One of the shows on TV I like is "Bizarre Foods" with Andrew Zimmern. It's interesting to see what people in different cultures consider cuisine and it's very entertaining to watch Andrew suck down foods that most of us would consider disgusting. You always wonder whether you could do it yourself- at least I do.

Well, it was with "Bizarre Foods" in mind when I ordered a bowl of Menudo for lunch today. My brother-in-law is 1/2 Mexican and he and one of his three sons love the stuff. I figured he could guide me through the experience as the rest of my family enjoyed the usual Mexican fair.

First came a small dish of raw onion with one-half lime and a small covered platter with steaming tortillas. The waitress also brought two spice shakers, one with the red pepper seed and one with oregano. For no particular reason my apprehension spiked. I tell myself, "you can eat liver, you can eat chicken hearts and gizzards, you can slurp down raw oysters by the bushel- YOU CAN DO THIS!". At this point it was like climbing the big hill on a roller coaster- clank clank clank clank clank....

I ordered a medium, but the bowl was huge. It was so big that the pig's foot was completely submerged- which was a plus. Everything else was lurking below the beautiful crimson broth. I smelled it, then quickly dumped in the whole dish of onions and squeezed the life out of the lime.

Have you ever been wandering out in the mountains and come across some old bones that have been baking in the sun for years? You pick one up to examine it- except it has been raining hard that day. Ever smell that smell? "Wet old dried bones"- that's what the menudo smelled like.

I cautiously gave it a stir, wishing I had ordered a few straight shots of Cuervo beforehand. Chunks of stuff surfaced and slowly sank out of sight. When I heard that tripe was the stomach lining of a cow I had pictured something squiggly and maybe wispy. Tripe has substance to it and it has form- like the honeycomb of a beehive. The rest of the solids were probably what had fallen off the pigs foot which was way overcooked IMO. Stupidly, I looked closer at the pigs foot. I don't know how they remove the hair but I guess they shave it. This foot had about three days stubble.

Well menudo tastes just like it smells, the best way I could describe it is "earthy". All the solids have the same texture so it's hard to tell what you're eating. It was the only time I could say I was really missing vegetables and the hominy in the soup was no consolation.

I “finished” about 1/5 of the bowl and couldn’t eat anymore. The waitress didn’t charge me for the meal. I felt badly that I had wasted their food but who knows, maybe I was being rewarded just for trying it.

Bon Appetit'