One man’s meat can either be another man’s poison or… a rodent. Somewhere in the world, people eat fried brain, cobra heart, drunken shrimp, sheep’s head, tarantula, duck embryos, insects and other items with appearance ghastly enough to be included in a Singapore’s website design for collection of ghost stories.
Here is some strange food on Earth that you just can’t believe that they actually exist:
Drunken Shrimp
Shrimps are delicious and alcoholic beverages are heavenly. How would they taste if they were combined?
That was probably the question that bothered the first person that invented this dish called drunken shrimp. In China, people stun fresh-water shrimps in strong liquor and consume them alive.
Ikizikuri
If you think that drunken shrimp is a form of animal cruelty that is because you don’t know how is Ikizikuri prepared. Yet. At least the shrimps are drunk. The fishes needed for Ikizikuri are not.
First, the customer will pick out the animal they would like to eat from the tank. Then, the chef will filet it without killing it, serving it on a plate with its sliced flesh on top and its heart still beating. You can even choose to have the filleted fish returned to the aquarium and let it swim around until you are ready for seconds.
If a giant cannibal ever caught me, I hope his favorite dish is not Ikizikuri. Please kill me before consumption. It that is not possible, please stun me with the strongest liquor, at the very least.
Kopi Luwak
I thought rabbit is the only creature that eats poop. Who would have thought that humans do something similar, too?
Kopi Luwak, one of the world’s most expensive variety of coffee, is made from coffee berry beans that have been defecated by Civet,s a small, lithe-bodied, mostly nocturnal mammal native to Southeast Asia.
Haggis
First, take out the sheep’s heart, liver and lungs. ground beef them and mix them with onions, oatmeal and mutton fat. Season them with salt and spices and boil everything in sheep’s stomach for three hours.
Despite it’s anomalous appearance, this Scotland dish actually sounds quite delicious.
Balut
Imagine you are pregnant. Someone opens up your stomach, take out the embryo and boil it alive for consumption.
That’s the basic idea of Balut, a developing duck embryo, boiled alive and eaten whole in its egg, along with duck broth and the half-formed duckling’s bones. It is usually served with beer.
Cherry Blossom Meat
Cherry blossom meat is not made from Sakura, even though it is sold during the sakura season. It is actually raw horse meat.
(Perhaps the dish gets its name from the pinkish color of raw horse meat.)
Horse sashimi, anyone?
Dragon in the Flame of Desire
Dragon in the flame of desire - what a fanciful name for yak’s penis. The eaters believe that it is good for health, especially skin.
It is believed that Chinese will eat anything with four legs except tables and anything that flies except airplanes. Maybe that is not an exaggeration.
Perhaps going vegan is not such a bad idea.