Beef tripe now appears more than ever in classy Italian restaurants. A revelation to me was the fried version prepared by Marco Xodo, head chef of Hong Kong Italian restaurant Testina – cut into golden strips to create a savoury, crispy snack. I want a big bag of it for watching the football.

I’ve also had head cheese terrine. Sweetbreads (the thymus glands of a calf or lamb) come in and out of favour.

Some chefs are starting to cook with rooster cockscombs – the flabby skin crowns on the birds’ heads.

‘Inspirational’ Chinese food, sushi: where an Italian chef eats in Hong Kong

To be honest, I still cannot believe diners have embraced bone marrow. It’s a gelatinous goo full of cholesterol.

But hey, do it like chef Fergus Henderson of St John in London and roast it with salt and pepper, garnish with thyme, chives and micro herbs – suddenly it’s a gourmet butter to scrape out from a femur canoe onto a toasted slice of baguette.The nose-to-tail concept has been pushed by progressive chefs for close to 20 years. The catchphrase is used, often interchangeably, with “farm to table” as a movement to promote eating more responsibly and sustainably. To consume its every part also honours the animal that has given its life for our sustenance.

But the crusade always felt slightly disingenuous to me because when publicists mention nose-to-tail, it’s usually related to just beef cheeks, oxtail, and using the bones for stock.

Very few cooks will actually prepare a pig’s nose for dining. Heck, I’m disappointed liver and onions don’t show up on more menus. Maybe it’s just too old school and not trendy enough.

What’s worse is that when traditional Chinese offal dishes like pig lung soup, braised goose web or fish maw are brought up, a lot of folks just shut down and suddenly aren’t so open-minded any more.

How do you take bad restaurant service? Are you calm, a complainer or a Karen?

I still recall a former colleague’s hesitancy when we suggested ordering a relatively benign item, roast pork neck meat, at a Thai restaurant.

He had recently arrived in Asia and had never heard of the cut. I assume he pictured an entire pig’s throat on a plate. Perhaps this is why, in Western supermarkets, it’s now labelled as pork collar meat.

It will require even more work to convince the masses other alternative proteins are a viable future food option.

On a recent trip to Shunde, in Guangdong province, southern China, I partook of a banquet in which traditional dishes of the area were served. Shunde is a well-known culinary destination, famous for creations like double-skin milk and dace fish cakes.

The local expertise in making magic with humble ingredients extends to cooking with worms.

Sandworms, presented with fishcakes, wood ear fungus and a spinach-like green, had the chewy, crunchy texture of razor clams, but their wiggly worm shape turned off numerous diners.

Another dish of mealworms baked with pork and eggs in a delicious Chinese casserole had even fewer takers. It’s too bad, because it was delicious and an ideal accompaniment for rice.

The nose and tail of a domestically reared animal is one thing, but I suppose invertebrates are a step too far, even for some who otherwise consider themselves worldly gourmands.

I guess nose-to-tail dining also requires guts.

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