Daniel Whitcomb: I know I said the Rat Kabobs broadened my horizons and all, but at the same time, even I have my culinary limits. I certainly hesitated at Gristlegut's Bitter Plasma. Of course, I drew the short straw, so I had to try it anyway. The choice of a Filipino Dish essentially named "Bitter" was a pretty clever move on Blizzard's part, but I'm still not sure the American gamer is ready for what is essentially a big old bowl of goat and cow tripe and bile.

From what I understand, Blizzard modified the recipe somewhat to make it a bit more palatable to western tastes, so it doesn't have as much animal bile, sticking instead to beef broth infused with garlic and onion powder for the lion's share of the sauce. Still, there is definitely bile in there, enough to give the whole thing quite a bitter edge. You can tell the tripe was boiled quite long. It had the consistency of old jello, but the goat flavor was definitely recognizable, although still covered with the bitterness of the broth-bile sauce.

This one is a little harder to recommend than the Deeprun Rat Kabobs. For one, it's definitely more of an aquired taste than the kabobs, and the tripe didn't sit well in my stomach last night, I have to admit. Of course, the latter could just mean my ulcer's acting up. I may give the plasma another try some day, and if you're a fan of bitter tastes, you could do worse. Gamer Grub meals have a surprising side effect of broadening your horizons after all.