Travel Channel 

Love the concept of the program, but unfortunately, I don't have cable, so I can't watch. I can, however, share my experiences with weird foods.

1. Kenya

Somewhere around the Samburu neighborhood I visited a small church where we had a great time of fellowship. Afterward, we were invited to partake of some food with the locals. The goat meat was fine (it tastes like lamb) but the beverage was difficult to take. In a large gourd, a large quantity of milk had been stored. This had been sitting in the sun for quite some time, and had curdled probably a week before I arrived. The locals were very excited to offer me a drink from this gourd, which obviously they thought was a real treat. They insisted I have a LARGE mug of the stuff. They poured it into a cup, and it plopped plopped plopped out like runny yogurt. With every eye on me, I knew I couldn't refuse. I took a small sip of this (surely poisonous) matter, and was pleasantly surprised. Probably due the the fire cured insides of the gourd, the rennet tasted sour and smokey, not too far off from a yoghurt made of smoked gouda cheese. I thank God that I didn't suffer any ill after effects, but it was scary.

2. Ecuador

In many of the places I went, I was offered the Cuy, which you know by now is Guinea Pig. I went to one restarant where they sold it alongside spit-roasted chicken. It was a whole animal, shaved hairless of course, and split lengthwise right down the middle. On the plate it's head rested on a half of avocado, and I have to admit the plating was artistic. The big buick teeth protruded from the halved head beneath me. When I flipped the bisected creature over, I could see that the cook had thoughtfully left the brain in the skull as a dainty. The clawed feet curled in a death spasm were a clear indicator that this was a rodent. When I finally cut into the meatiest part, the thigh, I was surprised to taste something akin to dark roasted turkey meat. The best Cuy I was served came from an unsantitary unrefrigerated kitchen in a small village in the Andes mountain.

IN an Amozan village one Spetember afternoon, I was served a feast of roasted wild boar, boiled plantains, boiled corn, and the strange cooked grubs that infest palm and banana trees. They were served on a banana leaf, and hardly anyone in my group had the guts to try one. They had been steamed, and the insides had burst out in the cooking process, resembling melted mozzerella cheese. When I bit into one, I found them very rubbery, with a distinctly unpleasant taste. After a few chews, I spat it out. To me it tasted like how rotting garbage smells. Later I decided to try again, and this time, I thought I would try the brown cooked head of the thing. It was sort of crispy like a Corn-nut, and I found it palatable. Just. One of the locals laughed at me and said "the head is the only part you're NOT supposed to eat".

3. Cambodia

Having heard of the famous Skoun Spiders in various blogs, I waited for days before I found a market outside of Phnom Penh that sold the critters. Two young girls were trolling a truck stop with large platters piled high with the cooked arachnids. These things were big as tarantulas. Apparantly they were deep fried and tehn bathed in a seasoning of oil, spices and chili pepper. Everyone gathered around as I decided to try one of the bugs. I bit into a leg first; it wasn't crispy nor was it soft. It was sort of like a fried piece of meat, with a little denseness and a little crispyness. It didn't taste bad at all, so I decided to go for the abdomen. I bit away half of it, and it really tasted pretty good, sort of like Teriyaki Beef Jerky. I looked inside the remaining portion of abdomen to see a greyish-white matter that looked sort of creamy and cheesy. I had another bite, and then decided I didn't have enough courage to eat the rest of it...the thorax and head. It had deep fried fangs, and I wasn't going to eat those. But, I wouldn't have any problem eating another one if offered to me.

Durian

This is the spiny fruit that 'smells like hell but tastes like heaven'. I was offered one of the 'gourmet' Cambodian Durian fruits in Cambodia. It was split in half, and the white pulpy material in the inside chambers was scooped out on to a plate and handed to me with a big tablespoon. I took a whiff...it smelled like garbage. I took a spoonful and immidiately my mouth was filled with the flavor of a bushel of rotting onions. Way at the bottom, you could taste the essence of tropical fruit, but it was surrounded by a castle moat of very strong taste of offal. I tried another bite of the fruit and almost retched. It smelled like hell and tasted like hell as well. The Cambodians loved it! They devoured it by the heaping spoonful as I watched, amazed. Even the dog licked at the scraps. It was easily the most horrible thing I have ever tasted.