Here at WanderFood Wednesday, we’re exploring the most unusual foods you’ve come across at home or in your travels. Fortunately for me, I’ve discovered two Seattle neighborhood locations that suit my need for that quintessential “something different” – at least for those unfamiliar with traditional Japanese sweets known as wagashi.
Of course, one person’s “sweet” is another’s “Isn’t that interesting?” For U.S. Americans used to baked goods and confections made with sugar and corn syrup, wagashi requires an adaptation in taste buds. Anything but sweet by American standards, these small delicacies are made with ingredients like red and white azuki beans, kanten (a gelatin made from seaweed) and wasambonto, a type of powdery, smooth sugar unlike that used in common American recipes.
But, oh, the beauty of these confections! These bite-size delicacies provide a peek into Japanese culture, reflecting an appreciation of nature’s seasonal beauty while appealing to each of the five senses. Want to try wagashi for yourself? Seattle’s Tokara offers tours monthly, or you can order direct by phone at: 1 206-784-0226.
If you’re in the Seattle area, you’re in luck, because on weekends you can also stop by the bakery Fresh Flours to purchase a few wagashi to take home. But a word to the wise: you’d better get there early on Friday afternoons because these tiny treasures disappear fast.
Maybe your taste runs more to traditional pastries, but you still want to expand your comfort zone. In that case, I recommend the Japanese fusion treats found at Fresh Flours. You’ll still be able to compare Japanese flavors to American sweets, but without the textural differences so much.
What about you, Wanderboomers? What unusual foods have you come across in your neighborhood or in your travels?
Gorgeous pictures!
I love red-bean based Japanese sweets. But I’ve never had that one! Wow.
My favorite is imagawa-yaki. Requires a special pan to make (which I bought) and ninja skills to make come out right (which I don’t got). So good though.
Wow, these look beautiful! I’m going to have to try to be in Seattle for one of Tokara’s tours. Thanks for the tip!
Wow, I’m impressed, Lauren, i.e. that you were inspired enough to buy the special pan and attempt to make your favorite Japanese sweet yourself! I’ll have to check that one out myself. Or maybe I should wait until you make one for me :-).
They do look amazing, don’t they, Carolyn? Hope you make it to Tokara’s on your next Seattle visit! Thanks for commenting.
Hi Nancy,
I’ve had cuy (guinea pig) meatballs and anticucho (sliced beef heart kebabs) in Peru; crispy fried pigs’ ears in Spain; fried grasshoppers in Mexico; grilled kangaroo and smoked emu in Australia….
On a sweet note, i’ve seen beautiful wagashi at Toraya in Paris, especially the flower-shaped Namagashi. There’s also a Parisian-Japanese pastry chef here, Sadaharu Aoki, who comes up with gorgeous cross-cultural combos – black sesame eclair, green tea opera cake etc. Not wagashi but yum!
I love your spirit of adventure when it comes to sampling unusual foods, Maryanne! Thanks for the tip on wagashi in Paris. Sounds lovely! I appreciate your comments ~
In Valparaiso Chile, I discovered Chorrillana, which reminded me of chile cheese fries. We were at Casino Social J. Cruz, which is known for this dish.
A pile of french fries, with grilled onions, sauteed beef, cheese, and egg curds on top. Later on in our trip some Chileans we met told us that was J. Cruz’s was one of the less-fattening versions around. Yikes.
I’m from Chicago, but have lived in Louisville, Kentucky for the past 17 years. When I first moved here, I couldn’t believe the locals actually ate and enjoyed a dish by the name of Burgoo. It’s a thick stew into which they throw everything but the kitchen sink. It’s popular and served during and at the Kentucky Derby.
When Kentucky was settled, the early pioneers would throw in birds, squirrels, snake, and what we would now call Vermin. Even though that’s changed, I still have an aversion to it.
Also, we are near Appalachia, where Roadkill is still sampled and dishes like Stack Wedding Cake ( multi-layers of pancake with dried apples in between the 7-10 layers, and Poke (a bitter green, poison if cooked, salad if eaten raw , or the other way around. I’d have to check it out again LOL) are still popular.
That would take some getting used to, at least for me, Nancy! I like a dish I can throw all my leftovers into, but without the vermin. I never heard of the others you cite here, but I’d definitely check on which way the Poke is poisonous when eaten, i.e. raw or cooked! Thanks for sharing your unusual food experiences with us here ~
Yikes is right, Craig! But you had to try it at least once, right? Thanks for sharing your Chilean food experience with us here ~
Can relate to Maryanne’s post about cuy in Peru. Though being vegetarian, that’s not gonna get in my belly! Seeing tuna juice on the juice fusion menu, though, inspired me to take a leap.
Cheers y saludos,
Hi, Nichole! I saw cuy in Ecuador, too. But, like you, I didn’t have the heart to order it with the head attached! Thanks for stopping by ~
German groceries carry the most amazing variety of what I grew up calling ‘lunch meat.’ Some is clear with brightly colored bits all through it. Some appears lacy. When I was in the hospital in December, the evening meal was almost always several slices of formed meat and cheese, dark bread, and German butter. No lettuce.
I’m not familiar with German ‘lunch meat,’ Lani. Not like any hospital meal in the States I’ve ever experienced, that’s for sure! Thanks for sharing with us here ~
Fruit bat stewed in coconut milk – served at restaurants in the Seychelles. I don’t think either of those are particularly endangered…
My experience with exotic cuisine is mostly limited to living in Japan. Hunger, if not starvation, figured pretty strong in their history. And somehow they made art of some very slim choices. Sushi: Yes! Red Bean ice cream bars: No!
That’s a new one on me, Kate! Hope you enjoyed the taste :-).
Yes, sushi is a favorite with me, too, Jerry! And I’m developing a taste for everything red bean. Thanks for commenting ~
I love trying different foods, sometimes they are succesfull and sometimes they are YUK. I have eaten Snake/Snake Soup in Hong Kong; Turtle in Vietnam; Warthog in South Africa and Crocodile, Emu and Camel here in my home country Australia. For the record I can pass on the snake and the turtle but any of the rest I would be happy to eat again.
I appreciate your spirit of adventure, Peter! We need to expand our horizons and try (most) new foods at least once. I don’t believe I’ve eaten any of the foods you mention here, but I do recall liking the sea urchin I bought from a vendor on a beach in Egypt. Thanks for stopping by!
Some desserts don’t cross cultures easily. There is a “sweet soup” in Vietnam that’s served in a glass. It’s layers of beans, corn, mysterious coloured balls, coconut creat and some custardy-substance. It starts off looking weird but interesting, then forms that grey-purple sludge you’d remember from your finger-painting days. However, it tastes FANTASTIC. I’m such a fan of this dish now, known as chè.
Those sweets look yummy! Love the topic.
I’ve married an Aboriginal woman here in Taiwan and have seen my share of strange food. (not for the faint of heart)
But the strangest thing I have eaten remains — ‘Stinky Meat.’
Stinky meat is a ‘delicacy’ based on trapped animal that has been left in the trap too long and is full of maggots. I don’t know exactly what goes into the dish but it is very rich and tasty, but not the type of thing you eat too much or too often.
I’m intrigued by your compelling description, Barbara! I’d really like to give this a try. Now I just need to add Vietnam to my travel itinerary :-). Thanks for stopping by ~
Boy – I’m not sure about that one, Rich! You’re a braver man than I am :-). Thanks for sharing with us here ~
Without question the strangest thing I’ve ever eaten is the rotten shark they give visitors to eat in Iceland. Unless you like the idea of a mouthful of pure ammonia, the flavour is pretty horrible. They tell us it’s a traditional Icelandic food, buried on the beach for six weeks before being dug up and eaten. But judging by the way they fall about laughing when they see your reaction, I have to wonder about that.
Yikes! Thanks for the warning on this one, Neville. Hmm . . . Definitely sounds like it might be one of those food games locals play with tourists :-). Thanks for sharing with us here.
Eating dim sum in Hong Kong, it was hard to face the plate piled with cooked chicken feet. Actual chicken feet. My brave daughter and husband were the only ones to dig in.
How about my experience of eating woodcock traditionally with its guts on toast?
Or my brother trying fermented eggs with grown ducklings in them, called balut, in the Philippines?
Neville, I did once try fish that had been buried for months in Sweden. The smell was shocking but it didn’t taste toooo bad. The locals were loving it so don’t think it was a trick…
Scorpion in Singapore…looked like shrimp toast…a fried, black scorpion sitting on a toast point. I ate it because it would have been rude not to try it since it is a delicacy, although I swear I had a pain in my stomach for days!
I’d like to think I would have noticed if I had come across chicken feet during my stay in Hong Kong, Caren. In any case, I don’t recall eating any. Your husband and daughter win my “Fearless Foodie” award!
Either one (neither of which I’ve tried) would be a memorable meal, Gemma! Thanks for sharing with us here.
Unbelievable, Teresa. You, too, receive my “Fearless Foodie” award. Not sure I could have done that one!
A sweet pale grey ‘blancmange’ served as a desert which contained very finely minced rabbit! I think it was in Spain or Portugal but I could be wrong. A vegetarian colleague was absolutely distraught when this was revealed after she had eaten it.
Bug-eating in Santa Monica-scorpions, grubs and crickets!
I suppose crocodile is commonplace? I had some in Namibia and it tasted fishy and rather rubbery.
I can imagine, Lindsay! Sometimes it’s better not to know what it was you just ate . . .
So here’s my question is, Mary – was your bug-eating intentional?? And how did they taste? Thanks for commenting!
Definitely not for me, Lindsay. I can’t remember the last (or first) time I ate crocodile!
Try Kazakhstan’s Nauryz (new year) delights – it’s seven secret ingredients are said to include camel milk.
Thanks for the recommendation, Anna! So what do you suppose the other 6 secrets ingredients are?
dog, in Laos (tiny pieces of meat as part of a noodle soup – I’d like to point out we didn’t know it was dog until the next morning, we would not have chosen it voluntarily); crocodile in Argentina (cooked an then pickled); my partner tried goat balls in Myanmar as part of a lunch meal (bit chewy was his opinion).
Yikes, Karin-Marijke – I would have have a hard time knowingly eating my most faithful companions. Sounds like you’ve had your own share of adventurous eating around the world! Thanks for stopping by ~
I was at the annual boudin festival in Mortagne au Perche in southern Normandy, doing a food story for the London Financial Times when I ate andouillettes, a sausage made from chopped pig’s anus. Bizarrely it smelt strongly of widdle and I found it utterly revolting although it has quite a following in France and even a society of devotees known as the Association Amicale des Amateurs d’Andouillette Authentique or AAAAA.
And whilst talking of odd meals, a great pal of mine was working with a Nigerian colleague in Mauritius a few years back and one evening they enjoyed a roast chicken dinner only for the Nigerian to consume the carcass after devouring the meat, crunching the bones up happily.
From my experience I would certainly prefer chomping away at chicken bones rather than try and force down another chopped pig’s anus though.
Roasted lamb brains eaten straight out of the head in Greece. Then as I was the guest I was offered the eyeballs….taste nothing like lamb…..
Crocodile is farmed in Cuba and served to tourists who visit the farm, but they don’t cook it very well and it resembles tough pork which might have been fed on fishmeal. Deep fried, salted ants (big ones) in Colombia were a crunchy accompaniment to a sunset cocktail. As for chicken feet – I was in Dominica last year and my hosts shared a chicken with me that was past its laying best, a couple of years old, I assume. It was cooked in a pressure cooker to tenderise it in a stew. I was given the best meat, but actually the family didn’t want that anyway. The son sucked his way through the feet, there was a squabble over who should have the gizzards, everything was polished off. Nothing wasted. Trinidadians prefer the meat in their roti to come with bones, for a good crunch, while foreigners are served
chicken off the bone.
A delicacy in Southern Africa are dried Mopane Worms. They are a great source of protein and some say it tastes a bit like peanuts.
Hmm . . . I’m intrigued enough that I would probably try the Mopane Worms, though I might do better if I sampled them before knowing what it was I was eating :-). Thanks for oyur comments, Celeste!
I know that a lot of foodies like a good crunch in their meal, and eating the bones of meat or chicken would certainly satisfy that need, Sarah! You also remind me how much food we do waste in our meals . . . Thanks for commenting ~
I understand that offering your guests the lamb’s eyeballs is an honor in the Middle East. That might prove to be a worthy challenge for even the most open of food adventurers . . . Thanks for stopping by, Christina ~
Yikes, Stephen – you’ve taken our discussion here to a whole different level. Thanks for the warning. If I had to choose, I’d side with you: pass the bones, please!