Just about anyone anywhere can spoon into a dish of chocolate pudding, nibble a ripe strawberry or gnaw on a smoky baby back rib. But can you stomach pig’s head, celery root, octopus or even rabbit ears?
A lot of people can’t and don’t, which is why the authors of a new book called “Ugly Food” use the subtitle: “Overlooked and Undercooked.” The book (Hurst, $34.95) by Richard Horsey and Tim Wharton invites readers to look beyond the pretty in supermarkets, butcher shops, fish stalls and farmers markets for foods that are delicious.
Horsey, an independent political analyst based in Myanmar, and Wharton, a linguistics researcher at the University of Brighton in England, offer an array of “ugly” food in their book, along with history, lore and how to prepare, cook and eat these items.
“Ugly food can be cheap, tasty and sustainable. What’s not to like?” wrote Horsey in an email. Ugly foods, he wrote, reduce waste by using foods that would otherwise be discarded based on looks and can “help overcome the very unhealthy disconnect between shoppers and where their food comes from.”
Shop farmers markets, buy whole fish and poultry, choose “unusual and local ingredients rather than processed, pre-packaged foods that may be familiar but less fresh and tasty,” Horsey’s email reads.
Asked to come up with a “top 10 list” of ugly foods, the authors readily obliged. Here are their top picks — how many have you tried? (Me? Five out of 10).
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