An Italian Tradition

[Dave W]

Because some people will eat anything: Spleen Sandwiches 

I'll be sure to try one next time I'm in Brooklyn. I'll probably need a couple of KFC Double Downs afterward.

[gweimer]

I think I mentioned that my FIL and his wife were stranded in Italy last month.  They were near a place called Padua, and the menu for dinner one night was donkey meat and corn meal, along with 2 varieties of horse meat.

I don't think anyone can beat the Germans when it comes to using all the parts you can to make some sort of deli roll. 

[Lightyear]

   Sorry, I'll eat lots of things but ofal is just not my list things to eat - no inards for me

[TBird1958]

Errrmmmm.........


Held as long as I could................Kisses anyone 

[eb2]

I prefer tripe, but it doesn't make a good sandwich.  As a meal one can understand how other Italian food is more popular.  Yet old world specialties hang on, like eating the eye out of the goat's head.  And for me, clam sauce is far more repulsive, yet it is fairly popular.  Italian food - not regional oddities like eating donkey (which would not be common anywhere but an age-old food of opportunity) - is best when pasta based, or of the desert variety.

When it comes to don't ask don't tell food, I suspect the peoples of GB compete with the hearty Germans and Bohemians for filling casings with congealed and coagulated remains.

[exiledarchangel]

There's a big tradition in those things in Greece too, spleen, eyes, guts, testicles, brains, nothing escapes.

[Freuds_Cat]

Most um... exotic thing I have ever eaten was bulls penis in ginger sauce in Chang Mai  Northern Thailand. I wasnt aware of it at the time thankfully.  I've been told that Roo nuts are regarded as a delicassy by the Jawoyn aboriginal people. Haven't tried em though.
My Dad is a fan of Sweetbread. (Sheep nuts).

[exiledarchangel]

Yea nuts are supposed to be a real treat for some people.

[uwe]

And that is what you will all be going back to eating until you've repaid the more than 100 billion EUR you're now costing us!   You guys are real costly. Last time we invaded you, we lost WW II because of it (attacking Russia one month later had "Comrade Winter" stop our offensive earlier), now this ...  

Seriously, how is the Greek public now? Still reeling from the blow and licking wounds? I don't have issues with the bail-out and it was clear to me that it would have to happen right from the start. Greece dropping out of the Euro zone - ANY country dropping out of the Euro zone for that matter - was never a realistic option. The German government was ill-advised to communicate something else initially.

Uwe

PS: I have no issue eating innards whatsoever. Not all of them taste great, but quite a few do. Watch a lion hunt a gazelle and what does he eat first? Not the tenderloin, but the still steaming intestines, no doubt for the nutritional value they have. Fräulein Rommel is such a girl!  

[exiledarchangel]

Things are tough here, naturally. Most of the people have realized the situation, and are willing to sacrifice a part of their income. On the other hand there is the communist party (we have the most hardcore-Stalin-oriented communist party of the europe FYI) that organizes strikes and such things that only make things harder. Of course the media are playing their role on (mis)informing the public, as usual.

The irony is that most other Europeans think that most people in Greece live (or lived till today) like kings or something, that couldn't be furtherer from truth. A typical salary here for an employee is about 700 euros, and most things are very expensive, except, well, the sunshine and the beaches that are (still...) free.

Dropping off the Euro zone would be catastrophic for us, but also would be the start of a domino effect in EU economy, other "weak" countries (like Portugal or Ireland) would follow, and that I think would be the beginning of the end for the EU.

On-topic: innards are delicious, when cooked properly. If you ever come to Greece, I'll be glad to be your guide into the kingdom of Cholesterol.

[TBird1958]

Fräulein Rommel is such a girl! 

True! I'm a woman of very discerning taste - I only like the best!

[Highlander]

The "bag", of course, is the sheep's stomach...

... and I always thought anything beneath the skin was an "innard..." 

[eb2]

I prefer my Greek vacations in Toronto and Boston.  Great souvlaki, fewer commies.

[Basshappi]

I still maintain that haggis was a dare.

[uwe]

I only had it last year for the first time and really, really liked it. Better traditional food than anything else traditional I've eaten in Britain.