Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I used to know a vegan who was looking for a pregnant friend to give him her placenta to eat. My mind immediately went to "Placenta Helper." I don't know if that ever really panned out for him.

OK, so I'm picky about spelling, but...

Though this whole discussion is fascinating, I'm still chuckling at the original post...

"stranded in the dessert"

which would be lots more fun than the desert, IMO. That whole "licking" sidebar might then come into play. =)

Has anyone seen the film "Dumpling" from the Three Extremes trilogy?

Corn. I want that baby to have some kernels that are black.

Also asparagus. And my veggie burgers.

Not quite grilled, but when I roast my brussels sprouts, I want some of them to be black, crinkly and crisp!

Ohhh, charred hot dogs. When I did eat meat, nothing hit the spot like a Rutt's Hut Ripper...or a Cremator for the brave ones!

Bring on the carcinogens!

Not to be a party pooper, but honestly, this really isn't a nutrition forum--if you're a skinny, growing teenage boy and you want to bulk up, I would continue whatever weight training and swimming training you're doing to prepare for being a guard, and let your appetite take care of itself. I know a lot of guys who tried to beef up, and then when they stopped growing and they continued eating it didn't really help their athletic performance.

To gain muscle weight (and muscle 'holds' water which will add to your ability to stay afloat) if you're not happy with how you're developing, I'd see a trainer who could prescribe a nutrition and lifting plan, probably with lots of 'clean' protien. Just eating more won't necessarily improve your athletic performacen.

Perhaps with the right sauce, it wouldn't be bad. A little stringy, I'd imagine. My high school biology teacher lived in the Philipines for a while. While there, he was a guest in a villager's home. They served dog and cat. He said the dog was very red and beef-like in texture and flavor. The cat was tough, stringy, and without distinctive flavor.

i just saw that episode last night and with all the comments made by the judges i was sure bobby was going to lose, but he ended up winning.

I have probably eaten a couple of pencils in my time, but I don't think they would appear as splinters of wood! I read recently as well that the "average person" (which I think means someone who is eating a lot of processed/pre-prepared foods) eats something more than a pound of insects a year........ But then I always think of shrimps as being a sort of marine insect, and I love them - and have also voluntary eaten crickets and flying ants in Mexico. If we are what we eat, I should be metamorphosing soon - with any luck into a beautiful butterfly. But also, if we are what we eat, I have some nice foie gras on offer.

Aw. Shucks :)

Karen Resta,

This is really interesting - and there is also the issue of knowing what you are eating. Those who eat fugu without knowing what it is report a bland fish with no particular merit. Those who know what they are eating report buzzing of lips, tightening of throat, divine flavour and so on. Overcoming taboos knowingly, or risking death knowingly may change your palate considerably.

And objective measures of taste would be completely impossible to define. Starting with the ingredients, before you even start on the palate.... We carried out a blind tasting of tomatoes in our local garden club. Twenty different tomatoes were tasted by about 15 people. Top for flavour came 'Sioux' grown by Chris. Second was smuggled in vine tomato from a good local supermarket. Somewhere around 17th came another 'Sioux' grown by Mary. What we couldn't work out was what was the most crucial difference - the amount of watering, the exposure to warmth or light, the timing of the harvesting, the amount of feeding. I do realise that you 'could' create a constant, with something baked, but even DOC cheeses and wines differ in many cases. And the 'human' may, like me, be richly marbled, fed itself on wonderful foods, adding to my unusually good flavour; it could be practically pré-salé, or it could be scrawny, wiry, full of tendons like my friend Allan!

But then many Chinese, who like the elbows and feet and tendons of things, would prefer Allan to the rich cossetting of me. All to do with culture and the mind.

MOH ( a good Catholic) would make a *wonderful* banquet!

There is a story I like about William Golding (who seems to be famous for writing Lord of the Flies, whilst actually also having written a range of quite extraordinary books, including Pincher Martin, The Spire, The Inheritors, Rites of Passage etc).

He had a life-long interest in ships and life under sail. As a child he was taken by his father who went as a special guest to visit, I *think*, HMS Victory. They were taken around the empty ship by a Naval officer. This man recognised in William Golding the sense of magic with which the child was enveloped the moment he set foot on board. Reaching up he chipped a tiny bit of wood from a beam with his thumb nail, leaned down and handed it out towards the child. William Golding took it and, knowing that it was one of the most precious things he would ever hold in his hand, sought about for somewhere safe to keep and then popped it into his mouth. By this means the ship, its history, its men, its challenges on the ocean somehow all became absorbed into his own small person.

@myself - one day at a time :)

@fritesandfries - 2,300 calories. I know, I know, I've eaten them too and my jaw is still on the floor. I'm taking my recovery one day though, and I should be able to look at fried food again sometime in the next seven years.