Unusual Food From Around the World

To each his own. Some items below I'd definitely think twice about as they'd make me puke. 

Having said that some of our usual sought after local fare like prawns (like baby mice?) and lobsters are pretty hideous too. I know for a fact the Fijians don't touch lobsters because they think them demonic.

Side orders of some of these would liven up our annual SonLife feast coming up. ;>)

YF

Subject: Unusual Food From Around the World

 

Warning - Best be not munching anything when perusing these pics ! You are bound to loose your appetite !

 

1.  Cambodia: Itsy Bitsy Spider

In Cambodia the habit of eating fried tarantulas began during a period of starvation in history, but nowadays they are considered to be quite a delicacy.

2.  Balut, Phillippines

Balut is a “snack” consisting in a half-fertilized duck or chicken egg, served with a little salt after being boiled. One can find it all over the streets and markets of Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and it is as popular as hotdogs are in the US.

3.  Snake and Scorpion Wine

This unusual type of liquor can be found in Asia mostly and it is made out of a dipping Cobra or scorpion into a rice wine bottle. After a few months of fermentation, the venom is dissolved and the drink is good to serve!

4.  Cobra Heart, Vietnam

In Vietnam one can serve a live cobra’s heart: some eat it raw, along with a cobra blood chaser while others prefer to have it with some rice wine.

5.  Birds Nest Soup, China

The saliva of the birds give this soup its unicity. It is one of the most expensive products consumed by humans, because of the difficulty in getting it.

6.  Baby Mice Wine

Traditional in China and Korea, baby mice wine is considered to be a “health tonic”. The confessed taste: raw gasoline. While still alive, newborn mice are thrown into bottles full of rice wine and left there to ferment.

7.  Casu Marzu, Sardinia

This is a type of cheese that few people would try, as it is stuffed with insect larva. Often referred to as “maggot cheese”. It is consumed while the living beings inside it are still alive, otherwise it is said to be toxic.

8.  Kopi Luwak, Indonesia

This is the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world, but still you might want to reconsider it, when someone politely invites you to sip from a mug full of it. Why? Because it is made out of the excrements of a creature that resembles a cat, called the Luwak.

9.  Tuna Eyeball

Usually served in Japan and China, the tuna eyeball is another weird dish that might not be for everyone’s taste. They say it tastes much better than it looks.

10. Rocky Mountain Oysters

One might be tempted to think that these oysters can’t be much different from the ones you find at the bottom of the ocean, while they are, in fact, something totally different. A buffalo’s fried testicles got this name because it sounds more fancy. Best way to cook: peel, boil, roll into flour mixture and fry.

11. Fugu

The poisonous Puffer Fish is a great sensation in many restaurants of the world. The thing is that only very qualified and trained cooks are allowed to prepare it, because if something goes wrong…well, let’s say that it could be your last meal.

12. Bugs

Insects make an old dish in many parts of the world, except Europe and North America. Served all crispy, they make perfect nutritious snacks!

13. Escamoles – Mexico

This weird dish comes from Mexico, from giant black ants. They make their nests in the roots of some plants. Collecting these eggs is not the most pleasant job one can get, since their owners are venomous and creepy. The eggs taste like buttery, being slightly nutty.

14. Mongolian Boodog

This one is prepared by cooking the animal – usually a goat or a marmot from inside out. Yes, the WHOLE animal. Mongolians are the best cooks for this: the animal is cooked in its own skin, with the help of hot rocks.

15. Whole Sheep’s Head

This dish can be served with or without brains: the head, of course. It is considered to be a delicacy even in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe areas.

16. Bat Soup

Even though bats are considered to be notorious disease carriers, they are still served in soups cooked mainly in Thailand and Guam, some parts of China even.

17. Ox Penis

Cooked by steaming, deep frying or simply consumed raw, the ox penis is commonly eaten by humans in the Oriental countries. In the Western countries, ox penises are usually dried out and served as dog food.

18. Caterpillar Fungus

This is a fungus, a parasitic one, that invades the body of the insect larvae, eventually killing and mummifying the caterpillars. Mostly used as a medicine or as an aphrodisiac, the Caterpillar Fungus can be also served in soups.

19. Human Placenta

People who dare it this believe that it prevents postpartum depression and other pregnancy complications. There are various recipes to prepare it, even cocktails and it is found mostly in America and Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, China, and the Pacific Islands.

20. Kumis

This is a rather gross drink, consisting in fermented mare milk. Because a female horse’s milk contains more sugars than the femented cow’s or goat’s milk, kumis has a higher, though still mild, alcohol content. It also has a strong laxative effect.

 

Mohd Farouk Marzuki

Dell | DRC / AP Operation

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