Most of us would like to see a cobra or an octopus in a glass tank and certainly not on the dinner plate!! But in many parts of the world, these are considered as delicacies.
Food is different around the world. What may make us cringe, others may find it appetizing and appealing. One man’s meat is another man’s poison, truly.
Caution : This post isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Let me share some unusual food from around the world.
Shirako, Japan
Shirako is the sperm sacs of either cod, angler fish or puffer fish. Looking like white blobs of goo or miniature brains, they are said to have a sweet custardy taste.
Balut, Philippines
This fertilised duck egg, with its partly developed embryo inside, is boiled alive and then eaten from the shell with salt, chilli and vinegar. You’re supposed to tap a hole in the top of the shell, sup the savoury liquid and then crunch down the rest of what’s inside – feathers, bones and all.
Crispy Tarantulas, Cambodia
Few people would look at a tarantula and think “lunch”, so it’s perhaps no surprise that these spiders were first eaten by Cambodians starving under the Khmer Rouge regime. Bizarrely, they became popular and are now served as a deep-fried snack throughout the country. Apparently they taste a bit like crab.
Haggis, Scotland
Scotland’s national dish is haggis, and what it is, is a combination of sheep’s heart, lungs, and liver which has been made into a sort of crumbly sausage with the addition of oatmeal, seasoning, onions, and suet. Haggis is commonly served with mashed potato and mashed turnip and accompanied by a glass of whiskey.
Blood, Kenya
Blood is used in sausages around the world. But in Kenya, Maasai people drink it fresh from living cows. The animal’s jugular is nicked and a small pot filled with blood, then mixed with milk and knocked back warm. Mud or hot ash is used to seal the cow’s wound, and the animal appears to suffer no ill effect at all.
Tuna Eyes, Japan
In Japan, fried tuna fish eyes are enjoyed with plenty of garlic and soy sauce.
Deep-fried Worms, Mexico
Mexico’s centuries-old tradition of eating bugs has gone upmarket in recent years and worms and ant eggs can be found on menus of numerous top restaurants. The dish is usually served with a dollop of guacamole.
Kopi Luwak, Indonesia
Kopi luwak is coffee made from coffee cherries that have been eaten, digested, and defecated by the Asian palm civet, a small mammal that looks like a cross between a cat and a raccoon. The beans are then cleaned and processed. Gross? With prices ranging between $100 to $600 a pound, kopi luwak is widely considered to be the most expensive coffee in the world.
Cobra, Vietnam and Thailand
Drinking blood drained from a king cobra is believed to grant virility and magical healing. It is served as is or mixed in a drink.
Casu Marzu, Italy
Known as “rotten cheese”, Sardinia’s casu marzu is made from Pecorino that has gone bad – really bad. The larvae of cheese flies are added to the Pecorino, hatching inside, burrowing around and digesting the fats. The result is a weeping, tongue-burning delicacy that you can eat with or without the maggots.
What is the most unusual or weird food you have ever eaten? Will you try any of these?
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28 Responses
3 years ago I had read about the coffee beans made from the defecation of civet palm and I felt nauseated. I have never tried or would like to try these weird unusual foods.
A very different post from your pen, Shilpa Garg.
Amazing and quite adventurous !
I always like to try new foods but you could not pay me enough to try these! 😀
I have seen the coffee made from luwak in Bali but have not tasted it. I once saw a TV documentary where Masai tribes drank a cows blood as u said …. just straight out of a bamboo cup like how you or me may drink milk … i am wondering if there is any weird food of plant origin ?
Amazing post. These foods I have never heard off. Guess each place has its unique food. But I would never ever try.
OMG, bizarre foods
I am a huge fan of Andrew Zimmer’s Bizzare Food Facts show on TV, but trust me these sperm sacs were a shocker for me too. Not sure, if Andrew knew about it 😉
Well, few of the food items are outright gross.
Ewwww! I don’t know what’s worse- the sperm sacs or the maggot-ridden cheese, or the strange cat creature’s poop coffee!!
These unusual dishes I shall stay away from eating. Not very appealing knowing from where they are coming. I guess vegetarians also say the same thing about meat eaters.
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Yeeks! I don’t know, I don’t think I have ever had any. Will frogs count, btw? 😛
Am embryo boiled alive? Blood from living cow? I understand why you’ve mentioned it’s not for fainted hearted. But I am amazed by the depth of the culinary art around the world. How people have found unique fondness of tastes of strange combinations and sources is unbelievable!
Amazing post! never knew about them!
No never 🙂 scrolling through such unique delicacies is a nightmare for a pure veg person like me 🙂
I have tried the Luwak coffee at Bali. I have also seen how it is made. Must say it does taste good.
Oh God! This is absolutely disgusting! I guess I am definitely one of those faint-hearted you mentioned! Why would anyone want to eat any creature’s sperm sacs? And pooped coffee? Ewwww! Gross!
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Well, there’s a coincidence – I had haggis exactly as you described last night complete with a wee dram of whisky (that’s how our favourite tipple is spelt here by the way!)
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Totally yucky foods and I skipped through it quickly. 🙂
Oh God, I can’t even look at these pics, forget about eating 🙂
Eeeeeeeeeeeoooooow!! That was creepy. I could barely read…lol Sorry
Reading this was like not being able to turn your eyes away from a train wreck. Horrible fascination kept me reading, though.
Your series for the A to Z has been terrific so far! I haven’t gotten to comment on all of them, but I’ve enjoyed the whole thing.
Even in our own India, these kinds of unusual foods are eaten. For example, in Tamil Nadu, people eat Fried Blood (Ratha Poriyal),
For the first time a food post that made me say yuck instead of yum The worst food I’ve heard of is bile served in Kenya which my ma in law thought was a green chutney.
I am not a vegetarian shilpa but honestly speaking, none of them appeal to me, its lunch time for me and I don’t feel like eating:), very powerful post with weird unusual foods, thanks for sharing I learnt some more weird food.
Jeez… I know that most of the things we think we cannot eat it’s because our brain tells us, and what our brains tells us is food depends in no small part by culture. But hay, I think I’d be unable to eat most of what’s on this list…
let me tell you that the list of unusual food is so yucky… thank god it’s unusual else i’ll seriously i’ll starve. I can never eat anything like that. I’ve heard about the coffee beans that was gross now these other delicacies are just super gross!!!
Oh my goodness! All these foods are a no for me! 🙂 I have such a bland pallet. I am not an adventurous eater at all. I stick to the staples, rice, meat and vegetables. I think this stemmed from my childhood as my mother even thought a mushroom was an exotic food, let alone spiders and worms! 🙂
Fascinating. So much to learn about this world and its culinary specialties! It is safe to say that I will never ever even think of trying any of this. Shudder!
Interesting read, though, Shilpa! 🙂