Off the eaten path

Oh, man, who eats that stuff?

It’s no longer a rhetorical question. For more than five months, Francisco, 36, has been answering it daily with the likes of cooked salted duck eggs, tripe taco, blood and tongue head cheese and something vaguely (and scarily) identified as “unidentifiable Eastern European candy.”

Only about seven months to go ...

“My biggest fear is that I’ll forget to do it one day,” Francisco, a Candler Park resident and musician, admitted. “Actually, my more extreme fear is that I’ll get in a car accident. Then how will I do it? Will I have someone bring me my food and laptop in the hospital?”

Depending on your perspective, “it” either sounds like a full-on foodie dream, or “Dirty Jobs, Culinary Edition” meets a New Year’s resolution on steroids.

Truthfully, though, Francisco’s recipe for what he’s attempting to do is unwaveringly — if deceptively — simple:

● Once a day, eat something he’s never eaten before.

● Write about it and post photos online at whoeatsthatstuff.blog spot.com.

● Keep on doing it. For 365 consecutive days.

Yield: One offbeat, yet irresistibly intriguing introduction to “who knew-ish” foodstuffs from a dizzying array of countries and ethnic groups found right here in metro Atlanta (and occasionally elsewhere).

Not to mention: Some surprisingly deep food for thought about the makings of a more well-rounded existence.

“I don’t think in the beginning he realized this was going to turn out to be about much more than eating,” said Francisco’s girlfriend, Marny Heit, an effervescent lawyer (and unofficial food scout) known as “the GF” on Francisco’s blog.

To understand the level of Francisco’s commitment, imagine you’re someone who runs The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race every year. Now imagine publicly pledging to run one mile every day for the next 365. But never repeating the same route twice. And always blogging about it that same day, every day, even if you’re bored, would rather be drinking beer or have terrible blisters.

Or you could have a three-day stomach flu, as Francisco did at the end of December.

“It’s pretty awful when you don’t want to eat anything at all, much less something you’ve never heard of and maybe can’t make out the wording on the wrapper,” said Francisco, who nonetheless spent part of New Year’s Eve downing Tokyo Teriyaki Tokuyou, a dried seaweed snack. “I’m not gonna lie. It hasn’t been easy all the time.”

But it’s already been somewhat life-altering. As a studio/session musician and the bassist for Girlz Girlz Girlz, an ’80s rock cover band, Francisco has always been part of an ensemble, someone subject to other people’s schedules and song requests.

Now that he’s a one-man band in a whole new arena, he’s finding it a bit unnerving. But even more exhilarating.

“I have control over all of this. If it succeeds it’s all me and if it fails it’s all me,” said Francisco, who has a communications degree from Georgia State. “That’s more important to me than I might have known at the time.”

One day at a time

It was last summer when Francisco began casting around for ways to feed his hunger for food on a deeper level. The South Carolina native was an adventurous nosher even before he moved to Atlanta about six years ago. But it was only when he bellied up to the smorgasbord stretching from Buford Highway’s multi-ethnic eats to Bacchanalia’s five-star dining that he could fully indulge his passion.

One night at dinner, he chewed over his dilemma with Heit: His interest in all things food-related was growing. But he felt he was too old and too far along in his musical career to start over by going to cooking school or working in a restaurant.

“She said, ‘Have you ever thought of doing something online?’ ” Francisco recalled on Day 143 (steamed pig’s ear) at the Super H, where he was shopping for more curious cuisine. “We brainstormed for a while. At first, we just kind of joked about it going for 365 days.”

Well, one of them remembers it as a joke.

“We were like, ‘There has to be a hook. One day of “Ooh, I tried pig’s stomach” isn’t all that interesting,’ ” Heit laughingly recalled during a separate interview on Day 149 (papaya cake). “When it came down to how long, there was some arguing back and forth. He said, ‘A year is a really long time.’ And I said, ‘You have to be like an alcoholic and take it one day at a time.’ ”

And so he has. Since Day 1 (soon dae, a Korean version of blood sausage) last Aug. 16, he hasn’t missed a day, or repeated himself once. Not on Christmas Eve, when, with visions of sugar plums dancing in other people’s heads, he was scarfing down octopus flavored snacks. Not on Day 86 (Nov. 9), aka one day after he’d gone back-to-back with stir-fried baby anchovies and seasoned squid salad. And not even when he was snowbound at Heit’s house for several days earlier this month.

“I managed to improvise last night with the tri-tip steak, but the rest of my food stash was back at my house,” Francisco blogged on Day 149, explaining it was his “job to find out” what that papaya cake languishing about four miles away tasted like. And to keep his streak going.”

Following the rules

It helps that he usually plans for unforeseen circumstances. Knowing his family in South Carolina would be serving its traditional Christmas Eve fare of meatballs and ham biscuits, for instance, he packed the octopus chips. Fellow Girlz Girlz Girlz guitarist Pat Valley has become accustomed to seeing Francisco “bring his little supply of emergency new food” along whenever the band plays gigs around the Southeast. “He’s incredibly disciplined about it,” marveled Valley.

“He’ll wake up the morning after a show and go to the [hotel] lobby and write. He’ll have done his big new adventure for the day and I’m still in bed.”

It helps, too, that there are rules. Francisco spelled them out ahead of time on the blog: Post every day no matter what; only solid foods allowed; and no new variations on old favorites, such as pizza or condiments.

Other rules he developed “in my mind” as the days and weeks wore on. If something ended up tasting truly loathsome — that’s you, seitan (Day 77) and jackfruit (Day 128) — a few healthy bites was enough to qualify as it’s having been “eaten.”

‘Had that, had that’

Yet if something isn’t adjudged interesting enough by Francisco’s somewhat instinctual standards, it doesn’t even make the initial cut.

“It doesn’t have to be bizarre or disgusting, but it has to be compelling,” he explained. “I mean, I could just eat every new flavor of yogurt in the case. But that wouldn’t be interesting to me, or the blog’s readers.”

Admirable as that is from a purist’s standpoint, it could eventually lead to logistical problems. That became increasingly clear as Francisco pointed out item after obscure or odd-looking item in the Super H’s produce department, mumbling, “Had that. Had that. Had that ...”

What happens when the Who Eats That Stuff guy finally runs out of stuff to eat?

Who knew learning to give up control could prove just as valuable an experience?

“I used to really worry about it, but I try not to overthink it now,” Francisco said. “I’ve realized I can do something that originally seemed really daunting. I may not know what I’ll be doing on Day 300, but that doesn’t bother me as much anymore.

“I just know it will be interesting.”

A sample platter

The “stuff” Chris Francisco eats comes from a wide range of sources: traditional supermarkets and higher-end chains, farmers and ethnic markets, restaurants and food carts and at least one gas station. Here are some bits from his blog, whoeatsthatstuff.blogspot.com:

Soon dae, Day 1: The ingredients listed are “beef casing, beef blood, garlic, salt, ginger, black pepper, msg.” . . . I know a lot of people are weirded out by the use of blood as an ingredient, but if you can get over that, this is some killer stuff.

Congee, Day 15: I placed my order, and the server gave me that “dude, are you sure?” look that I’m sort of getting used to by now . . .

Lamb’s heart, Day 79: I immediately saw one thing on the menu’s “parts” list that intrigued me: lamb heart. The menu listed it as “Szechuan-crusted, with roasted eggplant & muscadine jam.” Right up my alley, of course.

Tako chips octopus flavored snack, Day 131: I was amused at how they were fish-shaped — why not octopus-shaped?

Steamed pig’s ear, Day 143: I grabbed a small piece of the ear ... and took a bite. Wow. I guess the texture could best be described as “squeaky.” The ear was sliced thinly, and the fattier outer layer thinly covered the inner cartilage, which made a resounding “snap” when I bit into it.