During the second world war, my grandad (the Gloucestershire one) managed to get hold of some swan meat. There was a war on and anything that wasn't nailed down was eaten. He said that it was almost inedible. Very strong tasting with a rank fishy flavour. It was the one of the few things he said he'd never eat again - swan and a few of the things he'd tried eating to stave off hunger during a very poor childhood.
His late Victorian rural childhood involved eating anything he could get his hands on. Rabbit, badger, thrush - even fox. He drew the line at blackbird and hedgehog. He'd tried them but apparently they tasted even worse than swan.
The family were dirt poor. In the 1831 census, his own grandfather - one Jasper Roseblade - was listed as 'Occupation - Outdoor Vagrant'. Ten years later, Jasper had come up in the world and in the next census was recorded as an 'Indoor Vagrant'. Sadly, he blew his fortune on a turnip and the family returned to grinding poverty and outdoor vagrancy ten years later.
Because of his poor background, my grandad would eat almost anything - even chitterlings - the 'delicacy' made from pressed (and not always cleaned) intestines.
I've inherited his love of strange food. As I write this, I have some pigs cheeks bubbling away in the slow cooker. Wherever I went on my work travels, I would always ask to eat local specialities - especially the ones that tourists would be horrified by. Inevitably, that means tripe. Over the years, I've been served tripe several ways in several countries. All different & all lovely. I've had pigs ears, raw steak, raw shellfish and so on. In France, I was told by a local that I ate like a Frenchman. I took it as the compliment that it was meant to be.
I was given some chocolate made out of camels milk. It was ok but after I'd eaten it, I was told that camels milk is very creamy and thick and a bit salty. Also, it seems that camels have to be milked *very* hard and they only have the one 'teat.'.. I'll eat almost anything but I'm going to have to draw a line at dromedary jizz. Whilst it is respectful to animals to eat as much as can be eaten, the sperm is an exception and will not be knowingly eaten - I'm not Marc Almond. But it is far better - and less perverted - to have devilled kidneys or marinated & grilled ox heart than to tuck into the unused shagging muscle of a virgin bull - that's fillet steak to you.
Whilst working in Cheshire, I was in a hotel for so long that I got to know the chef and persuaded him to get some unusual things in. He got freshwater fish - perch and roach. Perch has bones like caltrops but is very delicious. Roach is like like chewed-up newspaper wrapped around toothpicks - only not so nice. After the roach, my throat resembled a game of Ker-Plunk.
The chef also tried to get squirrel but was threatened with the sack if he ever served vermin. The fluffy-***ts have got the hotel managers on their side.
As I get older, I find that high-fibre foods become more and more attractive - no better way to start the day than with an 18 inch stool.. I've always been suspicious of those who keep their libraries in their loo - it strongly suggests a poor diet. I saw a TV program that said that the diet of lorry drivers is kept deliberately low in fibre as there is little time time in the truckin' day for regular poos. Instead, the poor sods are kept on an appetising but unhealthy diet of bacon and fried bread to ensure that they only need to go once every three days.
When they do finally get the chance to poo, it's like a chair leg. The most effective technique get it out is to bounce up and down on the loo, while smacking themselves on the head - like human ketchup bottles. This does shift things but it usually smashes the toilet. The broken toilets you find all to often in service stations is not vandalism but simply the bad diet that the poor truckers are forced to eat.
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