Description
Lesson: Topic Conversation
Category: Foods
Topic: Unusual Foods from Around the World
Source: https://www.penniblack.co.uk/blog/10-unusual-foods-from-around-world/ https://www.hostelworld.com/blog/the-50-weirdest-foods-from-around-the-world/
They say home is where the heart is. However, for this topic I'd like to say ` Food is where the heart is.` Here are some of the unusual foods from around the world.
1. Cambodia: Crispy Tarantulas
The spiders are marinated in a mixture of MSG, salt and sugar and then fried in oil and garlic until crispy. The snack is described as being quite tasty and not dissimilar to crab meat.
If you ever find yourself strolling around an Icelandic supermarket, be prepared to find rotten fish in the chilled aisle, that is perfectly okay to eat. Harkal is eaten year-round in Iceland and is a Greenland shark that has been allowed to ferment. Eating Greenland shark fresh is actually poisonous but letting the fish decay by hanging it in huge wooden huts, allows the meat to become edible. First time eaters often gag at the ammonia smell and putrid taste. However, Icelanders cannot get enough of it, and often chase it with a shot of local spirit.
If rotten Greenland shark didn’t make your skin crawl, the next cheese offering from Italy will. Literally. What looks like a round of soft and creamy cheese, made from sheep’s milk, is actually crawling with live maggots.
The Sardinian cheese is made by cutting the top off a block of Pecorino so that flies can lay eggs on it. Once these hatch, the larvae eat through the cheese, making it extremely creamy. This is a cheese for only the brave but is rumored to be extremely strong and rich.
4. South Korea: Silkworm Larvae
If you head to South Korea, you can enjoy juicy silkworm larvae. This is a very popular snack that is cooked in a fragrant broth and is usually sold by street vendors across the country. However, you can also buy it canned in most supermarkets.
According to those who were daring enough to try them, despite the unpleasant smell, they taste quite nice and have a bit of a nutty flavor to them.
5. USA: Southern Fried Rattlesnake
Served throughout the Southwestern United States, this interesting dish is quite out there, yet sneakily disguised with breadcrumbs!
If you weren’t told what it was you may not even notice, as once coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried, it apparently looks and tastes similar to fried chicken or even alligator if you’ve ever tried that!
6.Mexico: Escamoles
Ant larvae salad anyone? Escamoles may appear like a tasty salad, rich with seasoning, vegetables, and healthy grains. However, cast your eye closer, those grains are ant larvae!
This spine-tingling cuisine is courtesy of the Aztecs who harvested ant larvae from the roots of maguey and agave plants. If you don’t fancy them in a salad, you can often find them in omelets and tacos. Those who try escamoles often comment that they have a nutty taste and are quite pleasant.
7.Canada: Prairie Oysters
Now we don’t like to lower the tone and Canadian prairie oysters may seem like a harmless fish dish. The delicacy, which is also known as Rocky Mountain Oysters, is actually specially prepared bull testicles. They can be sautéed, fried, or stuffed and they are loved so much in Canada that there is an annual Testicle Festival honoring the dish.
Canada isn’t the only country to indulge this questionable offering. In Italy, China, and Turkey, lamb fries are the same part of the anatomy and are served with gravy or dips!
8. Alaska: Eskimo Ice Cream
Don’t be fooled by the name! This ice cream is no Ben and Jerry’s or Haagen-Dazs, in fact, it’s not even made with cream!
Known by locals as Akutaq, this ‘ice cream’ is actually made with a combination of reindeer, seal and moose fat, plus the addition of fish, dried salmon eggs or berries, depending on what’s available
9. Japan: Fugu
Although a delicacy in Japan, the thought of Fugu has many running for the hills. Fugu is a type of Japanese pufferfish that contains tetrodotoxin; a killer nerve-paralyzing toxin. One pufferfish contains enough of the substance to kill 30 people and just a single drop can be fatal.
Chefs who cook Fugu will have spent years training as just any mistake in preparation could result in death. Those who are tempted to try Fugu can either have it in a stew, grilled, or as sashimi.
10. China: Century Egg
This rather unattractive looking egg is essentially rotten! Preserved in a mixture of ash and clay for some months, the egg yolk turns a ghastly green color and the white turns into a brown, translucent jelly!
The smell is also quite interesting … and compared to the order of ammonia or sulfur! Hold your nose and maybe close your eyes and it tastes like any other hard-boiled egg apparently!
11. Philippines: Balut
Balut is a fertilized developing egg embryo that is boiled or steamed and eaten from the shell. It is commonly sold as street food most notably in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. The length of incubation before the egg is cooked is a matter of local preference, but generally ranges between 14 and 21 days.
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