No thanks, I'll pass.

PAINTING BY CARL LARSON

'Disgusting' bacon soda turns stomach of New Yorkers who tried it

I just read an article about how Jones Soda has come up with a bacon flavour soda. Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that one. I've tried chocolate flavour soda, which if it were still available in this area, would be a wonderful item to add to make a lo-cal martini. Even though the makers claim the drink is vegan and kosher, I have no desire to try this one. Some things are not meant to be drunk.

I know that people, when they travel, will try the eclectic local tastes, just for the hell of it. Before I became a vegetarian many years ago, I used to enjoy raw pickled octopus from a Japanese deli. I love the spicy food found in East Indian Restaurants as well as Thai. But that's all within the realm of normal.

When I read this article, I flashed back to a fad that was around for a while---chocolate covered ants. Somebody in elementary school had them, and again, I resisted the urge to try.

But, let me tell you, my family had some interesting items in their fridge. My father used to hunt, so he loved elk and moose. I never quite acquired the taste of wild game as a kid. Mmmm, maybe there's more reasons to my being a vegetarian then just my love of animals. Having seen Bambi's mother dead in the garage never really bothered me at that age. It was just that taste....

My Scandinavian heritage also put me into contact with some funky food. Forget pickled herring; that's nothing. My father would have my mother purchase items such as tongue and knuckles, which would then be cooked or pickled. There was some fish that sat in a brine forever. It actually had to sit outside in the garage because it was pretty odiforous. My Grandmother, back in the "old country" made blood bread. This is something that maybe vampires would serve at their table before the main course arrives, assuming vampires ate food. Instead of adding the usual liquids that one utilizes in cooking bread, they'd substitute it with blood. It was a hot item in that area.

At Christmas, there is something known as lutfisk. For the uninitiated, this is cod which has been soaked in lye, with the lye then washed out (you hope). It ends up looking like a pale, gelatinous pile of something akin to the creature in David Lynch's film "Eraserhead." The smell would permeate the house as it cooked. My Dad took great joy in having my friend try this when he came for Christmas dinner. It was like a test of his manhood, or something. My friend sampled the wares (after some alcohol, it goes without saying), as my father watched on. It's become a bit of a joke that he comes over should our schedules coincide, and partakes of the Lutfisk at Christmas time. He did my Dad proud. Needless to say, my friend's wife of almost six years does not share the joy.

Did I mention the buttermilk? I grew up with that stuff sitting on the table and I never touched it.

I guess that everybody's family has their own thing, or their own cultural background. Some people had health nut parents and they might as well have eaten the bird seed and kibble for the taste. In elementary school my friend Jill's house was like that. I suspect that the only thing with sugar was the hash brownies that her parents had squirreled away, as they were faithful to the lost hippy tribe spawned by The Grateful Dead.

I just realized....Bacon Soda....isn't that what you call a spoonerism? (baking soda).