Carnival’s ‘Rare Finds’ on dining room menu offers chance to try unusual food

By Jackie Sheckler Finch

Ever have a yearning to try an unusual dish but not sure you want to waste your money and appetite if it turns out you don’t like it? Well, Carnival Cruise Lines has a deal for you.

On our Carnival Sensation dinner menu under appetizers is an item called “Rare Finds.” The food listing goes on to explain that these are “foods you always wanted to try but haven’t yet dared.”

Very cute idea. And very popular judging by my five-day cruise on the Carnival Sensation. I must be an adventurous eater because I have already tried all of them.

It’s a safe bet that if you don’t like that night’s choice, a Sensation server will be sure to bring something else that you do like. A couple of times I have not finished my appetizer or entrée – certainly not that it wasn’t good, just that it can be food overload on a cruise. Invariably, my server would ask if the choice wasn’t to my liking and if I would prefer something else.

In case you are curious, here are the Rare Finds choices on my cruise. The Rare Finds option wasn’t offered on the formal Captain’s Dinner.

• Cured salmon and candied tomato with dill cream, grapes and lemon dressing
• Escargots Bourguignonne, burgundy snails in garlic butter
• Frog legs with Provençale herb butter served with warm brioche
• Braised rabbit in puff pastry shell with red wine sauce

The salmon was great. Escargot too buttery and rubbery. Frog legs and rabbit, I didn’t need to try. I ate both rabbit and frog legs plenty of times as a child when my father caught them and my mother cooked them.

If the Rare Finds strikes your fancy, book a Carnival cruise and try them for yourself. The menu item is only one reason why a cruise can be so educational and delightful.

Photo by Jackie Sheckler Finch