From fried spiders to pickled herrings, what they eat in the world! |

Each nation has its own culinary heritage. We Poles use handfuls of many cuisines. In some cases, these inspirations are beneficial to our health, in others, well, it’s better not to say. For years, nutritionists have been directing our eyes to, among others, Mediterranean cuisine, full of vegetables, fish, healthy fats and based on seasonal products.

A few years ago, a book about the diet of French women and their ideal figures was a hit (you can read more about the diet of European women here -https: //.pl/zgadnij-ktore-europejki-sa-najszczuplejsze). Today, however, we will abandon the analysis of the impact of what we eat on how we feel and look. Instead, we will focus on the extreme culinary experiences that traveling around the world can provide …

Crow’s feet

We will start delicately with a product that most of us know very well and that we can easily find at most meat stands in grocery stores. Crow’s feet. Our grandmothers could not imagine broth without this additive, and even now many people add it while cooking traditional soup. In Poland, however, crow’s feet are not a delicacy as in Asia, South America or South Africa. Mainly made of leather and gelatinous, deep-fried or grilled in these regions of the world, it is a delicious appetizer …

casu marzu

You say Italy, you think pasta. Yes, it’s true, pasta is one of the most visited European countries by Poles (you can read about its history and the way to our plates here: https://.pl/makaron-jak-na-stale-trafil-do-naszej- diets). Italy is also brilliant cheeses. And cheese made it to our ranking. Casu marzu is a sheep’s cheese with a taste reminiscent of gorgonzola. Still no wonder, right?

Casu marzu owes its unique flavor to the larvae of flies, which are specially introduced into the cheese to induce fermentation. It is not the end. Cheese is eaten with these larvae, which must be alive (dead are a sign that the cheese may be spoiled!). For the slightly more sensitive, methods have been developed to get rid of the larvae before consumption. It is so convenient that the mentioned bugs can supposedly jump very high, making it difficult to eat a meal.

Sour herring

In search of the strangest dishes in the world, we remain in Europe for a while, this time moving north to Sweden. Surströmming, or pickled herring, can be easily purchased in Polish online stores. What’s strange about canned herring? Well, this dish has one of the worst culinary flavors, outperforming other fermented delicacies from around the world.

The herring must ferment for at least six months, the fish is generously sprinkled with salt so that it does not rot during these processes. Before eating it, you should cut it up and get rid of the insides. Swedes, their delicacy dating back to the XNUMXth century, eat on thin bread, and the obligatory additions are, among others red onion and thick cream. If you would like to try – we recommend outdoor experiments. It is said that this “aroma” is very difficult to get rid of from closed rooms.

grasshoppers

Mexican street food. In this peculiar, culinary journey, we go to a bit more distant corners of the world to see what they eat in Mexico. Yes, cactus flowers too, but that is probably not that surprising. So what can trigger culinary curiosity at a street market stall? Chapulines – edible insects resembling the known grasshoppers or crickets. Cleaned, seasoned with salt, lime and chilli, deep-fried, they are said to crunch like chips and taste pretty good … (Nicole Kidman in the video that you can see on YouTube, she reviewed the taste of worms as hairy nuts …).

You just have to be careful that they are properly fried, an undercooked dish can seriously harm us, due to the risk of nematodes (some types of these parasites are very harmful to humans).

Cuy

From Mexico, we move to Peru to look at the frying pan of local chefs. And here’s a note for the faint hearted readers, owners of domestic pets such as guinea pigs. Peruvians, unlike many Europeans, do not see a family pet in these rodents, but an easy-to-breed delicacy. Fried or grilled guinea pigs land there on a plate as a main course. For those who have had the opportunity to try the dish, its taste is compared to rabbit meat.

Fried tarantulas

We do not associate the spider with a delicacy. Evidently, in culinary terms, the only association with a spider is that it eats flies. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, our terrifying tarantulas are deep-fried and served as a delicacy, next to all kinds of crickets or other vermin (I wonder if they also taste like hairy peanuts?). Apparently, this dish dates back to the rule of the Khmer Rouge – the hunger that affected the inhabitants of Cambodia at that time forced them to look for extreme solutions …

Fugu fish

Pufferfish – a poisonous delicacy from Japan. The fugu fish has so much poison in it that it is enough to kill a large man. Importantly, there is no antidote to it, and a dozen or so people die every year in Japan after its consumption. Nevertheless, there are plenty of fans of the killer fish. For your own safety, however, you should only do this in certified restaurants. The poison is found in fish intestines and blood, so a skilfully framed fish becomes a harmless treat. A chef who can legally cook this dish must obtain a license, and it may take up to several years to obtain it.

Dressing

If we were to create a ranking of the most disgusting dishes in the world, this delicacy of the inhabitants of Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines would have a good chance of winning. Balut is a boiled bird embryo (usually duck, less often chicken), prepared a few days before hatching from an egg. The egg is boiled in a decoction of vinegar. The period of incubation of the embryo before its preparation depends on the country and the personal preferences of the eater. Balut is a Filipino national dish, and in some parts of the world it is also credited with having aphrodisiac properties.

Bird’s nest soup

Beluga caviar? White truffles? Saffron? Without blinking an eye, we will put these and several other products on the list of the most expensive dishes in the world. And who would add bird nests to this list? Thai people, but probably also Chinese and Indonesians on their list. Salangan nests (swallow’s nests) are built from the secretions of the salivary glands of some species of swift birds. They can be divided into black and white, some contain only swallow’s saliva, the other digested algae and other plants. Both are used to make soup. Amateurs of this dish consider it extremely healthy, it was once even believed that it could raise the dead.

Boodog

And at the end of our culinary journey, we will go to Mongolia to get to know a dish that shouldn’t surprise any of us, at least when it comes to the basic ingredient – goat meat. Although it is not a particularly popular delicacy in Poland, you must admit that no one will shake it off with disgust, as with a fried spider or a domestic animal. So what is amazing about Mongolian boodog? A method of preparing.

Well, the people of Mongolia cook a goat on hot stones and instead of a pot they use … a goat, or more precisely its skin, and put these stones inside. The preparation process is extremely complicated, which is probably why it is a dish that is not served on a daily basis in Mongolia.

A subjective review of the strangest dishes could arguably have many more items. Let us remember, however, that our pickled cucumbers, blood soup or curdled milk could be included in the same list prepared by people from other parts of the world.

And you, which dishes would be the strangest? Or maybe you had the opportunity to try one of our ranking? Be sure to let me know in the comments!