Heart, Tongue, Horse, Giant Barnacles and Living Rocks

Six months ago I would have had no idea why I would ever title a post like this. Well, now I know. And so will you.

So, what do a heart, tongue, horse, giant barnacles, and living rock have in common?

Answer: They've all been in my stomach at some point.

I've been waiting to make another food post for quite some time, and when I bought some dried horse meat today I knew that the moment had come.

I am a big person and food is a big part of my life, so you've seen some of my favorite foods from Chile. We've already covered the giant barnacle- called picoroco in Spanish-here. It's one of my favorite foods in Chile because of its distinct crabby flavor. And it looks awesome.

Picorocos from a local seafood restaurant. These ones have already been taken out of their shells

Have I eaten a whole, fresh heart? No, I have not (yet). But I have had a dip made out of blended chicken heart a few times. It has a bland, salty taste and goes nicely with crackers.

I am from southwestern Pennsylvania, which is crawling with Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch. So the tongue might not be very interesting to some of you. I had tongue for the first time this week and it was definitely interesting for me. I was most surprised by the fact that it was the size of a shoe. The next most surprising thing was the size of its taste buds, which I could clearly feel against my own.

Cow tongue sliced like a loaf of bread. Best served cold, apparently

The living rock, or piure, looks just like you would probably imagine it: Like a rock. In reality, it is a weird little animal that is native to the coasts of Chile and Peru. It's filled with a bunch of little slimy pieces of flesh, not unlike raw oysters, but red. To get to the meat, you need to cut it open, which is probably something better done outside. The rock sprays juice when it's punctured and it smells really, really bad (in my opinion- I encourage everyone to try it). I have a strong stomach and sense of adventure but I questioned my ability to eat this thing when our host began scooping the meat out with his fingers and plopping it into a serving dish. That being said, I had a few pieces and it was... interesting. The best way I can describe it might be to say that it smells like it tastes and it tastes like it's not supposed to be eaten.

"Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you've got a stew going." - Arrested Development

You should look up "piure" or "living rock" on youtube. A video is better than than pictures, but it won't do the smell justice.

Okay, horse. This might be the most controversial food item that I've eaten (A close runner up would be the sheep that we killed and ate on a field trip). To be fair, I didn't eat much of it because it is gross. I love beef jerky. I have been looking for beef jerky ever since I got here. Today I was walking around the Costanera Center (one of the biggest malls in the world and attached to the the tallest building in Latin America) when something that looked almost like jerky caught my eye. It's even called "charqui." I took a look at the ingredients: Dry horse meat, salt.

Sold.

It was disappointing. My first warning was the smell, which was something like gerbil food. Others would probably say that my first warning should have been that it was horse meat.

Cellphone quality photo

There's more where that came from. Lots of food items that I have eaten did not make the cut- raw beef on toast, eel, jelly and cheese sandwiches (they think that PBJ is strange), all sorts of raw seafood, and enough avocado to drown in. But don't let this post make you think that I don't enjoy the food here. Most of it is great, especially with my host family. I'm living with some great cooks.

The kitchen and dining room often look like cupcake sweatshops. My host sister has been known to have some friends over and pump out a couple hundred cookies

One of the most important lessons that I've learned on this exchange is the value of leaving your comfort zone. I think that one of the best ways to learn about yourself, which I would say is beneficial, is to try new things. You never know how you will respond to something and what you will learn until you try it. Doing new things and leaving your comfort zone is a great way to get to know yourself and become a more well-rounded person. So go for it.