Lauren Vs. Food is my attempt at correcting my terrible eating habits and unwillingness to eat anything that looks strange or foreign by forcing myself to eat new and scary foods on my trip.
After having spent my first week in Croatia avoiding any kind of food that looked freaky or foreign, I met up with a friend, and I was finally forced to try something new…
Fried Calamari.
Shudder.
And so, of course, I decided to search online to see what calamari actually is, and was horrified to discover that I was going to be eating fried squids. Vaguely remembering what squids were, I then decided to search for pictures of them and became petrified that somehow one of their tentacles was going to end up stuck to my throat, causing me to choke to death. I’m sure it happens all the time.
I was definitely not excited about this experience.
But I’d agreed to do it, so I couldn’t back out now. We hunted down a restaurant which was entirely empty, so as not to scare anyone off with my shrieks of fear and horror.
I took a deep breath and ordered the calamari.
I gulped as they brought the plate to the table, and took a sharp intake of breath when I noticed the enormous, creepy tentacles wiggling around on the plate.
I don’t know what I expected, but I certainly wasn’t expecting them to look so…. Squidy…
After spending about 20 minutes freaking out and deciding I didn’t want to eat them anymore, I finally gave in and, well, here is the video evidence:
And so, as to whether I liked them or not, I was really unsure at this point. I discovered I did not like them if they were cold. Or if they had tentacles attached. I did manage to eat all of the non-tentacled ones without throwing up or crying, so I decided this was definitely a success.
Then, to my surprise, the very next evening I found myself ordering more fried calamari?!
I then carried on doing this for four consecutive nights.
I LOVED it.
So much so, that I even found myself gobbling up the ones WITH tentacles…
Mmmm… Tentacles…
And so, in the epic battle of Lauren Vs. Food, this time…
Lauren wins!
You lost me at the word ‘tentacles’ – eeewwwwwww =D haha well done you hun!
They had suckers on and everything!
oh the expressions on your face are priceless
I was just trying so hard not to spit it out!
LOL Lauren that video is so funny – the music just adds to the whole thing! Your very brave, I get freaked out if i accidenlty eat a green crisp!x
Arghhh, I HATE green crisps!!!
haha this is hilarious! i love how you’re looking around trying to focus on something other than the squid you’re eating. calssic! i love fried calamari.
Hahahaha, trying soooo hard to swallow!
I’ve only had calamari once but I dipped it in marinara sauce so it wasn’t that bad. Granted…I never ordered it again after that.
Hahahaha I just used my coke as a sauce to wash it down!
Awesome! i’m really impressed.. Fish Head Soup next?
Hmmm… We’ll see? I’d rather steer clear of fishes….
The first time? Wow I am shocked but pleased to see that you are making an effort.
Tip of the iceberg.. ;)
When I forgot about the pictures of the squids I’d looked at and pretended I was just eating chips in my head I freaked out a lot less!
Congratulation! I’ve got a limited palate for food as well, it makes it very tough to travel. Keep up the fight!
Yeah, agreed! So far I’ve been fine, but I’m definitely not looking forward to Asia…!
Classic
Aren’t you impressed?! :D
I don’t really care for seafood, but deep fry anything and I’ll give it a go.
Agreed, definitely couldn’t have eaten the grilled version…
You are braver than me! I won’t eat the tentacles. :) It may have something to do with dissecting a squid in junior high and then frying it up and eating it in class. Yuck.
What?!?! That’s AWFUL!
Calamari is one of my favourites!! i eat it with the tentacles. Next up octopus for you!
Ughhhhh, never!!
That was hilarious & love that photo with the tentacles! I’m along the line of thinking that anything deep fried is pretty darn good. I just had deep-fried lambs brain for my anniversary and even it was semi-tolerable!
Deep fried lambs brain?!?! Don’t think I could ever handle that!
OMG loved this. I’m not a fussy eater at all I LOVE calamari in fact the tentacley bit is the best bit lovely texture. You will get used to it love the blog xx
Thanks! I’m semi-used to it now…. Ate it so much that I got fed up with it though and am avoiding it for a while!
The music is a nice soundtrack to the facial expressions.. lol. I enjoyed the post.. eat! eat! eat!
Hahahahaha, argh, the facial expressions….. Not pretty!
Time to hear more about the various (and more of them) … FOOD WINS!! Soon. ;)
Um, you don’t seem to have much confidence in me….
Great article and congrats on the victory :)
When I first tasted calamari I loved it. The thing was I wasn’t told it is really squid and I always complained that I hated seafood. Well my family really showed me that day. Now I am willing to try seafood before I say I don’t like it.
After throwing up a few times when having seafood, it is definitely something I try to avoid…!
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Terrific! Calamari is one of my favorites. Just watch out for the little suction cups on the tentacles ;)
Don’t! That’s what terrifies me!!!
Calamari, is simply awesome! I had it for my going away dinner last week. Congrats on being victorious :)
I’d really recommend you try octopus salad when you make it to greece. Tentacles in vinegar, oil and herbs (but chopped). Absolutely delish!
Congrats on winning your battle.
Glad you liked it!! It’s something I’ve only started eating in the last few years. It’s often overcooked but if someone gets it right it’s beautiful.
Like the music :-)
It seemed I was watching an episode of Fear Factor!! :D. It was hilarious!! Were you just swallowing the calamari with Coke!??! Its all about mind over matter honey!! OM.