Interesting Foods From Around the World

This article was just for fun and to let you know what culinary adventures are awaiting you out there is this big world of ours.  No, I won't be including any recipes in this post because unless you are a very adventurous diner, I don't think most people would relish any of these recipes.  So until next time, enjoy reading.

One of my favorite culinary shows to watch on Netflix is called Ugly Delicious.  James Beard Award winning chef David Chang stars in this travelogue that sends him on a journey to culinary hot spots around the world. He is joined by writers, artists and other chefs who use food as a vehicle to break down cultural barriers and tackle misconceptions. Chang and his guests, venture out of polished kitchens into the wider world to explore locales including Houston, Tokyo and Copenhagen. He travels around the world discovering exciting twists on iconic dishes and surprising links between cultures.  His discoveries include;  pizza, tacos, home cooking, shrimp and crawfish, barbecue, fried chicken, fried rice and items that are stuffed.  In my opinion, he has a tendency to use the “F” word too much, but if that doesn’t bother you, it’s a very good show to watch.  Also, I find there is too much 'political' garbage included and I don't need that while watching a foodie show.  

Below I've listed some very odd and unusual foods people from around the world dine on.  Some are so gross it makes me think how could anyone consume this?  It’s time to take a trip around the world and delve into all the weird foods our species like to chow down. On one locale I believe David Chang and his group were in China, there was donkey on the menu, sorry I would never eat a donkey or a horse even if it was the last thing to eat. Some other items I don’t care for are chicken feet and yes I have tried them, but do I really need to eat them again?  The answer is NO.  I have also tried Haggis and I can certainly guarantee you I will never consume this again. Haggis is a sheep's heart, liver and lungs minced and mixed with some onions, oatmeal, suet and seasoned with salt and spiced cooked inside the animal's stomach. Sorry people from Scotland, but Haggis is not for me.   Tripe - no not for me either... the stomach lining of various animals with a sponge-like honeycomb texture.  Looks like a strange sea plant with a rubbery texture.  Have you tried Khash?  Mostly from Middle Eastern, Turkey and Eastern European Countries this is not a dish for me.  It's a gruesome dish made up of stewed cows feet and head.  Tuna eyeballs from Japan, sorry not ever going to be on my dining plate, EVER.  Black pudding (blood sausage) from African, Americas, Asia and Europe.  Yes, I've actually tried this and no I don't like it.  Congealed blood cooked up with various natural flavorings, thickening agents like suet and breadcrumbs and stuffed into a sausage skin.  Spam from the U.S., well I think we've all tried this, I know it's a real winner in Hawaii where they consume the majority of Spam. My dad loved the stuff, but unless I was starving to death it's not on my menu.  As a matter of fact, my dad loved Spam so much I had a custom baseball had made for him "The Spam Man", he loved that hat. 

Hakarl - oh the thought of this about makes me sick.  The rotting carcass of a Greenland or basking (Somniosidae) shark. It’s buried underground in a shallow pit and pressed with stones so the poisonous internal fluids that allow it to live in such cold waters can be drained out making the meat safe to eat. After this, it’s hung out to dry before being cut into strips and served. With a smell that’s described as ammonia-rich and a strong ‘fishy-flavor’, it was described by Anthony Bourdain as “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing” he’d tried.  It’s loved in Iceland.  Surstromming from Sweden. A Baltic Sea herring fermented with just enough salt used to prevent it from rotting. Mainly found tinned in brine these days, when opened it releases such a pungent aroma that it usually needs to be eaten outside. Sounds delightful. 

100 year old egg from China.  Nope, not going to eat.  Yeah, OK, it’s neither a century nor a millennium old, but this egg is pretty rotten. After being preserved in a mixture of clay, ash and quicklime for a few months, the yolk turns a dark green or even black and slimy while the white has turned to a dark brown translucent jelly.  Apparently it smells of strongly of sulphur and ammonia, but tastes like a hard boiled egg… until you breathe out that is.  A story when my hubby and I lived on our property in our Victorian farm house.  We had chickens and one little chicken got away and decided to live with our 2 pygmy goats, Frankie and Kristin.  Anyway, this little chicken has some eggs that got buried beneath some hay which we didn’t find for quite some time.  As my husband was adding new hay he happened to smash a couple of these eggs and the smell about thew him back a few hundred feet.  Yikes, how could these eggs smell so rotten, well they were hidden for awhile and I am here to tell you the smell lingered for quite some time. 

Stinkheads - from Alaska,  The fermented head of a king salmon, buried underground in for a few weeks and eaten as a pungent, putty-like mush. Fancy it?  No, I think I will pass.  Shiokara from Japan.  Now this really does sound bad. A dish made of pieces of meat taken from a selection of sea creatures, served in a brown, viscous paste of their own salted and fermented viscera. Oh, I forgot to say, it’s all served raw. You enjoy, I’m going to grab a bucket. Chingrit (grasshoppers) from Thailand.  I have tried grasshoppers and ants before, and I’m here to say, once was enough!  Wasp Crackers from Japan.  Yep, you guessed it, it’s a biscuit filled with wasps. Think chocolate chip cookies, only the insects replace the chocolate chips. Apparently the digger wasp, which the biscuit contains, has a pretty mean sting. I wish your tongue good luck.  Fried Spiders in Cambodia, never, never, never will I try one of these, GROSS!   Witchetty Grub from Australia. Never, will I stick one of these in my mouth.  Part of the Australian ‘bushmeat’ family, this was another staple of Indigenous Australians in the desert.  Large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths. These can either be eaten raw, when it tastes like almonds, or lightly cooked, where its skin crisps like roast chicken and its insides take on the look and consistency of scrambled egg.  Escamol from Mexico, also known as ‘insect caviar’, this dish is made of the edible larvae and pupae of ants, harvested from the tequila or mescal plant. Considered something of a delicacy, it is said to have the consistency of cottage cheese and a buttery, nutty taste.  Sorry, not going in this mouth.

Escargots a’ la Bourguignonne from France - yes I actually love these they are quite tasty.  Marmite from Australia, tried it, hated it!  Made from yeast extract, a by-product of brewing beer, Marmite (or Vegemite as it’s known as in Australia) is essentially the slurry from the bottom of the barrel that most breweries just throw away. It’s a sticky brown paste with a concentrated, salty flavor that’s usually spread on toast or eaten with cheese. People either ‘love it or hate it’… I hate it. Bird's nest Soup from S. E. Asia, (caviar of the east,) tried it at a wedding one time and it was good, but the thought lingers in my mind of how it was collected and that makes me not want to eat it ever again.  This Asian delicacy is made from the nest of the swiftlet bird, who instead of collecting twigs for its bed, builds it out of its own gummy saliva, which goes hard when exposed to air. Usually built high up on cliff faces, harvesting them is a dangerous business and many people die each year. Whether its ‘rubbery taste’ is worth this human sacrifice, I’ve yet to find out.

Fugu from Japan, nope I don’t care for Russian Roulette and the possibility of dying from eating this.  This little delicacy has the potential to be deadly if prepared incorrectly. As such, only chefs that have been drilled to perfection are allowed to handle the serving of the pufferfish. Still, it’s said to make one mean little sashimi dish.  Steak Tartare from France, don’t eat red meat and don’t like raw meat so I won’t eat, but I know people who love this stuff.   It’s made up of good quality raw ground beef, served with onions, capers, raw egg and seasoned with Worcestershire sauce and other condiments, usually with rye bread or fries on the side. Cherry Blossom Meat from Japan - no, NEVER it’s just wrong in my opinion.  Anyway, cherry blossom meat is raw horse, served either on its own or as part of sushi. It’s said to be low in calories and low in fat, but it’s not something I can see myself trying. Frog legs, from Louisiana, France and S.E. Asia - yes I actually like these, taste like chicken!  Ha ha, had them in Louisiana.  Basically the back end and back legs of a frog, grilled, baked, fried or stewed. With the texture of chicken with a very faint taste of fish. Try them with chili as part of Cantonese cuisine or roasted and served with a garlic and cream sauce.  Kangaroo from Australia - no just for the fact they are too cute and I don’t eat red meat.  Historically the staple meat for indigenous Australians, kangaroo is high in protein and low in fat, making it a pretty healthy choice. It’s gamey in flavor and served in multiple ways, from a simple steak to sausages or burgers. Alligator - yes I’ve had it and it’s good, had mine in Louisiana, but it’s served in many countries.  Rattlesnake from the U.S., yes I’ve had it and it’s OK, but wouldn’t be my first choice to order on a menu. Experts advise boiling the meat off the bones before dipping in egg and covering in seasoned salt mix, flour and breadcrumbs. Deep fat fry and munch away.  Guinea Pig from South America - no, these are pets and who eats their pet?  Turtle soup from China, U.S. and Singapore - yes I’ve eaten it, but I don’t like the idea of endangering these animals.  Made using the meat, skin and innards of the soft-shell turtle in East Asia or the snapping turtle in the United States, this is considered something of a Chinese delicacy. Rocky Mountain Oysters from the U.S.  No, I don’t eat and yes I have eaten before, but that was before I knew what I was actually dining on.  Despite the name, these aren’t actually oysters at all. No, they are bull testicles deep fried in a batter of flour, pepper and salt. Balut from the Philippians. Nope, not for me and would never consider eating. A developing duck embryo that’s boiled alive in its shell. It’s a common street food and is usually served with beers. "Dragon In The Flame of Desire" from China.  NO, Never!!  The rather elaborate name above can be simplified down to yak’s penis. The Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing’s most (in)famous dish, it’s simply a yak’s penis roasted and served in elaborate fashion on a large platter.  Ying-Yang Fish from China,  NOPE not going to ever try this, it’s cruel how they dine on this.  A dish of extreme cruelty, Ying Yang Fish is a fish that has been deep fried and kept alive. Diners prodding at the face and eyes with their chopsticks while they eat to make the fish move, with its mouth and gills opening as it struggles to breathe. Truly horrific stuff!!  The body is the only part fried and the head is still wiggling and can stay alive for quite some time while diners jab and eat it.  Wrong on so many levels.   Sannakji from South Korea. No would never eat, this is another item that is cruel to dine on.  Another one that ranks high on the cruelty scale, this dish involves hacking the tentacles off a baby octopus and serving them up to the customer, still wriggling.  

Drunken shrimp from China - yikes what is wrong with these people eating live things?  I would never do this.  Shrimp served both living and drunk, stunned in a strong liquor called baijiu. Diners usually bite the head off first before consuming the body. A horrible pursuit, not just for the cruelty aspect, but also for the severe risk of paragonimiasis (is an infection with parasitic worms. That's a parasitic worm also called a fluke or lung fluke because it commonly infects the lungs.  Once inside the lungs, the worms lay eggs and can survive for years, causing chronic (long-term) paragonimiasis.) Why in the heck would anyone consume this?  

Bon appetit,  qing man yong, Dobar tek, Dobrou chuf', Velbekomme, Samkelijk eten, Jatku leiba, Hyvaa, ruokahalua, Guten Appetit, E'ai kaua, Jo etvagyat, Buno Appetito, 
いただきます, Boze przezegnej, Gero Apetito, L-ikla t-tajba, Udle Kuhle, Ia Manuia le tausamiga, Ith gu leoir, Ha kuu macaanaato, Buen provecho, Smaklig maltid, gin hai a-roi, Afiyet olsun, An ngon nhe, Thokoleza ukudla, En Guete

So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, 

wait for one another. - 1 Corinthians 11:33

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gather together to Him. - 2 Thessalonians 2:1

not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. - Hebrews 10:25

Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper - 1 Corinthians 11:20

But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.  For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. - 1 Corinthians 11:17 -18

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment.  The remaining matters I will arrange when I come. - 1 Corinthians 11:34

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. - Luke 5:15