There is a saying that one man's trash
is another man's treasure and this applies to our food as well. Here goes the
top 10 strangest food around the world.
10th: Fried Brain Sandwiches
A sandwich made from fried calves' brain, thinly sliced on white
bread. It was a common item on the menus in St. Louis, Missouri, USA before the
era of Mad-Cow Disease. Now, it is still available in the Ohio River Valley,
where the brains are now heavily battered and served on hamburger buns. Due to
the texture and less flavor of the brains, it is better to serve with hot
sauce.
9th: Haggis
A traditional Scottish dish made with
the minced heart, liver and lung of sheep. The way of cooking it is amazing. The
three mentioned ingredients are mixed with onion, spices, oatmeal, salt and
stock before putting them to boil in the sheep's stomach for few hours. It is sold
in cans in Scottish supermarkets.
8th: Bugs
The practice of eating insects for food
is called entomophagy and is fairly common in many parts of the world, with the
exceptions of Europe and North America. It is common to find vendors selling
fried grasshoppers, crickets, scorpions, spiders and worms on the streets of
Bangkok, Thailand. Insects are high in protein and apparently consist of
important fatty acids and vitamins. In fact flour from drying and grinding up
mealworm can be and is often used to make chocolate chip cookies.
7th: Rocky Mountain Oysters
This oyster does not live in the ocean,
instead, it is found on the mammals! Yes, on the mammals because it is
deep-fried testicles of a buffalo, bull or boar. The testicles are peeled,
boiled, rolled in a flour mixture, fried, and then served with cocktail sauce. Rocky
Mountain Oysters (also called Prairie Oysters) are well-known in certain parts
of the United States and Canada.
6th: Stuffed Camel
This is the largest item on any menu in
the world, as recorded in The Guinness Book of World Records. Why? It is made
of a camel stuffed with a whole lamb, the lamb stuffed with the chickens and
the chickens stuffed with eggs and rice. The entire concoction is then
barbecued. It is a traditional Bedouin dish seemingly prepared like a Russian
Stacking Doll.
5th: Hakarl
It is the most disgusting food ever, as
claimed by Anthony Bourdain, who is known for eating the strangest foods in the
world. It is made of Greenland or Basking shark. The Greenland or Basking shark
is gutted and fermented for two to four months before it is ready to be served.
Hakarl is available all year round in Icelandic stores and often served in
cubes on toothpicks.
4th: Fugu
Ever tried this Sashimi? Poisonous puffer fish, which is
also known as “Fugu” in Japanese, is a dish which requires caution and
training, as poison tetrodotoxin are lethal. Only specially-trained chefs, who
undergo two to three years of training and have passed an official test, can
prepare the fish.
3th: Casu Marzu
This is not the common cheese that we eat normally. It is found
in the city of Sardinia in Italy. To prepare Casu Marzu, larvae are
deliberately added into it to promote a level of fermentation that is close to
decomposition, at the point which the cheese’s fats are broken down. The tiny,
translucent worms can jump up to half a foot if disturbed, which explains why
some people prefer to brush off the insects before enjoying a spoonful of the
pungent cheese.
2nd: Sannakji
Sashimi has been very rampant around the world nowadays. However,
this Korean delicacy, Sannakji is something abnormal because it is a live
sashimi. It is made of sliced live baby octopus seasoned with sesame oil. The
tentacles are still squirming when this dish is served and, if not chewed
carefully, the tiny suction cups can stick to the mouth and throat.
1st: Balut
