Sunday, September 22, 2013

Weird Food People Eat Around the World

The Cultures around the world have each of them their strange type of food that is considered not only to be disgusting but it is also classified as weird, non-eatable, un-appealing etc. What does exactly define such a food? How come a food considered weird in Europe is a gourmet dish in Thailand or Bahamas Islands?
It seems people all over the world grew accustomed with their own traditions in food and anything related to them and that is why certain dishes seem impossible when you think of them. Even if sometimes one is tempted to try such a dish out just for the sake of adventure, the experience is a memorable one and can certainly become a habit.
So…how about digging into the international kitchen and discover the 10 strangest types of food that have ever appeared on a plate.

10. VERES
The Veres is a Hungarian dish with origins somewhere around the 15th century and during that age it was considered a meal of the poor. Originally was prepared from the blood drained from the pig’s cut throat. The blood was boiled until merely cooked and minced like meat, then it was added boiled pig organs also minced and pieces of boiled bacon.
All the ingredients were mixed with salt, pepper, hot paprika and water from the boiled organs and after that the composition was packed inside cleaned pig intestines. After that the Veres was put through boiling water and left to dry in the attic. Now-a-days to the recipe is added boiled rice in order to mild the blood taste. It is served with red wine all over Hungary and in the neighboring countries where it was imported over the years and it is considered a delicacy. I guess it requires …taste.


9. NUTRIA STEW
I would say…no way, but this habit of eating this “rat” like creature comes from the far away China and during the 17th century spread all over the world. Nutria is a rodent which likes the water a lot, a mixture between the water rat and the beaver, and it is a herbivore animal with a very beautiful fir. In the beginning they were raised for their fir but soon during the great famine and the war became a valuable source of meat. It is prepared as stew, boiled with herbs and spices and chopped vegetables such as carrots and onions. In Russia it is served as steak swimming in butter and bathed in white wine.
In France they make soup out of it and in China they prepared almost 40 different dishes among which the weirdest one is that one serving dry nutria meat in thin slices like carpacio.


8. CRIADILLAS
Criadillas are bull testicles. As everyone knows, from the dawn of times eating manly parts of a slain animal was considered a source of virility. Still consuming such a dish takes a bit of the chart to taste for adventure. It is said they are very tasty but I guess it takes a lot of courage to take on the trial of trying them.
The same name is given to the pig testicles considered to have a stronger taste but a better “flavor”. They are served grilled, boiled and then roasted or baked with garlic, onions or green parsley. They are quite a challenge and the experience is not one to be forgotten easily.


7. SILK WORMS
Typical Asian dish, Korean to be more specific, this food became popular all over the US and also in the great cities of Europe where the Korean restaurants became popular.
Initially containing rotted baby worms not reaching maturity, the recipe became more elaborate and started using mainly male worms “harvested” after dieing posterior the female fertilization. The worms are rolled through flour and bread crumbs and fried in palm oil and after that served with a sweet-sour sauce.


6. DONKEY PENIS
The latest trend in Chinese kitchen where anything eatable becomes fair game; this dish is something out of a horror movie. Setting apart the disgusting idea and considering only the presentation of this “phallic gourmet” dish, one’s stomach may turn upside down at the sight of something purple hanging in a Chinese meat store or presented on a lettuce platter at dinner. It is served boiled or fried in oil, or simply dried and sliced thin slice like salami.


5. CASU MARZU
Casu Marzu is an Italian cheese made in the island of Sardinia. The strangest part about it is that in order to achieve the right level of fermentation close to decomposition, this cheese is added a species of translucent worms. This is done so the fat level will be broken down. It is an ancient recipe and it is supposed to result a real delicacy which… personally I am not tempted to try.


4. SEA HORSES
In Asia, as the food is concerned, the life puts the movie out of business. The innocent sweet little sea horses are considered to be virility source so in spite of the fact that they are endangered species, these little creatures continue to appear as a dish on the menu of the Asian restaurants.
They are boiled in oil and served with mustard sauce. They are said to be sweet but eating them seems quite a crime against nature.


3. HAGGIS
Scottish originated, this dish surpasses every imagination. The stomach of a sheep is emptied and washed, rolled with onions and put to bake in the company of turnips and potatoes.
It is considered a delicacy and became now-a-days a gourmet dish after being centuries ago the Scottish poor sheep herder’s traditional food.


2. BOREWORS
The main dish of the African tribes, Boerewors is made from coarsely minced beef (sometimes combined with minced pork, lamb, or both) and spices (usually toasted coriander seed, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and allspice).  Of course when hunger is tormenting one’s stomach, beggars can’t be choosers; but putting it next to other options in African food this dish fails by comparison.


1. SNAKE BLOOD
Top of the top in the weirdest foods chart, this odd creation of the human mind recently presented on Discovery, surpasses any other contestant.
Drained from slain king cobras in Thailand it is served as it is or mixed in drinks and is supposed to grant strange virility increasing and magical healing.
It is a creation of “hunting for money” Asian industry and leaving apart that, it must taste disgusting; it is a crime against nature. Since a portion costs around $200-$250 dollars on the black market, soon king cobras will become extinct.

In the end, whether they were born from necessity or from the crazy idea of people looking for thrills, the strangest foods of the world are experiences people tend to take on. Choosing to try one has a lot to do with personal discipline and even more with way the world we live in is seen through our very eyes.

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