans.
Looks a lot better than it was. This was my first real dish in China. The sauce seemed to have a ‘snot’ consistency. I did not come close to finishing the plate.
The Chinese Snickers bar. Yes I’m a fan of these and I seemed to keep a steady diet of them throughout my travels in Asia:)
This is a Chicken Foot if you couldn’t’ make it out. Often, this is the special ingredient that gets added last minute to the instant noodles by my Chinese train companions for that special kick. Just squirt it right in there. What? You don’t like Chicken Foot?
My friends first ever trip to KFC. You can tell we’re enjoying ourselves. And apparently, KFC is more popular in China than it is back home. They even have delivery!
Entering the Night market in Xi’an China… this was going to be interesting…
Yep, gettin more interesting. Here we have some scorpions, some roaches, beetles, lets see, what else? I can’t decide what I want…
Yeah, that’s what it is. This is why Fear Factor is no longer on the air. Someone from China came along and couldn’t understand what is so gross about eating sheep penis
In the Muslim Quarter of Xi’an China
Firin it up…
What is it you ask??? Its an egg. First hard boiled then deep fried. This is just some of the street food you can find in Northern China at 2am.
The not-so-normal breakfast. French toast with honey, small banana, some attempt at uncooked bacon, scrambled eggs, cherry tomatoes and oranges…
Raw but getting ready to get grilled in the fire pit at Mt Emei Shan in China
Anyone in the mood for some live snails, frogs or scorpions? We’re ready to fry them up right here and now!
And finally, the grand finale! My ‘Big Bear Hamburger”! Some of you may remember my post on this burger while traveling to Emei Shan. Think of the absolute largest, tastiest burger you’ve ever had. Well, that is the picture they had on the menu. And fifteen minutes later, this was what I was given! A blackened piece of beef with one tomato slice on two pieces of cheapest white bread you can find.
So as I mentioned earlier, let me know if you want me to send any of these dishes your way!!
2 Comments... Join the conversation below
Wow!! Rory what a great post showing so many different, strange, delicious and gross dishes. I grew in Panama as you know and I was picky so I never developed an appreciation for some things that are eaten en Panama, such as the chicken feet, pig’s feet or certain fish dishes….I didn’t even eat shrimp while living in Panama. To me the taste of their shrimp is much stronger than the shrimp I did finally start eating in the US.
Different, strange and delicious are great descriptions to sum it up! I actually wish I’d tried more things along the way in some of these countries but usually the most challenging part is either ordering without knowing the language so you just point and guess or you don’t get those needed recommendations from the locals…