10 Strange Foods People Actually Eat
1. Bird's nest soupÂ
Bird's nest soup is a dish in a Chinese dish. It is made by melting bird nests in water. Edible bird nests are made of edible-nest swiftlets. The males build nests using their saliva during mating season.Production takes up to 35 days. Those birds live in caves - and from this the product is very expensive, special concrete structures are deliberately built to keep them. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are major bird producers. Due to the health benefits promoted by its traditional medicine, the dish is highly regarded in China - with 90% of its global consumption and imports (especially Hong Kong) - but the USA is the second largest importer of this product. The usual color of a bird's nest is white, but a red version (called "blood nest") - though very rare - is also present. Nest of edible birds - is one of the most expensive animal cooking products. One kilogram (35 ounces) of white nest costs about $ 2000 and in the red nest the price is up to $ 10,000.
In Hong Kong, be prepared to spend even $ 100 on a bird's nest soup, although you may find a place to pay for part of that price. Some say that a bird's nest is less palatable or egg-white. The interesting thing about soup in a bird's nest is its gelatin composition. The red variety, as I said, is very expensive because it is very rare and contains minerals that make the white nest red. It is not a colorful bird - its habitat - it is actually the guano of a bird that drops a red nest. But beware of the red nest - it absorbs chemicals that have been proven to have cancer. And since the red version of the nest is more expensive, it is often counterfeit by treating white nests with red color.
2. Balut
Oh, nothing special, just a package of regular eggs from a Canadian supermarket. No! You may be shocked at home if you try to add it to your cake. These are actually duck eggs that are two or three weeks old and have a duck that is very visible inside. After boiling, break the egg shell, mix the liquid and do not chew. The duck's larvae are visible but not fully developed, so their tiny bones are soft and do not break into sharp pieces (the bird's bones are famous for it). The taste is exactly the same as chicken soup. This is the most popular and cheap street food in Asia, especially in the Philippines, where balut is the country's food. Balut production requires fertilization eggs and warmth - usually sun or warm sand.
2 or 3 weeks after fertilization, duck fetus forms - and voila. Ready to eat. If you keep the eggs short and the fetus does not grow, you will get a penoy - another duck meal, but it tastes like ordinary boiled egg. You can buy balut at stores and restaurants all over Asia - it is even used as a meal in some restaurants. It can also be found in Philippine stores in North America. Interestingly, in Australia - The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals urges people not to boil balut eggs for 18 days because the internal embryo may be large enough to feel pain.
3. Escamoles
Also known as insect caviar or Mexican caviar - and that already tells you where to look for this dish. Mexican caviar contains larvae and caterpillars that live on agave plants (where their eggs are harvested). Escamoles are often fried in butter with spices and served in a variety of ways - from being an ingredient in tacos and omelets to a stand-alone and guacamole side. They have the same consistency of cottage cheese and nutty flavors. Well, they even look like pine nuts. Escamole is a long-standing tradition and is known even to the Aztecs. The word caviar is quite accurate because one kilogram (35 ounces) of escamoles can cost up to a hundred US dollars. This is because the termite ants live only in the highlands of central Mexico, and a single nest produces eggs more than four times, only between February and April - so the harvest season is much shorter.
4. Wasp Crackers Jibachi Senbei
This new Japanese dish was introduced by elderly Japanese people in the city of Omachi. It all started around 2012 when senior members of the Japanese Digger Wasp Lover Club (most of them in their 80s), as well as a local biscuit maker, were preparing this curious meal. They moved the digger wasps - which was there later boiled, dried and added to the rice cracker mixture, which was sealed with hot iron cracker cutter. They gained popularity as Wasp Crackers, and began selling in local markets and other stores. The taste of the rice cracker is obvious, but the wasps there - it tastes like burnt dried rice, with a sour and bitter flavor - with a sharp leg or wing.And as far as I know - no one has ever complained about being bitten.
5. Hákarl A fermented Greenland SharkÂ
Have you ever considered eating a creature that has an average life expectancy of about three hundred years, and reaches a maturity of 150? You can have a taste of ancient times in Iceland. And the taste is ... It's bad. Many find it to be the most disgusting thing they have ever eaten, with a foul smell of urine. But perhaps the most accurate explanation was given by the English poet W. Auden, according to him, this dry and a half shark is as strong as an old boot, and tastes as much as boot-polish; and because of the smell it should be eaten externally.This should be due to the high level of ammonia and urea in the fermentation of shark meat. What is found in Greenland and other sleeping sharks is that - you can't eat them fresh - their meat contains a toxic amount of urea and Trimethylamine oxide. The early Vikings ate it fresh, reporting that they felt drunk, but some of them did not suffer and die. The preparation of this meal consists of several stages. The first is to place the shark intestines in a container with holes for drainage or - traditionally - to bury the shark in the ground with a pile of rocks at the top, creating a compressed force to extract fluid from the shark's body - and at the same time. let it ferment in this way for 6 to 12 weeks depending on the season. The second stage is to dig the shark up, cutting become strands and hang to dry for another few months.
Then go on, awaken the Viking inside you! Hakarl is usually served in cubes and is available in two forms, depending on the portion of the shark's body - soft and white, or chewy and red. It is often used for air firing, usually akvavit - as if they know that a cool person cannot hold it in the stomach. If you have the courage, you can find it at local stores. However, it is widely used during the Icelandic central festival.
6. Corn smut Huitlacoche or Corn fungus
Yes, this is the fungus that grows on corn that you can order while visiting Mexico. stilago maydis fungus is considered there as a sweetener. Infected with the disease, corn kernels swell and turn blue. When corn smut is cooked, its blue color turns black. It can be eaten fresh or cooked. Add to omelettes, quesadillas or soup. Corn smut should be harvested before it is ripe - before it dries. The flavor of the cooked smut is delicious, tasty, earthy and mushroom-like. Some food titles even go so far as to call it Mexican truffle. It has been known in Mexico since the Aztec period and is considered to be delicious and healthy. Huitlacoche contains a large amount of essential amino acid lysine, which is found only in low amounts in ordinary corn.
Same with protein - corn smut which contains more than non-infected maize. In addition, corn smut helps lower cholesterol levels. Interestingly, corn with this fungus is more expensive than healthy ones. That leads to intentional infestation of plants. America and Europe are not enthusiastic about introducing this fungus as farmers often view maize tobacco as a harmful substance. However, the USA tried to deliberately introduce this Mexican Truffle in the 1990s.
7. Casu Marzu Which means rotten cheese
But it is better known as worm cheese. This is a European dish from Sardinia as well Corsica, and sheep's milk is basically - pecorino - should be attacked by cheese fly larvae - which eat cheese. Their digestive enzymes break down the fat of the cheese, giving the cheese a soft, creamy texture. When ripe enough, the cheese is ready to eat. It is usually spread on flatbread and accompanied by red wine.The taste of casu marzu is slightly spicy, slightly similar to Gorgonzola but much stronger. The only thing that keeps people from eating the moving worms that can jump up to 15 centimeters (6 inches)
the wind. Sometimes people - who wish to not eat live worms - wrap a piece of casu marzu in a paper bag and wait until the worms are reduced - it is easy to know when they are doing it: the sound of paper worms hitting the paper stops. However, if the worms of the new casu marzu die and people do not help them to die, it is considered unsafe to use them. But is it really safe to eat cheese and live worms? - opinions differ. Some scientists say that it may cause pseudomyiasis - meaning that the infected larvae survived in your stomach and are now eating your intestines.
8. Shirako
Japanese "cream cheese" and that really has nothing to do with cheese. Shakira means "white children" and those are bags of fish sperm or milt. Especially from cod, angler fish or salmon. This paste - like mayonnaise - has a butter flavor, a little fresh, salty cream cheese and is best served fresh. It can be raw or lightly fried and placed on top of rice. But it can also be fried in tempura batter or mixed with egg custard. Shakira is often spiced with ponzu sauce. It eats a lot of the season, a winter meal.
9. fruit bat soup
 Unfortunately, it is true. Small fruit bats - which are offered in the form of soup - are a delicacy in Palau, Guam and other parts of Africa. As the name implies, fruit bats also eat fruit nectar, so their meat is very tasty. However, perhaps most people are not aware that bats also eat plant seeds that contain neurotoxins that affect the human brain. These toxins may accumulate in the flesh of bats. Not enough warning? Before you order this soup, which is said to taste strangely delicious chicken broth, you should know that: Bats, despite being washed, are usually boiled in wool - with coconut milk, spices, ginger and sometimes vegetables. Then the bat is handed a large bowl looking at you - and it looks like a dog smaller than a bat. Many consumers want the bat to peel off the skin - but the normal, proper way to eat the bat is to chew it - well and long enough - so you can absorb all the delicious fruit with the fruit.
10. Sourtoe Cocktail
 And here we come to the first number on our list - if not the first number on everyone's list. What you see is a true symbol, preserved in salt, the toe of the accused. Drunk with whiskey or any other 40% strong (80% proof) of your choice. This cannibal-ish drink can only be ordered in one place on Earth, in the Canadian Dawson City - Yukon. How did it start? Legend has it that in the 1920's a local miner appeared
and the trafficker got frostbite on his toe - which had to be cut off and stored by him in a jug of liquor for good reason in his house. Fifty years later, in 1973, a local man named Captain Dick Stevenson found a smuggler's apartment with a toe in it. He took a toe with him and came up with the idea of ​​adding this unique ingredient to the drinks of those - who were not afraid to try it - at the Sourdough Saloon. So Cocktail "Sour" - "Toe". And this again when the Sourtoe Cocktail Club was formed. Less than a decade later, in 1980, a miner, trying to hit the 13th round of sourtoe images, fell to the ground swallowing a real, ten-year-old toe. So where did they get those toes?
Yes, with international donations - they have lost toes in the famous Yukon winters, but also diabetes, or the dangers of a lawn mower. One of the most famous and recent incidents was that of Nick Griffiths, a former British Marine, who lost a few toes due to frostbite while training for the Yukon Arctic ultramarathon. Her toes were cut in England, and later the owner… immediately sent them to Canada for cocktail use. The law of sourtoe states: "You can drink it quickly, you can drink it slowly - but your lips should touch your toes." To get a certificate confirming that you are willing to consume alcoholics - your lips should touch the dipped toe in front of the bar official. About 100,000 people have tried it - and have drunk Sourtoe Cocktail so far. But remember that you can’t swallow or keep a toe as a souvenir - otherwise
You will be fined severely. Fees increased in 2013 from 380 - to about US $ 2000 (not Canadian), after one client deliberately ate a precious toe. There were also cases of toe theft. It seems like drinking Sourtoe Cocktail is
the only attraction that brings people to Dawson City. Yes - a topic of regular conversation, such as: Have you ever seen the Eiffel Tower or kept a dead toe in your mouth? To make the amputated toe easier to eat, it needs to be stored in high-quality solid alcohol and later to be stored in rock salt for a few months when chopping. Then a new toe life begins, but it should only be drunk with strong winds. Toe really big money maker.
Sadly, the founder of the drink, Dick Stevenson, died in 2019 - he just left his toes for reuse. As you can see, the toe was ready for his ashes. Can you try Sourtoe Cocktail? Or you can choose to stay with your toekilla or mojitoe.
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