11 September 2014

Portugal's Exotic Food

 Gooseneck Barnacles

 

I had no idea you could eat these things!!  It was SO funny when this plate arrived at our table.  We had to ask what it was.  We then had to look up online how to eat it!  Ha!  Here is a great tutorial if you should ever need it.

I then started researching and found that it is quite dangerous to harvest them.  They grow at the base of jagged cliffs where the waves are the roughest.  The dangers of collecting the barnacles combined with the fact that it's not been possible to mimic the atmosphere of where these barnacles live make this a pricey delicacy.   This article explains how these guys risk their lives and sometimes lose them.  They can earn €1000 (that's almost $1300) in a day!

We lucked out and got our plate of barnacles as part of an array of appetizers. 

Were they good, you might wonder?  They weren't too bad!  I like seafood and I'm willing to try new things (within reason).  I kept reaching for more as did Jerry.  I can't say I'd be paying big money for them, but I'm so glad we had a fun cultural experience of eating barnacles and learning something new.

Have you tried barnacles?  What's the weirdest food you've tried?

6 comments:

  1. Bear...but that isn't weird to you ;)

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  2. Ha! Yep, doesn't sounds too crazy to me as an Alaskan! =)

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  3. I'm not sure I would have been brave enough, but I'd probably try at least one to say I did. I've eaten jellyfish, that's pretty exotic as far as I'm concerned, but my Dad has eaten roasted tarantula...I have no desire to beat his record...

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  4. how random! Never had barnacles, I'd give them a try though as I love seafood!

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  5. It was very random!! I never knew there was a type of barnacle you could eat!! A weird but funny experience!

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  6. Now I've never tried jellyfish. I wonder if I could do that! I threw rocks at one too many growing up when they'd washed up on the beach! And there is no way I'd be trying tarantula!! ;)

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