Oh my gosh, metwin1! I am not exactly grossed out by the thought of people eating these things -- especially because my good friend Mooey (who is from China) eats things like that all the time. I just didn't know what it was actually called -- Mooey just says, "Don't ask, you won't like it".
I am more grossed out by blood (and all things red). When Mooey and I go out to eat, I tell her to order things for me and just don't tell me what they are. I am sure if she actually told me what they are, I wouldn't eat at all -- yet I usually like whatever she gives me. She usually orders things that aren't even on the menu at this tiny restaurant in Chinatown -- and I am sure I am eating things like that. She told me that this one soup she usually gets is "monkey brains"! For a split second, I actually thought she was serious!
Then I realized you probably can't get good monkey brains in Ohio anyway (I hope).
Then perhaps I shouldn't tell you that the Chinese (race, not nationality) even eat pig's blood? Lest you have thoughts of Count Dracula in mind, just step into any Chinese supermarket. In the refrigerated section, you may see tofu that's brownish red in colour, that comes in smaller cubes than white tofu? That's pig blood.
Oh my gosh, we go shopping in Chinatown all the time! That makes so much sense now! I know the tofu you're talking about! I don't eat it because it's red -- and I don't eat red things! But my roommate does all the time. Actually, we have a Polish food (i am not sure how it is spelled but it is pronounced czinena) or "duck blood soup". My parents got me to eat it as a kid because they told me it was "chocolate soup"! I knew it didn't taste like chocolate, but my parents told me it was a special kind of chocolate -- yeah ducky-bloody-chocolate! (Sorry, I am a really picky eater. I think my parents were really glad when I left for college and they didn't have to cook for me any more <g>.)
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I am a really picky person and I was actually really curious about these things that I'd never heard of before. My parents never eat *anything* other than traditional American or Polish food (and they never use spices on anything) -- so until I got to college, I had never tasted Chinese food, Indian food, Thai food, Mexican food, etc! Good thing I have a lot of friends from these countries to take me out to eat!
/me runs to tell her vegitarian, Jewish roommate about the pig's blood on tofu <g>. That's what she gets whenever we go out to eat Chinese food! Oh no! The lab phone isn't working and I have no cell phone signal here in the sub basement. Shoot!
- Laura
