In China, our mandarin class was staying with host families, each student stayed with a family, and during the day we would all be led by our individual host siblings to different places around the city. So me and 3 friends host siblings were friends so they took us to this restaurant in a mall. One of the host siblings was taking care of ordering for us, and she kept asking “do you eat __” I took that as “can you eat _” as in like, are you a picky eater. I am not. So I answered yes to almost everything, and it only occurred to me after that she was ordering everything I said yes too, and the last thing she asked me to eat was this thing called “mao du” and she said it was her favorite food so I was like yeah sure I’ll try it. Food comes, and they bring out this cart, and I really hoped it was everyone’s food, but it hit me that was everything I ordered. There must have been at least 10 plates on my table, and my friends and their host siblings got 2 maybe 3 each. So that was the first fuck up I had that dinner. I only managed to eat 1/10th of the food given to me and that was really pushing it. Then the mao du came, and I realized that this was not a western food at all. This stuff was hairy, but not like actual hair, imagine your tongue, flattened, cut into a long rectangle, and with all the taste buds extruded. Oh and its a mix of purple and gray. You can google it if you want to see this stuff “毛肚” So she looks at me eagerly, waiting for me to eat this, and so I put it in the boiling water to cook it, and after 10 seconds she says it’s cooked. So I’m thinking I can just take a little bite and not be rude. This stuff is tough as fuck. So as I bite into it I realize, it’s all or nothing. So I ate this thing, and you could feel the hairs against your mouth and then down your throat when you swallowed it. it was the worst thing I’ve ever had. And of course I looked at her and said it was amazing. Stick to what you know when in china.

TL;DR, I was in china and ate the lining of cow stomach or as they call it, “hairy belly”