What is Funk?

OK...I've been reading the work "funk" on this forum since I first logged on. What is funk? I can Google the word, but I have a feeling that it means different things to different people. So tell me, what is funk to you? As for me, when I see the word I do not associate it with anything I would like to eat. I think the word describes something that is just one click away from spoiling. You?

hmm. I would say something that gives the impression of being fermented, or has a whiff of organic decay. how's that?

teatpuller wrote:hmm. I would say something that gives the impression of being fermented, or has a whiff of organic decay. how's that?

On the nosey. Fish sauce, bleu cheese... funky.

When describing how a beer tastes, the word funk is typically used in reference to the taste of wild yeast fermentation. In particular, brettanomyces is known for the funky (sometimes called "horse blanket") flavor it imparts on a beer. Orval is a classic example of a beer featuring brettanomyces.

While I agree with the above, I've also heard "funk" used to describe the musky quality of the fat in some wild meats.

Funk is somewhere between tang and toothsome, sourer than umami, with a double-barreled punch for maximum delivery of piggy goodness, firing on all cylinders.

I'd agree with all of the above and add as examples both mangoes and lychee nuts. They don't taste rotten, but certainly there's something there that just seems to fall into the realm of funk, without crossing over to funky.

Overripe strawberries, too, have tasted a bit funky to me.

Funky can be a negative or positive word.

"This milk is funky" is a negative, meaning rotten, foul, off.

"This cheese is funky" is, for me at least, a positive, meaning strong with the scent of fermentation.

Funky is........

My first taste of fridge ripened Limburger (death, burning, alkaline)

My first taste of sun ripened prahok (death, fish, salt, chilis!)

My first taste of goat paya (live, melted goat hoof, in my mouth)

The smell of jameed (live, dry, compressed, bacteria)

I love this. May I add:

Malört (cat's ass, tree bark)

Habibi wrote:Funky is........

My first taste of fridge ripened Limburger (death, burning, alkaline)

My first taste of sun ripened prahok (death, fish, salt, chilis!)

My first taste of goat paya (live, melted goat hoof, in my mouth)

The smell of jameed (live, dry, compressed, bacteria)

razbry wrote: What is funk?

It's bootsy collins and makes me want to smoke cheap weak dope and drive around maywood and K-town looking for girls in 1976.

This is funk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDTmOUeGuM

JLenart wrote:This is funk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDTmOUeGuM

This track is so funky we need some SPEED STICK!

Habibi and Swine Dining...I snorked out loud when I read your thoughts! To taste death, melted goat hoof and cats ass...yes the term funk become much more clear to me! I think I'll just continue on with my notion that funk is something I just cannot appreciate at this point.

Fish sauce is my personal standard-bearer for all things "funky". To me, that sorta-fishy, sorta-fermented, soul-satisfying funk is what sets "real" Thai food apart from "fake" Thai food.