Lindsey Nair

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For the past four weeks, I have enjoyed a tour of world cuisine without ever leaving Southwest Virginia.

If it had been a Food Network show, it might have been called "Around the World in $40" or "Expensing Travel in the Days of $4 Gas."

But the bright side of my adventures is as wide as the oceans I did not cross.

My culinary repertoire has expanded to include dishes such as sauteed baby bok choy with roasted pork, falafel, chicken tikka masala and red curry with Indian eggplant.

My cabinets have become more crowded, too, stuffed with bottles of fish sauce and oils, cans of coconut milk and bags of sesame seeds and dried peppers.

Best of all, I made interesting new friends I can visit anytime, with no need for an expensive plane ticket and lodging. Every one of them, from Li Wang at J&L on Brambleton Avenue to Muhsen al-Sahlin, who owns Mediterranean Goods Market on Williamson Road, is ready for new customers to walk through the door with cookbooks in hand and questions on the tongue.

Through it all, as I strived to find ingredients that everyday cooks could incorporate into their next homemade ethnic feast, I was enthralled by the foods that would require a bit more courage and adventure to try: shark fin soup, fish balls, pickled galangal and salted jellyfish.

For the final installment of this hot, midsummer ethnic foray, I decided to highlight a few of the most unusual ingredients I found in the Asian, Hispanic, Mediterranean and international markets of the Roanoke and New River valleys.

If it was a Travel Channel show, I'd call it "Bizarre Foods: Roanoke."

Pork fu (aka "dried shredded pork" or "meat floss"): According to Asianjunkfood.com, pork fu is made of shredded pork cooked with soy sauce and sugar, then strained and dehydrated into a fluffy, woolly texture.

It looks a bit like shag carpet. Except it's pork.

This product is enjoyed right out of the container as a snack or used to top various dishes such as porridge or rice.

The adventurous folks at Chow.com even made a grilled cheese sandwich with it.

If that doesn't entice you, perhaps this description from the junk food Web site will: "Kind of like eating cotton candy where, once you put the pork floss into your mouth, it 'dissolves' into a juicy bit of pork jerky."

Dried lemons (aka loomi or black lemons): Popular in Persian and Arabic cooking, these are not really dried lemons at all, but dried limes.

This seasoning, which is also sometimes sold ground into a powder, is used to import a sour, citrusy flavor to stews and other hot dishes.

Not to be confused with the Black Lemon drink, which is made of one part dark chocolate liqueur and one part lemon liqueur. But that's not Persian or Arabic at all.

Dried anchovies (aka ikan bilis): Exactly what they sound like, these are little dried fish.

Primarily a Southeast Asian ingredient, these silvery little tidbits are sometimes eaten right out of hand as a salty snack.

They can also be cooked in water to form a base, or stock, for many Korean dishes. Others create a Malaysian dish called sambal ikan bilis, which is served over coconut rice with cucumbers.

Some folks swear they make a perfect cat treat, too, because they are generally all natural -- most brands only list anchovies and salt as ingredients.

Dried shrimp are a similar find in ethnic markets. They, too, can be eaten as snacks or used to flavor Asian dishes.

Bitter melon: (aka balsam pear): This fruit, which local Asian markets often stock fresh once a week, resembles a cucumber with bumpy, wrinkly skin.

According to "Food Lover's Companion" by Sharon Tyler Herbst, it is yellow-green and has a delicate but sour flavor when it is first picked. As it ripens, however, it turns yellowish-orange and becomes bitter and acrid.

My Asian friends say it is an acquired taste; many of them don't really like it. Those who do like it enjoy stir-frying it with extremely spicy peppers.

There's even a Web site dedicated to the gourd family member called -- what else? -- Bittermelon.org.

According to the site, "it possesses qualities that can be used as food, medicine, and as instigators of situations that promote conversation and community."

What other fruit can claim that?

Durian: (aka stinky fruit): OK, maybe the durian fruit can claim that.

Durian is outlawed by some airlines, not to mention hotels across Thailand, because its odor repulses all but devoted durian lovers.

I sniffed the end of one in Oriental Market on Williamson Road, however, and detected no notes of garlic, onion or rotting flesh. Nevertheless, that's what some folks say durian smells like when you cut through its thick, bristly outer coating.

Herbst writes that durian has a creamy, slightly sweet flesh with an "exquisitely rich, custardy texture." Perhaps that's why I found countless recipes for durian ice cream on the Web.

Li Wang wrinkled her nose when I asked about durian. But those who like it, she said, "are like people who smoke."

I think she's trying to say it's like crack.

Chinese long beans (aka long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, snake bean, yardlong bean): In reality, there's nothing all that bizarre about this vegetable except that it is the longest green bean you'll ever see.

I'm talking as long as your arm -- or longer.

Having grown up picking green beans out of the garden every summer, it was hard for me to fathom how a bean pod could grow that long. Some can stretch to 3 feet from end to end!

A little research revealed that they are actually a climbing plant. That makes sense.

It may be tempting to just substitute regular old American green beans in Chinese long bean recipes, but the folks at Epicurious say long beans stand up much better against a high-heated wok.

So do yourself a favor and go long.

Have you tried any of these weird foods? Or are they not quite weird enough for you? Log onto the blog.