Being in a foreign country, one of the things I like to do is try out new food, whether traditional food from other cultures or modern concoctions dreamt up by vegans. Here's some of the stuff I've come across.

Bagels- I know, jakunfied, but I have to try them at one point or another. Do they sell them in Malaysia? Anyways, they are bread which is first boiled and then baked.

Pumpernickel-a very dense type of bread, kind of looks like the bumpy non slip material used in childrens' playgrounds, but surprisingly still crumbly. It's baked at low temperatures for very long periods of time ( full 24 hours)

Rice cheese-there's a lot of vegan alternative food being sold here, but so far I haven't had any good experiences with vegan cheese. If it's supposed to be an alternative of something else, that's what it will ever be after all. But it's not as bad as one of the soy cheeses I tried before, which tastes kind of like your mouth after you throw up.

Japanese Plum flavoured pasta sauce- sounds very weird, but actually, if you've had Chinese plum sauce chicken, it's the same thing. So if you put in meat,and imagine your pasta is rice, it's pretty normal after all.

Teff- a very small grain, which you can eat like oats. It has a slightly nuttier flavour.

Bulgur wheat- used mostly in middle eastern cuisine, I suspect. Usually I use it to make tabula kisir with chopped vegetables and crazy amounts of herbs. You don't need to boil it, just pour in hot water and wait for it to expand.

Flat leaved Italan parsley- to go with the tabula kisir.

Fennel-that's the chopped up thing on the board. The feathery fronds are used as a herb and the bulb can be eaten as a salad and tastes weakly like licorice.

Hemp milk- I've tried almond and rice milks so far, so what is hemp milk? Sounds a little dodgy, I know. Google it and you might come up with some website selling marijuana growing kits or something. Nevertheless, it isn't drugs, so no worries. Tastes kind of like soy milk but with a stronger flavour, and supposedly it's very nutritious.

Endives- haven't started on those yet, so no comments so far. They shall be a salad in the future with some mozarella de buffala (water buffalo cheese) and rocket leaves.

Yerba mate- a South American tea like drink. Kind of hesitant at first, because...doesn't it look a little like tongkat ali? But from the can, it's benefit is in keeping you alert (caffein), so in the end I tried it. Didn't feel any physical or psychological change after that. It does taste like JustTea though, if you're wondering.

Gjetost- a Norwegian cheese, probably one of the most expensive cheeses I've tried so far. I remember it being mentioned in one of Roald Dahl's books from when I was little, and he was waxing lyrical about it, so I was very curious. It does taste a lot different from other cheese, kind of like condensed milk and caramel.