One that is befuddling is bird's nest soup. It seems to have been derived from total desperation or delirium. And there are people who pay a lot of money for it when there are people who wouldn't eat it if someone paid them to. I don't understand how one can look at a bird's nest and think to themselves, 'oh, I think i'd like to eat that', or even consider it a food category? the person must have been starving. what do you think?
Perhaps, but how is it any more or less disgusting than any of the uncountable other things we eat that animals produce? How is it objectively more disgusting than honeybee honey? Edible means edible. Anything else is merely a matter of tender sensibilities.
There are far more disgusting foods (balut, Hákarl). But it's a great advantage to be able to use a wide variety of food sources.
I always wondered what was up with the first person who snagged a nice fat oyster, opened him up and said - "Gee! That hunk of snot looks good..." Don't get me wrong, I like oysters - raw and steamed - but... Who would think to eat that first one?
Agree! Deep time evolution - both biological and cultural - make far more sense intuitively, if you see it as a segment of a continuum, with no beginning.
Plain shredded wheat is a strange idea of food too. are there people who consider mini bales of hay appetizing or salivate at the sight of baskets and whicker chairs? it looks like something you would eat if there was nothing else. that or your leather shoes. it tastes like you are trying to punish yourself since it tastes like nothing at all but a bunch of straw.
The difference between oysters and birds' nest soup is that soup is processed. Other animals eat oysters but they don't process them (much). I don't know of any other animals that make soup. Of course, one of the factors that enhance humans' chances of survival is our ability (and willingness) to eat a wide variety of foods - and that variety is further increased by our ability to process foods.
the stupid aspect of america is their lack of street food culture. just about every other country has street food that addresses those who have less money. some great and a wide variety of street food. of course a country that produces the most food in abundance to the point it can give it away needs to charge the most and have the least variety. that makes so much sense. the american idea of street food is some truck that sells food mobile but the prices are no different than at any other restaurant. like i want to stand up to eat out in the middle of nowhere, with no service and pay the same prices.
even if i was a billionaire, i wouldn't pay that much. to me, this is too much wrong. first, is the price gouging for some overly large grapes and i would feel guilty for being so wasteful/frivolous. these are not even the types of grapes that taste grapey. its the concord grapes that are which are harder to get and really are the definition of all things grape and especially flavor. these are large red grapes which taste like nothing but sugar water just like it's white version. i would pay more for high-end cuisine but not just for regular produce. some people have got some nerve to charge such prices. you pay more for better quality but not this much. each grape was over fifty dollars.