Alice Levitt's 100

Hi there, Omnivore gourmets and gourmands (Yes, there is a difference, look it up). For those who don't know me yet, I am Seven Days' food intern. Think of me as Suzanne Jr. You may remember me from such stories as Exquisite Corpse, detailing my week as a butcher, and Cart Course, in which I ate from every cart on Church Street. Suzanne asked that I contribute my own take on the meme about which she last blogged. I pride myself on my exhaustive list of animals eaten, but I don't drink, so we'll see if I can compete.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea - Nettles are great, so versatile. I love buying a big bag of them mixed with carrots and frying them up as a side with Asian meals.
3. Huevos rancheros - A bad idea.
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile - I have had plenty of alligator. My brother once made me alligator marsala at his late, great Essex restaurant, Feast Market and Cafe.
6. Black pudding - Any kind of sausage is just fine in my book, but "puddings" tend to be a bit grainy for my taste.
7. Cheese fondue - One of my favorite lazy winter meals is microwaving up a personal size container from Switzerland (think fondue ramen) and dipping stale bread until I am lulled into a carbohydrate coma.
8. Carp
9. Borscht - Hot, cold, spicy, sweet. Too many permutations to count.
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich - I prefer Banana and Slim Jim.
14. Aloo gobi - I would only have this at a buffet. If I'm getting Indian, I want lamb or goat!
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses - A cheese that will be added to the "to do" list.
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - I don't drink, but I had a glut of elderberry wine for my story, Pollinate This
19. Steamed pork buns - Fuck yes. I always get a pile of cha siu bao to bring home from Dobe and Andy in Montreal
20. Pistachio ice cream - I like it best with cherries in it
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - Stunt eating. If you're not in college, don't do it.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - A childhood pre-nap favorite. You need a nap after that.
33. Salted lassi - Salted drinks may sound like a bad idea, but I always love them. Try the salted lemonade at Pho Dang and you'll become a believer too.
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float - There is no greater pleasure than the last bits of ice cream, jacketed in frozen root beer at the end of an A&W float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea - I grew up around a lot of English people. I always suspected even they drank it only to be polite.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - Another favorite. I slightly prefer goat to lamb. My local supermarket, the Colchester Shaw's usually carries stew goat. Try making your own.
42. Whole Insects - I wish.
43. Phaal - This is the hottest form of curry. Frankly, I don't know if you can even get it in the US. I've never gone hotter than a vindaloo.
44. Goat’s milk - Tastes like... goat.
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - I hear it isn't even that tasty
47. Chicken tikka masala - My earliest memory is eating this at Madhur Jaffrey's restaurant in New York.
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - Whenever I am at a gas station back home in Connecticut, I must pick up some. When I can't get those, Sam Mazza's are quite similar.
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - I find the Big Mac to be an example of poor food construction. I am more of a BK Stacker girl.
56. Spaetzle - The first time my boyfriend tried this Swiss/German dumpling, he remarked, "This is so good, I can't believe it's not meat."
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips - Dog food. No really. I have only ever eaten them in dog treats. Yes, I eat dog treats. What's your problem?
61. S’mores - I like to make them with a Vosges Naga (curry and coconut) bar
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin - This is clay. That is not food.
64. Currywurst - Once again: Sausage good. Curry better.
65. Durian - Don't be a wimp. It's like honeydew. With camembert. Start with an M-Saigon bubble tea, then build. You can get a whole one in Montreal's Chinatown
66. Frogs’ legs - I don't know how I've missed them. Soon, I promise.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis - Stomach, fine. Oatmeal, ew.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho - Hate it.
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost - This is a sharp Norwegian cheese. This has piqued my interest, so it will make my list imminently.
75. Roadkill - I have eaten a lot of game that could have been road kill.
76. Baijiu - This is Chinese moonshine. I have a friend who regularly brings it back from China. Its very odor frightens me.
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky - I much prefer Yan Yan. You dip them yourself. If you are a man, try Men's Pocky, with coffee flavoring. If you are a woman, avoid it, lest you should grow a penis.
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant - It doesn't have the stars, but Sona in LA totally deserves them. Check out my blog post about it on www.AliceEats.com
85. Kobe beef - Horribly overrated. I prefer Kurobuta pork.
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse - I cooked it on my George Foreman grill. My boyfriend had indigestion for days.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam - Coming out of a can makes food better, right?
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa - I had a bunch of harissa at the EatingWell test kitchen, but believe me, they were not adding rose petals
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano - One of my favorites. Jesus, I miss La Carreta.
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta - A specialty of mine.
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake - I think I may have in the mists of time, but can't recall. I'm not a huge fan of the texture of reptiles as a whole, but anything for a laugh.

To learn more about me and other weird things I have eaten, check out my website, www.AliceEats.com.

Comments

[Lynne G]

I was surprised to read that someone who "grew up around a lot of English people" doesn't know that the clotted cream is spread on the scone, it's not placed in the tea. It would be like putting butter in your tea...perhaps you actually grew up around a lot of Tibetans and just thought they were English.

[Alice Levitt]

Sorry, Lynne, I guess I wasn't clear. I meant the whole production of having tea. From Earl Gray to scones, it's just not my thing. People I knew always treated it like going to church- no one enjoyed it, but they were afraid not to do it. I would prefer a gouter of chocolate mousse any day.