Freaky Foods

Rory: So Abidemi, do you remember we were talking about food combinations which people find strange.

Abidemi: Hmm.

Rory: Well, I was wondering, are there any foods which just freak you out, which you’d never eat?

Abidemi: Well, I think the older I have gotten, the more I’ve become, kind of, hesitant to try new food, which is strange.

Rory: Yeah.

Abidemi: Before, the thought…

Rory: I thought you were going to say more adventurous. It’s the opposite.

Abidemi: It is the opposite, unfortunately. Before, the thought of eating insects or cats and dogs didn’t do anything for me. It didn’t do anything bad. It was just like, “Oh sure, I’ll try it.” Before, my philosophy was if it’s food, and if I see somebody else eating it, I’ll try it.

Rory: Right.

Abidemi: But now, just the thought of it, of trying to eat a dog or a cat, I don’t want to.

Rory: So did you try some strange foods when you were younger?

Abidemi: Yes. I traveled to Northern Canada, and I lived in an Inuit community for a little while. And there, they eat a lot of different sea animals.

Rory: Right.

Abidemi: For example, whales, what else? They eat caribou as well. Just different animals and I tried a lot of that. And I really liked it. It was good.

Rory: Okay.

Abidemi: It didn’t do anything bad to me or…

Rory: Right.

Abidemi: Yeah, I didn’t get sick or anything from it.

Rory: And you didn’t have a problem with the connection between this animal, the whale, which people have now raised to be like this is so important for our planet?

Abidemi: Personally, no. I didn’t. I think – I don’t want to say I’m being selfish but to me, if you’re doing it for – not to sell, not for commercialization, and for these people, for those people, the Inuits, it’s their way of living. It’s their way of surviving.

Rory: Right.

Abidemi: So I didn’t have any problems with that.
So I think maybe in general, too. That’s where that philosophy before was if somebody else is eating it, and it’s okay, I’ll try it. Why not?

Rory: Okay.

Abidemi: So I don’t know.

Rory: I’ve never tried anything like that but if I see…
When I traveled in Southeast Asia, I did try some insects.

Abidemi: Okay.

Rory: And they looked terrible, and it’s really hard to get your mind around the fact you’re going to eat it. When you eat it, it doesn’t – I mean, it tastes okay.

Abidemi: Okay.

Rory: They normally cook that maybe candied, served a little bit salt or a little bit salty.

Abidemi: Oh. All right.

Rory: So they taste okay. But your eyes continue to tell your brain that there’s something wrong.

Abidemi: Okay. Okay. Do you think you would try it again?

Rory: I think I would. I think the future is insects.

Abidemi: Okay. The future is insects. That’s funny.

Rory: Yeah.

Abidemi: It’s funny, in Nigeria, we used to, when I was a kid, we would – I don’t know what you call them. They were like – I don’t want to say termites – I’m not sure. But they were flying. A certain type of flying insects that will come at a certain time of the year and they were only there maybe for two or three weeks. And we will just catch them and fry them. Just salted and fried. It was really good.

Rory: Yeah.

Abidemi: And back then to me, it wasn’t anything strange. It was just like nice.

Rory: Right.

Abidemi: I would think that I would like to try it again because it was just so good, just from my memories. But I don’t know I might hesitate now to eat it.

Rory: Yeah. I think people can quickly become use to strange foods.

Abidemi: Okay.

Rory: So like nobody ate raw fish in England, say, 25 years ago. But with Japanese food becoming more popular, now it’s perfectly acceptable. Lots of people like to eat like raw, raw fish.

Abidemi: Okay. Okay. I think, if you say, if you say something it’s healthy, it can quickly gain in popularity.

Rory: Yeah. Yeah.