Chicken What?  So what’s the deal with chicken feet?

Guess what one of the girls brought into the office for a snack? A delicious delicacy from Taichung and one I quickly declined. Words cannnot begin to describe how distressed I was to see these in our back office. I’m all for trying new things, providing it is not a bug, a foot or claw, a head, eye, or brain.  I also harbor natural aversions to consuming bodily fluids such as blood, urine or bile.  

So what’s the deal with chicken feet?  In Western countries, chicken dishes consist mainly of legs, thighs, and breasts.  In other countries, especially in the Far East, other parts of the chicken are eaten and considered delicacies.  Livers and gizzards are used for gravies and other processed foods.  Chicken innards are considered specialities in Taiwan and China.  Some recipes call for the entire chicken to be served with the head.  And, yes, chicken feet are also served by the bowl in China and throughout certain dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong.  Chicken feet can even be bought at local train stations and convenience stores.  They come vacuum packed for sealed-in freshness.

Awhile ago, my Chinese tutor and I were discussing the vast differences between cuisines around the world.  She, in particular, cannot get over her horrid fascination with cheese.  She simply can’t understand why anyone would bother to put it in their mouth. I love cheese, so I couldn’t really answer.  She thinks cheese is, by far, the nastiest and ‘squeakiest’ food she has ever put in her mouth. 

Nastier than chicken feet, I wonder?  The thought of having skin and bone sliding around in my mouth does nothing to please my sense of taste.  When I expressed surprise at the mass consumption of feet, heads and organs in Asia, she laughed.  She insists there are reasons for eating these foods.  It’s important to eat certain parts of the chicken, not just because it tastes good, but also because special chicken parts are helpful in protecting our own organs and skin.  “Chicken feet are not like cheese,” she reassured me.  “Cheese holds very little nutritional value for the human body.”

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not judging.  I’ve eaten my fair share of strange food from around the world.   I have never felt bad or queasy after eating things like beef penis, donkey dumplings, pig tendon or korean dog.  To be honest, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I know it’s because I didn’t know what I was eating at the time.  

What is it then, that makes us feel such aversion for these types of food, when they are perfectly acceptable in other cultures?  Is it simply the gross out factor?  For me, it’s the psychological association that comes with eating something completely foreign to my standards of healthy, nutrional and fine tasting cuisine.  Even after five years in Asia, and some of the strangest and weirdest food you can wrap your mouth around, it’s still all new to me.