How Bizarre

Even though I have three weeks of school plus finals the get through before I should even be thinking about Taiwan, we know what's on my mind. Yep, Taiwan. Go figure. Annnnd I've managed to merge this topic with my (not so) secret obsession-food. So instead of studying for my anatomy test, I've taken to watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern-Taiwan; I mean I have to see what I'm getting myself into. This is especially helpful since I'm actually going to be visiting some of the places he went. Let's break it down shall we?

stinky tofu-anything with the word "stinky" in the name makes me weary, and the fact that Andrew Zimmern himself couldn't finish it makes me want to run away screaming as soon as catch a whif of the rotting smell. Apparently this fermented tofu is something that Taiwan is known for, so I guess I'm going to have to man up and try it. My best bet to try it is probably when we visit a night market-I think we're actually going to the same one he went to. In the night market, Andrew samples some pretty creepy sounding "delicacies" including unlaid chicken eggs, chicken uterus, goose heads, and cock's combs. I don't think I'll be able to stomach ANY of those, but he did try coffin bread, a fried bread stuffed with anything from fruit to meat. Since "fried" and "bread" are two things that are quite delicious,this sounds tasty. I think I'll stick to things of this nature.
black boned chicken-this is something i've been told is a "must try" by Jake. he has also told me to try the octopus eyeballs, so I'm not quite sure what to think of that. according to Andrew Zimmern it just tastes like regular chicken, so if I have the chance, this is something else I'll probably try (and take lots of pictures in the process).
taipei 101-ok ok, so this isn't a food, it's a location that he visited. we're going to visit Taipei 101 too! It's the second tallest building in the world (!!!), like the fastest freaking elevator ride ever, and has a food court of sorts that looks fabulous, among the things he had were Korean BBQ (yum) and bloodcake (yuck). Regardless, I'm looking forward to it.

I think my best bet is just to keep an open mind about all of this; although there are a lot of things I'm not used to, Taiwan is an Island and there will be a lot of fish, tofu, and veggies (all of things I LOVE--I sincerely doubt I'll go hungry. Probably the opposite. Hmmm. If athletic training doesn't work out for me, maybe I'll just become a food critic...