I love lists. I love making them and the sense of accomplishment when I can check off the items. I also love reading them: it’s fast and I can do a quick read through. Now that 2008 is coming to its end, there are a slew of other lists coming out: people who have passed away during the year, important events, top music, etc.

Earlier this year, various food blogs were posting lists of things every omnivore should try. The end of 2008 seems like an appropriate time to post this list and to try unchecked items in 2009. Except for maybe no. 75: Roadkill.

No. 59: Poutine (french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds) was eaten in Toronto last year.
Items in bold are foods that I have tried. 55 out of 100 isn’t bad. There is also a list of 100 Chinese foods to try before you die.

The Omnivore’s Hundred

1. Venison
 2. Nettle tea
 3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare – better than I imagined
 5. Crocodile
 6. Black pudding
 7. Cheese fondue
 8. Carp
 9. Borscht
 10. Baba ghanoush
 11. Calamari – love this stuff
 12. Pho
 13. PB&J sandwich – I know of one person that hasn’t had one
 14. Aloo gobi
 15. Hot dog from a street cart – in Berlin
 16. Epoisses
 17. Black truffle
 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
 19. Steamed pork buns
 20. Pistachio ice cream
 21. Heirloom tomatoes
 22. Fresh wild berries
 23. Foie gras
 24. Rice and beans
 25. Brawn, or head cheese
 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
 27. Dulce de leche – one word ‘yum’
 28. Oysters – I prefer Oysters Rockefeller
 29. Baklava
 30. Bagna cauda
 31. Wasabi peas
 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
 33. Salted lassi
 34. Sauerkraut
 35. Root beer float
 36. Cognac with a fat cigar
 37. Clotted cream tea
 38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
 39. Gumbo
 40. Oxtail – I grew up eating oxtail soup
 41. Curried goat
 42. Whole insects – fried crickets and it was not an accident
 43. Phaal
 44. Goat’s milk
 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
 46. Fugu
 47. Chicken tikka masala
 48. Eel
 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
 50. Sea urchin
 51. Prickly pear
 52. Umeboshi
 53. Abalone
 54. Paneer
 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal – not in years
 56. Spaetzle
 57. Dirty gin martini
 58. Beer above 8% ABV
 59. Poutine
 60. Carob chips
 61. S’mores
 62. Sweetbreads
 63. Kaolin
 64. Currywurst
 65. Durian
 66. Frogs’ legs
 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
 68. Haggis
 69. Fried plantain
 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
 71. Gazpacho
 72. Caviar and blini
 73. Louche absinthe – made me so drunk I started prank calling McDonald’s
 74. Gjetost, or brunost
 75. Roadkill
 76. Baijiu
 77. Hostess Fruit Pie
 78. Snail
 79. Lapsang souchong
 80. Bellini
 81. Tom yum
 82. Eggs Benedict
 83. Pocky
 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
 85. Kobe beef
 86. Hare
 87. Goulash
 88. Flowers
 89. Horse
 90. Criollo chocolate
 91. Spam – almost since birth
 92. Soft shell crab
 93. Rose harissa
 94. Catfish
 95. Mole poblano
 96. Bagel and lox
 97. Lobster Thermidor
 98. Polenta
 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
 100. Snake