To crabs and artichokes I'd add lobster, and unshucked clams and oysters.

So this is the person from another planet scenario.

Don't some birds pick up clams and drop them onto rocks to open them? How fun would it be to see people throwing clams at the wall.

Crabs/Lobsters, artichokes, pomegranates, unopened raw clams/oysters, whole cooked fish, whole shrimp, milk still in the cow/goat, mangos.

Mangos are not so easy to eat.

Kumquats - tricky.

Nachos - needs technique so that you don't get that keystone of cheese all at once.

Tacos can be a disaster for novices, with complete strutural breakdown on the first bite.

Stacked food.

Food served in a martini glass for no good reason. I had ceviche served like that and it takes three hands, one for your fork, one to hold the glass still and one to keep the food from sliding up the side of the glass and onto the table.

Giant pepper mills. Looks like a weapon not a food dispenser.

My roommate in college once went to a seafood restaurant, picked up her spoon and said, "Hey, lemon soup." It was a finger bowl for the lobster.

Drinks through a straw. Not an obvious way to drink anything.

Can I steal this wholesale? EL

From the dark recesses of my mind: Imagine an aboriginal person, unfamiliar with American civilization, coming across an assorment of canned goods. If he or she was familiar with how vegetables and the like look, would it be apparant that that is what is inside the can? And how could they get to it? And if they did, what would they think of a jar of baby food with a picture of a baby on it?

Passion fruit can be pretty tricky as well. I definitely agree with the pomegranate assessment. I knew a guy in college who was given one, and tried to eat the whole thing without realizing what he should really do with it. Perhaps lychees could make this list as well.

Another vote for oysters. First, dig into the slimy mud at the bottom of a bay and pick up a big rock. Break it open and suck out the slime inside? Not a logical progression in my book, even if otters can be seen doing it.

Can I steal this wholesale? EL Great list. And when did stealing material become a moral issue on this blog?

Yeah the Owl stole from me recently

Grrrrrr.

Marrow bones.

I was once touring some big mansion with my aunt and mother. As I was standing there in my ripped jeans and militant feminist t-shirt, trying not to look obviously bored, the docent picked up a piece of silver, and said, "I bet none of you know what this is!"

I glanced up and told her it was a marrow spoon. She was crushed. She'd been stumping people with that one for years.

We were recently, at an officers' club at a DC area base where snow crab legs served as part of a buffet. They ran out of the mechanical crackers so people, if they couldn't break them with their hands, were cracking the shells with their knives on the napkins and white tablecloth.

Many just left them uneaten.