Target chit chat

we aren't that nuts about pork. I do live in Iowa though. I think it's required eating here.

tm4d- can we trade? it's been 50's and 60's here. i'd rather have the 80's.

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We have a birthday marathon in the fall in my family. My dad's bday was Sept 16. My nephew's twins bday Sept. 17. My sister (the twin's grandma) Sept. 24. My grandma Oct 2. And then mine - Oct. 8.
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you don't eat chicken, you don't like pork. Are you a Just the Beef (and an occasional caught fish) girl?

never met a pork product I didn't like

Actually, I don't like fish. I do like most seafood though. I don't hate pork and I will eat it. I love bacon, I like sausage. I slice, pound out, and bread tenderloins.

I'll eat some deer and I've had alligator several ways and like it. But, no I don't like fowl/poultry or fish. I did have some goose this past week. I ate a few bites and didn't have the urge to hurl and it didn't taste too "fowly" but it was cut into little pieces, wrapped in bacon and grilled. It was tough and I don't care to ever eat it again.

I cooked a bear roast once. Made the whole house stink. But it made the most beautiful gravy you've ever seen. None of us liked the meat though.

gt- you are funny! cuz alligator tastes like chicken! so does rabbit

you might be ok w/ tuna b/c it's more like beef and a lot less like white flaky fish like flounder, cod, etc.

i'm with GT (it's a theme today ) on not liking pork.

I like cold honey ham sliced thin in sandwiches. smoked ham, too occasionally. and i like thinly sliced prosciutto and sopressetta. but that's it.

can't stand bacon. or pork chops. or stir fried pork. hate the smell of pork fat - and so anything that involves cooking it/heating it, smelling it, i am out for the count.


i don't like fowly/birdy/chickeny tasting chicken or turkey either. once again it's a smell thing. it has to have a neutral taste and no smell. i am delighted to say that the organic chicken i found fits that bill and my tribe comments on that always.

beef too... that smell of browned beef fat? can't do it. i love steak. love filet mignon. love meatballs. but if it has that "meaty cooked fat" smell or taste, i'm out.

my tribe is the same way on all those counts.


fish and seafood... love em, BUT, (slowtech you'll appreciate this): we went to a malaysian restaurant last week. ordered vegetables belacan. it's cooked in a shrimp paste. we said fine, cos we love shrimp. umm, had to return the whole plate cos it stank so badly. for those not familiar, they use this fermented asian shrimp paste, that is known to be very pungent and strong smelling. but generally it is sauteed with garlic, chili paste and other things, so it's almost like anchovy paste. you get a smoky, salty, cured flavor, and can taste shrimp, but it doesn't stink to high heavens. oh man, this smelled like a bait dealer had lost the refrigeration units.

could.not.get.it.down.
chef was angry.

just don't say you like any of the blue cheeses, stilton, goat or any other smelly pungent cheese b/c then i know you are totally weird.

if we ever meet for a meal we will have to go to a seafood or vegetarian restaurant.

and i'll just say you guys just don't know what you are missing. however, i do have to say that pork and chicken and many veggies in the US don't have any taste or taste funky and maybe that's some of the problem. pork and chicken in asia tastes totally different. zucchini in italy tastes so much better. i do not like papaya in the US cuz it tastes like vomit but tastes so good in tropical countries.

since living in the garden state, nowadays i generally only eat fresh-picked corn on the cob, peaches and apples. i will say blueberries actually taste better from the store than picked fresh.

ok, what's weird is that my mom used to always buy virginia ham when i was little and i hated the funky taste. but in the last few months i've been buying it b/c i find it has more taste than the honey ham. but maybe b/c i've been toasting it in sandwiches and it needs a little more robust flavor w/ the melted cheese and tomato or whatever i happen to pair it w/.

and i don't buy it often b/c of the nitrites and nitrates. i do believe that all these chemicals are probably making ourselves *preserved* and not in a good way.

i do like all those cheeses.
i've got to be weird - i hang out with you guys.

i buy meat without nitrites and nitrates.

agree with you on tastes being different. it's because the feed they are using for commercial meat/poultry etc. since all the cattle, fowl etc are being fed rendered animal parts in the feed, plus corn etc, we are tasting that and smelling that in the meat.

for example, even in the organic chicken that i buy, i found 3 types of organic chicken breast. each tasted different. one of them - bell and evans - was the most neutral. it literally is completely plain, and takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. can't explain it, but it tastes like the chicken i used to eat growing up. sweet and normal. not super chickeny, or gamey, like perdue or other conventional commercial chicken breasts.
and the organic chicken is always super tender when cooked. in comparison when i used to buy perdue breasts, they would toughen up/dry up so easily. it really is amazing how different the meat is.


produce - i think part of the difference in taste in produce is that it is all picked early for shipping purposes. so buy the time we get it, it's been in cold storage/transit for days. whereas when you are eating it whereever it is grown, you're eating farm to table stuff. freshly picked, or tree ripened just tastes so different.


I was talking about this with my family the other day. What do we make ourselves in the US anymore?
The bulk of our food is grown elsewhere.
The bulk of our everyday things are made elsewhere.
The bulk of our cars are made elsewhere.
The bulk of our appliances are made elsewhere.

We're a consumer nation now. We transport things from elsewhere, and churn out electricity to run the things from elsewhere.

But even the bulk of the fuel for that transportation comes from elsewhere.
And the bulk of the coal to run those electricity plants comes from elsewhere.

Even our conversations are completed elsewhere. And our complaints taken elsewhere.
About the only thing we seem to produce in large volumes is desire to own/buy more, and glitzy marketing.

Look around your house and in your everyday life. How many things can you say were made in the USA. we've been making a conscious effort to buy things made here, but even still, there's barely a few things in my home Made in the USA. Even much of our toilet paper and paper towels are being made elsewhere. It's scary.

hmmm, i don't understand how you like your meat so neutral tasting and then like smelly pungent cheese. actually, i find that chicken and pork in the US doesn't have any taste. esp pork just has no taste and needs to be marinated or something. i won't order pork chops in a restaurant anymore. they are always burnt and flavorless. and i won't order chicken either b/c it's white meat and usually dry and tasteless.

i don't think you will like meat outside the US which has more flavor b/c they get to roam around and eat grass, seeds and bugs, etc. like wild salmon has more flavor and color and is leaner than farm-raised. they actually have to dye farm-raised salmon b/c it's white from not eating a natural diet. same thing happens to flamingos in the zoo.

i don't think you will like meat outside the US which has more flavor b/c they get to roam around and eat grass, seeds and bugs, etc.

Depends on what you do with gator. I will eat cold tuna as in tuna salad but I won't eat it hot.

There is a lot of difference in meat within the US also.....We are still kicking ourselves for not getting a quarter or half of a beef from a guy my husband knows from work. And he isn't raising any this year. Frickin' ethanol has driven the corn prices too high.