Oddest South Florida Foods Potluck UYE

I once had the pleasure of visiting Guayaquil, Ecuador for a destination wedding. Seemed like an odd choice at the time but I was stunned. There was no money to exchange in the local dollar economy, the architecture rivaled that of many Old-​World cities and every meal felt like a culinary carnival. One of the final events before the big day was a beach-​side brunch with exotic fare like lulo juice, cheese-​stuffed yucca bread, Wahoo ceviche, and coconut-​seafood stew.
Unfortunately something went awry and 19 out of 20 guests suffered from food poisoning. It was so serious the ceremony had to be postponed a day! I didn’t get sick but not because of lack of trying, I ate EVERYTHING, sometimes twice. Fast-​forward 5 years and I was standing in front of a bile-​inducing banquet at the Oddest SoFlo Potluck hosted by Gina H.
that was straight out of the dinner scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I thought, after all I’ve been through, today is going to be the day I contract a foodborne illness and one or more of these ten items will be to blame –
Arepitas de Cassava (yucca fritters seasoned with anise): I despise licorice, but I grew up with these Dominican treats so they taste like holidays, birthdays and vacations to me.
Vegetarian Meatballs with Grape Jelly: reminded me of the matzah brei, an omelet made with crackers soaked in milk that’s also served with jelly, I have at Bagel Cove in Aventura.
Century Egg: the Chinese have had 5,000 years to develop and then ruin their cuisine. After 3 months the albumen turns into flavorless tea colored jello. The yolk looks like a deep-​dwelling fish’s eyeball that’s actually extraordinarily mild and custard-​like. I can only compare it to how Lance Armstrong’s cancerous testicle looks like today. That thing is so vascular and pumped full of ‘roids, it powered out of the bio-​hazard bin to start its life on the road as a competitive bodybuilder.
Mondongo (tripe) with Stewed Pig’s Feet: exceptionally savory but shared the consistency of Freddy Krueger’s face.
Kidney + Heart Pâté: as a hemophage (blood eater) and connoisseur of offal (organ meats) I found this to be one of the highlights. George M. might have said, «Tastes like the leftovers from a failed venture into black market organ trading.» Just imagine putting Peruvian anticuchos (grilled beef heart), British steak n’ kidney pie and a log of French liver pâté into a Ninja juicer.
Fermented Duck Egg: overpowering stench of sulphur and ammonia made it taste like someone farted in my mouth. The only good part of this experience is that now I know what it would be like to lick Yao Ming’s salty navel after an overtime game with the Maverick’s.
Rousong (Chinese meat wool): looks like Carrot Top’s pubes, has the texture of Beach Curl Weave and isn’t suitable for vegetarians as it’s made from pork.
Mystery Meat Burger Bites from McDonalds: The worst mistake I’ve made since I sheared my Apple stock before the release of their silly computer-phone…the meat is processed with soy, dairy-​free cheese is made completely from hydrogenated oils, buns from allergy causing genetically modified wheat, and ketchup the USDA deems has an acceptable percentage of insects –
Blavod: my contribution and the probably the tamest of all, was a mid-​range vodka imported from the UK. It’s infused with tasteless catechu extract from Myanmar that makes it completely opaque.
Kitty Litter Cake: a sordid mixture of German chocolate cake batter and poodding that’s dusted with crushed cookies and garnished with melted tootsie rolls. Served in a new (doubtful) litter pan and doled out with a pooper scooper. I’ve had this before and it’s still just as unsettling, especially if you look at it while eating.
Miracle Berries: chewed lightly and rolled around in the mouth, these red mysterious fruits made my taste buds think it was opposite day. Shots of balsamic vinegar tasted like Welch’s grape juice, limes tasted like limeade, lemons like lemonheads, and partially ripened figs like they were dripping with honey.
At the time I didn’t notice because I was so enthralled by sharing all of these new experiences with my long-​time friends I’d met through Unilocal but something was brewing inside me. The next day I felt like this woman –
Finally the time had come and I feared the worst. I gripped the seat while my body was rocked by spasms. Finally the room filled with an aromatic vapor as if someone had given me a hookah enema. Lavender, chamomile, mint? I don’t know what had happened but I knew it was over and I felt a presence in the room. I couldn’t believe it but I had been visited by the Miracle Berry Fairy. She saved me from the suffering that was my cross to bare. Perhaps to witness the second coming of the Oddest South Florida Potluck.

It has taken me a million years to write this review. This was so much fun THANK YOU GINA. Everything was amazing the Kitty Litter looked so gross but tasted so good. The highlight of the evening was by far the magical berries. I am going to order them for Thanksgiving. I cannot wait to see my 80yr old grandma trip out.
Again, Thank you Gina.

This is how South Florida rolls Andrew Zimmern!!! wohooo!!! from pig’s feet, mystery meat, kidney and heart pâté, century eggs, kitty litter dessert, and miracle berries this was a hell of a Potluck Partay!!!
This is how South Florida presents its Oddest Foods! If we were to air this, we would probably get a lot of viewers!!!
The miracle berries were a shocker Gina! You could have not organized it better! It was super cool, I had not heard about those miracle berries. They do some pretty awesome miracles! The coolest part as the lime & lemon, balsamic vinegar, anyone? any shot of balsamic vinegar? any takers?
Everything on the serving table was unique, presentation was pretty good. I must say that cat litter dessert was very interesting, imagine for people that own cats — no takers here.
Mondongo was great! I wish I could have had it with some rice! It had a perfect taste and a lot of goodies were in it!
I must say, everyone did pretty well. Foodies here, your palate is quite great! You guys tried the Century Egg, which I thought some would probably said it was yuk!

When the beer I bring to a potluck *isn’t* the oddest thing you’ll put in your mouth all evening, that’s when you know you’re in for a test of the old constitution. Inspired by Zimmern, a bunch of us got together to celebrate foods that might or might not have sent us to the emergency room for a stomach pump.
Whatever. I can, and will, eat almost anything. To me, the grossest «food» out there, if one can even call it that, is mayonnaise. If it’s not mayo, geez, I don’t care how fermented, pungent, slimy or stinky it is, I’ll try it.
I was going to try to make something with durian, but then I read that durian and alcohol do not mix; in fact it hampers one’s ability to process alcohol. Any Unilocal potluck without booze would be unthinkable, and frankly, not one I would want to attend — so, no durian.
As mentioned above, I brought beer, but it wasn’t that odd. Obscure, but not odd — I figured some Belgians would do the trick (and scrub the palate if necessary), and they did. For dessert, however, it was Alesmith’s Speedway Stout, a legendary thick, inky brew suffused with a boatload of dark-​roast coffee.
Our food contribution was a Dominican recipe we learned about from a friend — yucca fritters spiked with anise seed. Given that I seem to be squarely within the 2% of Americans who love the taste of anise/​fennel/​licorice, I figured that most would take a bite, squeal «ugh, licorice!» and throw them down in disgust… but to my surprise, they seemed to go over very well.
There were but two dishes that brought me to my knees. I thought I could handle everything, but I did not wish to take one more bite of these: 1) kidney and heart pâté, and 2) mystery meat burger bites (which I later realized was McDonalds). That pâté was FUNKY. And trust me, I like the funk — but that was too much for even me. And those burgers were just disgusting. I actually thought I was eating something worthy of Zimmern’s show, but it was just McDonalds. My god. How do so many willingly hit up the Golden Arches every day, to eat THAT garbage?
I thought the Century Egg was going to trip me up. Essentially, it’s a 100-​day fermented egg. It looks and smells like a rotten egg, which is more or less what it is. Yet not only did it not trip me up, I went back for more. It still tasted like an egg, but with a deep pungent ginger and umami kick. It had that funky fermented taste, but this time it was a good funk. I wish I’d had a Boulevard Saison-​Brett to go with it.
Knowing the slop pigs tend to walk around in, mondongo with pigs’ feet was a bit of a mental challenge. Tasty, though — my only real dislike was the squishy cartilaginous texture of the feet. Maybe if there’d been some nuts or other crunchables in there to balance the feet out, I wouldn’t have found such a textural issue.
The kitty litter cake, replete with litter box, scoop and steaming turds, looked every bit what a litter box would look like a half-​hour after a couple furballs downed some Fancy Feast. Gross. Here, though, the shock value was all in the presentation. It tasted like chocolate cake, and the poop tasted like a Tootsie Roll.
Veggie meatballs made with grape jelly were intended to fool me into thinking they were real meat, but I wasn’t having it. They were very good anyway — I probably could have eaten half the bowl.
I didn’t need to drink any of Rony’s black vodka, but there it was, and of course I had to try it. What the hell was in that stuff, squid ink?
At the end of the night, Gina pulled out some miracle berries. I’d heard of these but never had the opportunity to try one. The berry itself did not have a lot of taste, but as claimed, had an impact on the taste of other foods. It mainly seemed to affect sweet/​sour tastes, with a bit of an impact on bitterness. Lime and lemon wedges still tasted like limes and lemons, just much sweeter — you could sit there and eat a lemon as if you were eating an orange. With other fruits like pineapple, the effect was more negligible, maybe trading out a little tart for more sweet. Basil seemed more flinty and bitter than normal. And my Speedway Stout, with its big roasty, bitter coffee/​chocolate flavors, started tasting more like a slightly sweet chocolate milk.
Thanks to Gina for hosting. I’ve been to a lot of UYEs, but this one has to rank up there (oh wait, rather DOWN there)!

Hurricane Isaac finally finished punishing us in Key West and I’m writing this review from my death bed at the LOWER KEYS MEDICAL CENTER (aka the local hospital).
You probably want to know what happened that I ended up in the HOSPITAL. Did a palm frond or coconut fall and hit me on the head when I was checking the grounds during Hurricane Isaac’s visit? NOPE. Did I almost drown in the rough waters after slipping off the boat docks? I THINK NOT. Did I starve into a delirious state of mind since every business was closed on Sunday and most of Monday too? NO SIR.
I’m here because I am having my stomach pumped…
I’m here to receive nutrients intravenously…
And I’m here to have my head examined for participating in this ridiculous potluck.
What exactly got me sick? ?? ? ?
—Century Egg (100 days of fermentation)
—Mondongo (Tripe) with Pig’s Feet
—Kidney and Heart Pâté
—Fermented Duck Egg with some sort of Pork
—Mystery Meat Burger Bites (AKA… McDonalds)
—Kitty Litter Dessert (complete with edible Feces)
I’ll probably never know which one of these dishes made me sick but I’m beginning to think someone poisoned me intentionally… you will be found and you will be punished.
The only dishes I believe were not the cause of my illness…
—Potato Latkes with anise seasoning (thumbs up Stephanie/​Patrick)
—Vegetarian Meatballs with grape jelly (not too shabby Rebecca)
I’m on the fence with Gina (our host)… she presented MIRACLE BERRIES, which altered the taste of various foods; I bit into a tart lemon and it was like sucking on a pack of sugar. I also think it was a hallucinogenic (though Gina claims it is not). Not sure what to make of the situation or what her motives really were but I think she stole my wallet.
I’m sick… feel like I’m dying… I’m a little scared… and I can’t wait to do it again ! ! !

«Eek! MeThinks not.»
That’s what I said to myself when Gina was telling me about all the weird shyt that was on her dinning room table She even had bites of McDonald’s cheeseburger!
I had a good time catching up with my little homey Bryan and playing with his Rey Mysterio mask
Gina the pleasure was all yours

I have prided myself this past couple of years for never suffering a hangover.
Enter Rony M and his Black Vodka and Patrick L and his weird ass beers.
Toss into the mix some intestines, pigs feet and 100 year old egg, finished up with some kitty litter cake all in the company of some AWESOME AWESOME people and you have the makings of the hangover of the year!
And let’s not forget the «mystery meat» courtesy of Glenn. Yup, the kids sure devoured all of that lickety split!