Weird Food

I addressed this briefly in my latest blog... "Weird food" around the world comes in many forms. Also, different people identify differently with food. What's weird to me may be common to another.

What do you consider to be "weird?" What's the weirdest thing you've actually given a try and where did you try it?

I'm looking forward to the really bizarre replies... Reply to this

When in Beijing, I visited the Donghuamen Night Market which is famous for exotic foods. There were so many choices, fried centipede, fried cicadas, fried silkworm, sheep's penis, or fried chicken heart. Eventually, I decided upon fried scorpion - crunchy on the outside but the inside was so bitter - not something I'd try again. Reply to this

In thailand they will have stalls with heaps of bugs you can eat but there is no way i could stomach or even put it in my mouth. So the worst i've eaten is in beijing and it was sheep testicles.

My hubby and i had one each and the composition of it was exactly what you'd imagine a humans would be composition wise so there was a bit of gagging and we moved on to the next plate lol!

I guess the definition of weird does change depending where you live etc - I have tried haggis in scotland which one mouthful was enough and i can happyily eat chicken feet at yumcha but i cant bring myself to try the pigs blood soup. But a fairly standard meal in Australia is soft shell crab and i struggle to eat that as the shell bit just sort of freaks me out - reminds me of the duck egg above! Reply to this

I have to admit I actually am quite a fan of crickets and scorpions etc cooked in woks at street markets. I also love the taste of fruit bat which I first came across in the 80s in hong kong.

I did find out I had eaten rat in china and that grossed me out.

Most disgusting eaten purely by mistake until I cut into it and realise as soon as it went into my mouth - turtle eggs at Jakarta Airport. I was so disgusted in the fact they were eating turtle eggs and the taste I was praying id vomit...no such luck. Reply to this

Those duck embryos are delicious - called balut in the Philippines, you can get them from 16 days of maturity to 21. On the low end they have a creamy texture but at around 19 days you can detect the beak and feet. I look at it like this - we eat chickens (ducks), we eat eggs, this is something in between. Don't forget the salt and spicy vinegar.

As far as insects go the only thing I went for seconds on was the grubs. Like a sweet dollop of deep fried mashed potato.

Dog is ok, kangaroo is quite good but the weirdest thing I have tried is the still beating heart of a cobra. In Hanoi, Vietnam they have snake restaurants where they clean and dissect the snake in front of you, drain the blood and bile into vials and then everyone takes a shot of snake blood and rice wine, with the guest of honor receiving the pulsing heart in his shot glass. The rest of the snake is then prepared into several different dishes, all very good.

Funny to think an Indian forum might have people talk about trying beef or a Muslim talking about trying a strip of bacon...these foods are all only strange to us because of where we come from. Except maybe the beating heart, even the Vietnamese guys we were hanging out with looked quite shocked when I downed it. Reply to this