As this year’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here is over, it got us thinking of all the strange foods we could find ourselves sampling around the world. The foods we have discovered are often classed as a delicacy in their respective countries, but we struggled to hold onto our lunch at times when we read about them.
We started our search in Italy with Casu Marzu, a fermented cheese from Sardinia. This cheese is left to smoke and ripen in the cellars, it is then taken outside and left to allow the cheese flies to lay their eggs inside it. As the eggs hatch into transparent maggots they feed on the cheese and produce enzymes giving this cheese its distinctive flavour. The worms can jump up to half a foot if disturbed so it is always best to brush off the little critters before tucking in. Anyone for cheese on toast?
Next stop is Mexico, where we discovered Escamoles. At first we thought they sounded rather tasty, a bit like enchiladas, until we discovered what they really are. Escamoles are the eggs of the giant liometopum ant. Their eggs have the consistency of cottage cheese, which sounds disgusting enough to make even the most iron-stomached contestant from I’m a Celebrity 2013 turn their nose up at it. The most popular way to eat them is in a taco with guacamole.
Onto Cambodia and deep down in the hustle and bustle of the street stalls you can grab yourself stir fried tarantulas flavoured with crushed garlic salt and oil. This actually doesn’t sound too bad after the Cazu Marzu.
Cockroach sushi is considered cutting edge gastronomy in Japan. We would rather have a California roll.
In China bird’s nest soup is known as the caviar of the east. There is something in the saliva which gives the soup its unique gelatinous, rubbery texture. This culinary delight is one of the most expensive products consumed by humans.
Indonesia is the place to be if you are a coffee lover. Kopi Luwak is the rarest, most expensive gourmet coffee in the world. “What can possibly be wrong with the coffee?” we hear you ask. It is actually made from the excrement of an Indonesian cat-like creature called the Luwak. Not sure this would be most people’s choice of coffee first thing on a morning.
Despite all these strange culinary delights we found something even stranger right here on our doorstep… a Pot Noodle and a Twix eaten together. Our very own Lauren in the office loves to suck a pot noodle through her Twix. She informed us that it must be a chicken and mushroom Pot Noodle though. Obviously a Bombay Bad Boy would be completely out of the question!
What strange foods have you experienced around the world? Tell us in the comments below
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