Alice Levitt's 100 | Seven Days

Hi there, Omnivore gourmets and gourmands (Yes, there is a difference, look it up). For those who don’t know me yet, I am Seven Days’ food intern. Think of me as Suzanne Jr. You may remember me from such stories as Exquisite Corpse, detailing my week as a butcher, and Cart Course, in which I ate from every cart on Church Street. Suzanne asked that I contribute my own take on the meme about which she last blogged. I pride myself on my exhaustive list of animals eaten, but I don’t drink, so we’ll see if I can compete.

1. Venison 2. Nettle tea – Nettles are great, so versatile. I love buying a big bag of them mixed with carrots and frying them up as a side with Asian meals. 3. Huevos rancheros – A bad idea. 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile – I have had plenty of alligator. My brother once made me alligator marsala at his late, great Essex restaurant, Feast Market and Cafe. 6. Black pudding – Any kind of sausage is just fine in my book, but “puddings” tend to be a bit grainy for my taste. 7. Cheese fondue – One of my favorite lazy winter meals is microwaving up a personal size container from Switzerland (think fondue ramen) and dipping stale bread until I am lulled into a carbohydrate coma.
8. Carp 9. Borscht – Hot, cold, spicy, sweet. Too many permutations to count. 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich – I prefer Banana and Slim Jim. 14. Aloo gobi – I would only have this at a buffet. If I’m getting Indian, I want lamb or goat! 15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses – A cheese that will be added to the “to do” list. 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes – I don’t drink, but I had a glut of elderberry wine for my story, Pollinate This 19. Steamed pork buns – Fuck yes. I always get a pile of cha siu bao to bring home from Dobe and Andy in Montreal 20. Pistachio ice cream – I like it best with cherries in it 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper – Stunt eating. If you’re not in college, don’t do it. 27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl – A childhood pre-nap favorite. You need a nap after that. 33. Salted lassi – Salted drinks may sound like a bad idea, but I always love them. Try the salted lemonade at Pho Dang and you’ll become a believer too. 34. Sauerkraut 35. Root beer float – There is no greater pleasure than the last bits of ice cream, jacketed in frozen root beer at the end of an A&W float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea – I grew up around a lot of English people. I always suspected even they drank it only to be polite.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat – Another favorite. I slightly prefer goat to lamb. My local supermarket, the Colchester Shaw’s usually carries stew goat. Try making your own.
42. Whole Insects – I wish.
43. Phaal – This is the hottest form of curry. Frankly, I don’t know ifyou can even get it in the US. I’ve never gone hotter than a vindaloo. 44. Goat’s milk – Tastes like… goat.
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu – I hear it isn’t even that tasty 47. Chicken tikka masala – My earliest memory is eating this at Madhur Jaffrey’s restaurant in New York. 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut – Whenever I am at a gas station back home in Connecticut, I must pick up some. When I can’t get those, Sam Mazza’s are quite similar.
50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone 54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal – I find the Big Mac to be an example of poor food construction. I am more of a BK Stacker girl. 56. Spaetzle – The first time my boyfriend tried this Swiss/German dumpling, he remarked, “This is so good, I can’t believe it’s not meat.”
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips – Dog food. No really. I have only ever eaten them in dog treats. Yes, I eat dog treats. What’s your problem? 61. S’mores – I like to make them with a Vosges Naga (curry and coconut) bar 62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin – This is clay. That is not food. 64. Currywurst – Once again: Sausage good. Curry better. 65. Durian – Don’t be a wimp. It’s like honeydew. With camembert. Start with an M-Saigon bubble tea, then build. You can get a whole one in Montreal’s Chinatown
66. Frogs’ legs – I don’t know how I’ve missed them. Soon, I promise. 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis – Stomach, fine. Oatmeal, ew. 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 71. Gazpacho – Hate it. 72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost – This is a sharp Norwegian cheese. This has piqued my interest, so it will make my list imminently.
75. Roadkill – I have eaten a lot of game that could have been road kill.
76. Baijiu – This is Chinese moonshine. I have a friend who regularly brings it back from China. Its very odor frightens me. 77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky – I much prefer Yan Yan. You dip them yourself. If you are a man, try Men’s Pocky, with coffee flavoring. If you are a woman, avoid it, lest you should grow a penis.
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant – It doesn’t have the stars, but Sona in LA totally deserves them. Check out my blog post about it on www.AliceEats.com
85. Kobe beef – Horribly overrated. I prefer Kurobuta pork. 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse – I cooked it on my George Foreman grill. My boyfriend had indigestion for days. 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam – Coming out of a can makes food better, right?
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa – I had a bunch of harissa at the EatingWell test kitchen, but believe me, they were not adding rose petals 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano – One of my favorites. Jesus, I miss La Carreta. 96. Bagel and lox 97. Lobster Thermidor 98. Polenta – A specialty of mine.
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake – I think I may have in the mists of time, but can’t recall. I’m not a huge fan of the texture of reptiles as a whole, but anything for a laugh.