If I'm paying for it, I'm more judicious about trying new things and really only try things I am intrigued by or have never experienced anything similar. If it is free, I'll eat almost anything. I draw the line at human babies. Gotta have standards!

No bugs, nothing with eyeballs staring at me, and nothing on a bone...will eat the meat if it's removed from the bone though. Other than that, I'll try a whole heck of a lot :)

I draw the line at brain matter. I. am NOT. A zombie!

But seriously, everything else I will try at least once. There are just too many health implications with brain matter to try it.

No brains, or something that is very poisonous (blow fish, etc...) food isn't worth dying over. Bust past that, anything!

Hmm, I've tasted blood soup, guinea pigs, and many unidentifiable items, but I draw the line at dogs and horses.

nothing on a bone? hello- chicken wings? and blow fish is only poisonous if prepared wrong.

I also dislike meat on a bone - if I can avoid it, I will! Glad to see I'm not the only one...and yes that means chicken wings - sorry, never liked them!

Umm, not sure I've found the line yet. I've eaten a lot of the things over the line that the other commenters have drawn...but no, not human babies. My aunt did have some "freshly harvested" placenta prepared for her after she complained of jet lag. I might not say no to that just out of curiosity.

I'm a vegetarian...

Back when I did eat meat, though, I once tried jellyfish and sea cucumber and various other oddities (to me) at a Chinese wedding banquet despite my better judgement, just for the sake of being adventurous. And then spent the night with my head in a trash can.

I'm all for trying things, but I also believe in trusting my instincts, and tasting in my mind first.

I'm super confused by the photo here: is that a scoop from a snow cone? I can safely say that I know no people who would draw their food sampling line at sugary ice.

I draw the line at anything unrecognizable that cannot be positively identified in terms I understand. I'm pretty willing, otherwise. My husband and usual travelling companion, however, is far less adventurous about food than I am, which is why we had pizza every single night for dinner when we spent ten days in Italy that time. It was a different place every night, but it was always pizza.

No blood, no sex organs, no bugs, no blowfish. I would also prefer to not eat more solid fat than is on the edge of a steak. Anything else is fair game :)

lol @akay!

I say go for it all. Especially street food....tons of people gathered around a cart full of unidentifiable meat? DO IT.

It'll be the best thing you've put in your mouth.

Hmmm....actually now that I think about it, the snow cone might not be a good idea in some places! The food gets cooked but there's lots of little germies in the water...

I've been a vegetarian for almost ten years now but when I'm on vacation all bets are off. I am where I am for the culture and that includes the food. I try to leave my culture behind. I have yet to meet my limit. I've had terrible things that I looked forward to and I've had doubts about things that were incredible in the end. I know what I like here and it's why I'm a veggie. Elsewhere - who knows?

Stir fried bats in Thailand or fermented milk and fruit in coastal Africa? Please :)

@Slow Lorus: You're one of my favorite posters :)

Placenta I've not been presented with but I'll also give it a go should I have the chance.

Also, as long as we're talking about placenta...

Thanks, Faith! :D

What fun is a vacation if one sticks to only foods they are familiar with? Heck, I'm almost disappointed if I go somewhere and there isn't anything truly weird to try.
And traveling with picky food-o-phobe eaters? NOT.
The pizza every night in Italy comment makes me want to cry and strangle that person.

I really don't have any limits, as long as it's not dangerous to eat. Usually when I'm traveling overseas it's for work and I just ask the person I'm with (usually a missionary who's lived there a long time and is used to visitors and what might make us sick).

Aw shucks, nico-forgot...

Faith!! Thanks, I would never have seen that otherwise. That's definitely not how my aunt had it.

akay - I won't try a snow cone (or a snowball, if I ever find myself in Baltimore). I don't like fruit that's had anything "done" to it - juiced, cooked, canned, etc. That said, I've never met a fresh fruit I've turned down.

I'll try anything and everything, with the only considerations being for sanitation. Food poisoning is no one's friend.

No innards, and nothing Granny Clampett favors (squirrel, possum, etc.).

Someone else mentioned instinct. That's generally what I use. If I look at it and my brain says "you will promptly throw this up", well then I tend to avoid. :)

I have pretty severe food allergies to weird, random things (mainly shellfish and artificial food dyes), but other than that I'm pretty open to adventure, which has led to some interesting experiences, including raw scallops pre-allergy and a rather interesting experience with andouillette.

That being said, I draw the line at dangerous, such as uncooked produce in areas with questionable water, warm water fish in the Caribbean, usually brains, etc.

No bugs, please. I once had a fabulous dinner in Marrakech where I unknowingly ate brains. DELISH! When my friends found out it was brain, they would not touch it again, this was after they said to me..."taste this...it's good"! Oh, and I had tripe for the first time this year...a little bit of heaven in a stew.

I think you're a puss!

Try everything once. Twice if you think it could have been made better!

I had brain before and didn't like it; that doesn't mean I'm not going to try it prepared differently somewhere else.

Or you could stick to the same old boring food you were eating yesterday ...

agreed re: travel with food-o-phobes. i think the best part of travel is trying the food. people who go to asia and eat at macdonald's sadden me.
street food is generally awesome and, like someone said, when you see a stall surrounded by people (unless, of course, it's the crew of an ambulance attempting to resuscitate an overly adventurous diner) you're likely to get a great meal!

I also have severe food allergies. I would love to be able to try everything but it is always not possible, and it is often hard to explain this to people. They usually assume that I am a food-o-phobe, and that can be annoying.....but I would rather not die from food. :)

Nothing that's been force fed or was alive when it was cooked. But otherwise, I'm game for anything. Wait except stinky tofu, that scares me.

Depends on the area... nothing from the nervous system here at home (mainly because of sketchy meatpacking practices), no tap water in places where I know it will make me sick. My main objective is to avoid serious food poisoning.

I've eaten raw beef in Turkey, blood sausage in France, and pigeons in rural Morocco with no problems. The only place I've ever gotten sick? A very famous, 50-year-old chili dog place here in DC where the Obamas go from time to time. That place is the worst.

I wouldn't want to eat sharkfin soup since oftentimes the fins are cut off the shark and the sharks are then thrown back into the ocean. I can't eat an endangered species or their eggs. Eyes, because I think that their texture would be problematic. Anus. A couple of other things, I guess.