There's a preserved fish dish in South Korea called Hongeohoe.

韩国有一种腌制的鱼叫洪鱼脍。

I was warned off it, but decided¹ I should show my host my willingness to try local food and be more than just a tourist.

曾有人警告我要远离这种食物，但我还是决定向主人展示一下我品尝当地饮食的意愿来体现我不只是一名游客。

It tasted like ammonia. And being preserved, it was rubbery. The more I chewed, the stronger the ammonia taste got.

这个食物尝起来有氨气的味道。因为是腌制的，所以很劲道。越嚼氨气的味道越浓。

It was like chewing an eraser that had been impregnated with floor cleaner. I choked the piece down, but the flavor stayed with me, the fumes² rising into my nose.

那种感觉就像在嚼浸过地板清洁剂的橡皮。我直接咽了下去，但嘴里却一直有那个味道，直冲鼻子。

My host said kindly³, "A lot of Koreans don't like it either."

主人很体贴地跟我说：“很多韩国人也不喜欢这个食物。”

Now he tells me!

现在才告诉我！

Two things come to mind.

我马上想到两样东西。

A severely⁴ moldy⁵ burrito. I hadn't noticed until a few bites in, because it was wrapped in foil, but it was worse than this.

一个严重发霉的玉米煎饼，因为用锡箔纸包着，所以吃了几口我才发现。

A large gulp⁶ of sprite my auto⁷ mechanic friend had left in the yard. Only, being a redneck, he was using the bottle to store gasoline. Not tasty, but I had already swallowed. In neither case did I get sick, but the regret was strong in the moment.

喝了一大口作汽车修理工的朋友留在院子里的雪碧。我没料到这个傻子竟然用雪碧瓶子装汽油。一点都不好喝，但我已经咽下去了。虽然没生病，但当时后悔死了。

I love traveling and experiencing the local culture, especially by enjoying their cuisine⁸. When I lived in China I came across many dishes that to me were so bizarre. One such dish is called Stinky Tofu. I was fortunate to not have many encounters with this dish because as its name suggests it’s STINKY!!! When you are around it you will know it, there is no escaping it. I recall riding my bike in the city and having to hold my breath as I passed by street vendors⁹ that were offering this stinky delight.

我喜欢旅行、体验当地文化，尤其是享受当地美食。我住在中国时遇到很多稀奇古怪的美食，其中就有臭豆腐。我很幸运不经常碰到这个食物，因为正如名字里提到的，它奇臭无比！！！靠近臭豆腐你就能发觉，躲都躲不开。我记得在市里骑自行车经过卖这

种臭臭美味的路边摊时都要屏住呼吸。

I highly recommend anyone traveling to China to try it "at least once".

我强烈建议每个去中国旅行的人都至少要吃一次臭豆腐。

Looks rather innocent and harmless right?

看起来人畜无害吧？

I like sharing this Kimchi story.

我要分享这个泡菜的故事。

I was in New York many years ago with my girlfriend (at the time), she is Korean, and she wanted to take me to an authentic¹⁰ Korean restaurant she found. We sat down, I looked at the menu, which was all written in Korean, since I couldn't read it I went with the pictures and pointed¹¹ to what I wanted. I pointed at an image with vegetables and beef. I ordered the Kimchi Beef. For those of you who don't Kimchi is pickled cabbage -Kimchi. It is usually very spicy¹², the style I had that day was nothing like I ever had before.

很多年前我在纽约和女朋友（当时的）在一起，她是韩国人，想带我去她发现的一家地道的韩餐餐馆。我们坐下来，我看着菜单，上面都是韩语，因为看不懂，所以我就看图片，然后指向我想点的菜。我指着一个带有蔬菜和牛肉的图片，要了一份泡菜牛肉。对于不太懂的人来说泡菜就是腌制的白菜，其实很辣。我那天吃的那种辣跟从前吃过的不一样。

Needless to say, I drank my glass of water quickly. I thought the beef was the spicy part, so I started eating the cabbage, boy was I wrong. It only got worse! Before I knew it the waitress came by to filled my glass and I drank it quickly. When she returned she noticed that this wasn't the last time I was going to ask for water, so she left the pitcher¹³ at the table. The waitress left and went to the kitchen. A few minutes later my girlfriend told me to turn around and I could see that the cooks where having a good laugh.

不用说我马上就喝掉了杯里的水，我以为是牛肉辣，就开始吃白菜，我真是大错特错，结果更糟！我还没反应过来服务员就过来给我续水，我又马上喝光。她再回来时注意到我还得要水，就把水壶留在了桌子上。服务员去了厨房，过几分钟女朋友让我回头，我看到几个厨师笑到不行。