I wish I could say the most peculiar food I've ever eaten was something fabulous like bugs from a rotting log, or Tofu that smells like a gym locker. Although I've tried plenty of off beat things like squirrel and alligator, I wouldn't call them particularly exotic anymore. But I will tell you the rarest food I've ever partaken of was so delicious, it makes me wish I had a farm in the middle of Nebraska...
My husband's family currently occupies a fabulous farm, in the small town of Hershey Nebraska. Each time we visit and ditch the busy city life, it's amazing how grounded you feel. You can dig your hands in the dirt to help plant things, the stars are so bright you can spend hours staring at them and the food is hands down the best you'll ever find. Anywhere.
This isn't to say that my in-laws are all amazing cooks (although they truly are!!), but the quality of food found on their farm and in their small town, is something unique to a handful of places. When you look at a farm not just as a type of home, but as land that bares food and sustenance, it becomes a whole new creature.
When we visit we're able to partake, not just in vine picked vegetables and fresh picked fruits from the orchard, but we're able to sample some of the freshest and most tender meats, eggs and dairy you'll ever find in one place. The most exotic meal I've ever eaten wasn't a chocolate covered grasshopper or the brain of a baby pig, it was a Hamburger with a farm fresh egg cracked on top.
Our burger was made from beef that was raised on the family farm, bottle fed as babies and watched over as they grew. It's meat that tastes like MEAT and almost makes tube hamburger bought from your local grocer deserve a new title, because they two in comparison... well there's just no similarities. The egg was gathered that morning, with a yolk almost as big as the shell in which it came. It boasted a strong intoxicating flavor that makes you wonder why you would eat anything else. Layered in was cheese from the neighbor down the way, who trades dairy goods for other farm fresh fare. Hands down, the most exotic or rather hard to come by food I've ever tasted is from a small farm in The Heartland.
Even if farming isn't your think, try joining a CSA (or start planning for next year if you missed out this season) to find the same quality of product. There's more than just farmers bringing veggies to your doorstop as well, check for local ranchers and dairy farmers to partake in "exotic cuisine" right from your hometown.
(Image: Flickr Member woodleywonderworks licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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That was absolutely beautiful.
or for busy people with full time jobs, children to raise (well), go and buy only local at your local farmers market. I agree, when you buy food that was grown locally and tended to in each step, everything else tastes pale in comparison. I feel the same way after we buy our fresh eggs, meat and cheese at the farmer;s market in Union Square in NYC - it feels like cheating to yourself to eat anything else.
Nicely put.
There is so much good food all around us and most of us don't even realize it because we've lost the ability to prepare it and along with it our interest in it. But the exciting thing to me is that people are becoming more excited about cooking and what they can do with fresh, local ingredients.
btw, those pastel-hued araucana eggs are supposed to be the best for making ice cream.
Thank you, Sarah Rae!
My friend Greg and I are thinking of starting a chicken coop on the strip of grass behind our apartment building. He's done this before at a different location and says that the freshly laid araucana eggs were so good, he would eat them raw. (He's a little hard core.)
Although i participate in a CSA, support the farmers market, and don't buy out of season, i really think that all this "local eating is sooo much more delicious" stuff is just too romanticized. Its good, sure, but not to the point that i just can't get over it. And you know what? Sometimes its LESS good than stuff you buy at the local grocer (like local strawberries this summer, which were barely even sweet because of all the rain we had). I've had farm fresh eggs that were gathered just minutes prior to cooking, and guess what, they tasted like eggs, not like a revelation.
This doesn't mean that i'm about to start spending my money to buy peaches that were picked green and shipped from Chile, but still. Its just food. Just fresher/more ripe. Maybe i just have a dumb palate, or maybe i'm just too practical.
Is this dish also known as Steak Tartare? Or was your hamburger cooked and between 2 bits of bread?
Ha. I understand your comment mh330. But, I have to say that I didn't like cucumbers until I tried burpless from the farmer's market. I avoided tomatoes until I finally tasted a farm fresh tomato in the peak of ripeness. I was raised in WASPy suburbia on food that only came from supermarkets. So, I have had several "revelations" with market fresh food. But, my good friend who grew up on the upper west side of manhattan has a hard time relating to my revelations. Guess everyone's perspective will be different.
I work at my local co-op and shop there and at the local only farmers markets but I still miss the really fresh eggs I grew up with. Maybe mh330 is right and I have blown the memory out of proportion but it is still that way in my mind.
"bottle fed as babies and watched over as they grew..."
until they killed it and put it in the freezer.
While beautifully written, this post has pushed me closer to vegetarianism. Darn it.