Extreme cuisine: top 10 'exotic' tastes

Jan 28, 2010 5:52:07 AM

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Part of travel is coming up against local foods that might raise your eyebrows. Here we take a global trip to those ‘wha?!’ plates, but remember, as author Eddie Lin of Lonely Planet’s Extreme Cuisine says, ‘The only difference between ‘tasty’ food and ‘nasty’ food is one letter.’

Witchetty grub: Australia

These chubby grubs have been a vital staple food for indigenous Australians for thousands of years. They grow to be about 7cm long and you can find them across central Australia in the root of the witchetty bush or gum tree, where they gorge on sap before metamorphosing into a moth - assuming you haven’t eaten it first. So what does it taste like? Imagine biting into a small water balloon. The juices spread around your mouth like a swig of red wine, but the flavour is the essence of egg…or is it chicken?

Testicle: Afghanistan

Edible testicles come in all sizes - bull testicles (also called Rocky Mountain oysters) are larger, rooster testicles (’rooster fries’) are smaller. The Chinese like rooster fries in a hot pot, Afghans skewer sheep fries and grill them as kebabs, and there’s a whole festival dedicated to bulls’ balls in Texas. To prepare them, just slice the testicle (your eyes may water in sympathy), peel off the membrane and sautee with lemon and sumac for a soft, spongy result.

Stingray: Iceland

This relative of the shark is equipped with a venomous barbed stinger at the end of its whip-like tail. The meatiest part of the stingray is the fins; Icelanders like their stingray rotten and fermented, while it’s more popular fresh , spicy or barbecued in Malaysia and Singapore. Stingray meat is flaky yet dense and chewy and tastes like a mix of fish and lobster.

Sea cucumber: China

Okay, so it’s not an actual cucumber, it’s a sausage-shaped sea creature that you’ll find in almost every Chinese seafood restaurant. You’ll find the dried versions in markets and Chinese medicine shops. Rehydrate the dried ones in water for 12 hours, then braise it for two hours and serve it with vegetables. The flavour itself is pretty bland and the texture is slimy with a capital S so don’t even bother with the chopsticks.

Scorpion: Thailand

Seems insane to willingly eat something that could send you into a mess of convulsions, but a lot of Asian countries like to look on the bright side, seeing scorpions as a good source of protein rather than a good source of, well, death. In Beijing you can get them on skewers, in Thailand they’re fried or soaked in whisky. So what do they taste like? Well, a little like popcorn, with crispy outsides and light and airy insides as the organs are evaporated by cooking.

Pig face: China

Hole-in-the-wall Chinese barbecue restaurants display their wares of pork and duck in the window, hanging from hooks without disguise or apology. Pig face is just that. Snap off the ear and eat it like a thick, chewy, greasy potato chip. Offer the eyeball to someone special. Eat the tender part of the cheek. Try not to think about if the shoe was on the other hoof…

Guinea pig: Peru

Most people know them as cute, squeaking little cartoon creatures, but in Peru, most homes have a few dozen guinea pigs (called cuy in Spanish) scampering in the backyard until they are barbecue-bound. When roasted they look like rat but taste like rabbit and the younger the cuy, the crispier the skin.

Grasshopper: Mexico

Forget peanuts or popcorn with a cold beer - in Oaxaca, Mexico it’s all about chapulines (grasshoppers). Oaxacan restaurants will throw together tacos or guacamole with grasshopper as the main ingredient. The younger grasshoppers are preferred because of their tender texture and lack of wings. They are boiled, washed and then dry fried with lime, salt and chilli. They’re light and crispy with a grassy, earthy flavour.

Fugu: Japan

A pinhead’s worth of the toxin in fugu (puffer fish) can kill 30 people. The poisonous parts of the fugu need to expertly removed by a licensed fugu chef. Fugu flesh is sliced tissue thin, so thin that the ornate design on the platter shows though when it’s plated, but the taste? Well, it’s virtually flavourless. But at least you’re still alive. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster.

Chicha: Latin America

This fermented drink is traditionally made of corn, cassava or fruit, chewed and moistened by Inca women. The key ingredient must have its starches broken down and converted to sugar. Some chicha utilise human spittle as a catalyst. Others just boil the ingredients then ferment them after cooling. Flavours vary depending on whether it’s fermented or fresh, not to mention the source of the spit, but it’s generally sweet.

Has your stomach turned at the sight of the more ‘exotic’ foods of the world? Let’s hear all about it.

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Comments

2 February 2010 6:23PM noakz Report this comment
Rocky Mountain Oysters are mountain goat testicles NOT bull testicles given the name for the mountain wild goats that roam the 'Rocky Mountains'... thus the name 'Rocky Mountain Oysters'
William Marlowe www.thinkwinwin.com
2 February 2010 7:16PM heathergayw Report this comment
I wasn't game to try them, but saw deep fried, crispy tarantulas for sale on the street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2 February 2010 7:23PM jonappleton Report this comment
Re noakz comment; While "Rocky Mountain oysters" sometimes are mountain goat testicles, generally it refers to bull or calf testicles, occasionally called "cowboy caviar" as well.
2 February 2010 7:31PM kdelange Report this comment
And don't forget the "syrströmming". Literally "sour herring" it's a northern Swedish delicacy consisting of fermented Baltic herring. The fish is stored in cans of which the lid should "bulge" for optimal taste. It basically smells like... well like rotten fish. Sales seems to be on the increase, but its chances for a big hit on the export market are low.
2 February 2010 7:52PM nubcake Report this comment
Balut from the Philippines should be added here ... although I haven't eaten any since I was a little girl. Ah, the things your grandma forces you to eat when you don't know any better. EEWWWWW!
2 February 2010 10:03PM fieldgate Report this comment
Bull's testicles that I ate in South America are pretty neat food. Often served as part of parillada mixta (mixed grill). Although there's a slight resemblance to chicken meat, it's still macho food. I didn't like cow udder though, that can also be part of the same meal. Shaped like canneloni, but containing loose tissue, it tastes like whipped lard rolled in a chewy skin. Cuy (guinea pig) makes a nice meal. It reminds of rabbit, both in its size and taste. Good. Having tried all kinds of exotic foods, the one that I won't eat is the Swedish surströmming. I say it even though I live in Sweden, albeit not being a native. Smell and taste aside, it's just not nice to have a swarm of flies flying around your meal.
2 February 2010 11:01PM itirella Report this comment
There's some pretty nauseating "food" out there. I've sampled duck fetus (tastes like egg), pig blood (not bad), and cow brains (puked big time later); but my favorite was coffee made by beans that were pooped out by a type of wild cat. This was in Bali and obviously I'm a coffee drinker.
2 February 2010 11:22PM irishnoodle Report this comment
I tried the fried tarantula in Cambodia and they tasted like chewing on a stick! :)
2 February 2010 11:58PM gypsygrrl99 Report this comment
While wandering around Kugluktuk Nunavut I came upon a walrus skin sewn up around something. I was invited in to try some "Inuit Ice Cream", muktuk. This is fermented blubber, nothing like ice cream I've ever tasted. I managed to keep it down, much the the delight of my elderly host, and surprise of his grandchildren.
3 February 2010 1:12AM mel_martins Report this comment
waaawww, i sea cucumber is exremely delicious, but testicle???
3 February 2010 1:35AM pgnpgn Report this comment
Unfortunately I've eaten monkey with the Dayaks of Borneo. Flying ants in Kenya are great. Dog is good. Grasshoppers in N.E. Thailand. Testicles are perfectly acceptable all over the middle east. In fact if you buy a leg of lamb from an Arab butcher in Israel it comes with one testicle attached. However, the most extreme food that even I won't come at is a delicacy of the Druze (Israel, Lebanon and Syria): raw liver, still warm from the freshly slaughtered animal
3 February 2010 2:10AM robertogden Report this comment
It is enjoyable to eat these kinds of things when you are taking part in the culture. To do it as a stunt or a dare does not make sense. In Mexico city, grasshoppers are common and not bizzare at all. Enjoy the culture and you will enjoy traveling!
3 February 2010 2:24AM chrisj Report this comment
In Korea they eat live octopus & dog. China, fried scorpions. Thailand, grasshoppers & red ants.
MacDonalds again!
3 February 2010 2:31AM jasonkucherawy Report this comment
I tried sea cucumber in Japan at a restaurant. I ate some and my Japanese host (an ESL student of mine) told me most Japanese people don't like it. I told him to count me among them (in simpler terms). That same night I ate cod testicles (looked like little grey brains that pop in your mouth), and the liver of the Angler Fish - that thing with the light that chased Nemo around in the movie.
3 February 2010 4:39AM giopassarelli Report this comment
I love cow brains, I think they're a delicacy. My grandma used to prepare them really nicely. I ate dried worms from Botswana once, not bad, they were like some sort of chips...
3 February 2010 5:53AM ichandler Report this comment
The Filipinos deserve an honourable mention here for balut. You take a duck egg, incubate it until the foetus is well formed inside - and then boil the thing. You then eat the partly formed duckling and all the amniotic liquids, spitting out the tiny beak and the little feet. I have to confess that I have not tried this. They - and also the Spaniards - also eat deep-fried pig skin, which I have tried and found rather horrid; it's also full of cholestrol, I'm told.
3 February 2010 6:54AM itdmacar Report this comment
Hmm not sure if pig face should be in this list . . .
3 February 2010 7:29AM unclelouie Report this comment
Some decades ago we noticed that sea urchins were all the rage as appetisers in Chile. There were loads of them in restaurants and kept in a barrel. They came with a tiny spider sized crab that lived in a sort of symbiotic relationship with the sea urchin. Everything was eaten including the crab. I passed on the crab since it was still moving about. In China duck tongue and pig's ears were appetisers. I drew the line on "drunken shrimp" at a couple of banquets and once when we were the guests of honor at a banquet we were given a turtle shell and we were supposed to lick out the membrane left over on the inside. I faked it. I also recall another banquet with the head of a lobster in the middle of a large plate with edibal portions of lobster meat behind it. The feelers on the front of the head still moved a bit showing the lobster was recently killed and mighty fresh.
3 February 2010 4:27PM hfinchum Report this comment
Beongdaegi, or steamed silk worm, is available on the street, beach, in markets, etc. in Korea. It smells nasty, and tastes even nastier.
3 February 2010 10:49PM certain1 Report this comment
Well, fried lamb and bull testicles are considered a delicacy in Spain. They are, or used to be, given to children because they are very nutritious. I have eaten a lot myself. Although they are not eaten frequently nowadays, they still can be found in traditional markets and in some bars in central Madrid.
4 February 2010 6:34AM unclelouie Report this comment
In SE Asia there is also good old durian. It's a fruit that looks more like a medieval weapon minus the handle. We had a memorable welcome to a home in Malaysia some years ago (a daughter had lived with us for a year in the States as a HS exchange student) and this time we were hosted by her family for a few days. When we entered their dining room there were several durian that they had purchased as a special treat. They cut them open to get at the small amount of edible fruit that is inside and I did taste it but quickly decided that a small amount was plenty. I quickly realized why a Lonely Planet guide book we had described durian in this way- "It looks like sh*t, smells like sh*t, and tastes like sh*t." LP's description and not mine. After we tasted it the family did tell us that they did not expect us to like durian since almost no westerners like it on a first try or even later but with purchasing lots of it for us they knew they would have more for themselves. Later I saw that you could get a durian shake at McDonalds but I also heard that it was against the law to take durian on a bus or train because of the smell (stench?). I guess it's one of those things that is an acquired taste. You just gotta grow up with it.
4 February 2010 6:49PM ourmanwhere Report this comment
As an expat living permanently in Hanoi I really hate this stuff and I would expect better from the Lonely Planet.
You can hardly read a travel blog or a travel piece without hearing of some idiot paying good money to drink snake blood and eat a "still beating heart".
Do you really think that Vietnamese people routinely eat this stuff?
No, for the most part, they eat chicken, beef, pork etc.
By encouraging extreme eating we are also encouraging people to look for increasingly exotic animals and often endangered creatures to serve up.
Vietnam is full of fabulous food without seeking out this ridiculous charade. I would imagine the same goes for other countries.
When I read travel journalists writing about Vietnam and assorted bugs, guts, snakes etc I just realise how wrong they got the food and how little desire they have to document what people really eat.
But most of that "still beating heart" crap is for drunk idiot macho tourists.
5 February 2010 5:12PM conky1 Report this comment
i was in a small village in isaan (eastern thailand) and saw something i thought i'd never see on a menu. had to have it...if only for the sake of a good story. you sitting down?
OX PENIS, it was big. it was fat. it was served whole ...on top of salad.
should you be interested, was quite chewy.
beats the SQUIRREL i had the week before.
5 February 2010 5:59PM stig1phs Report this comment
As Uncleloule says, Durian is an acquired taste, but Jackfruit is just a bit more bearable. (also from the same area, we had a Jackfruit tree in our backyard there). Anybody tried Kimchi, the rotten cabbage with or without garlic and other spices that Koreans love? not to forget the raw herring that lots of dutchmen (like myself) would kill for......
9 February 2010 9:37AM tzazikimchee Report this comment
Ok, I take offense to the last comment about kimchi being rotten cabbage. It's really no different than pickling your cucumbers with extra spices. Some people like it sour and some people eat it fresh. In any case, some of these foods are better for your health and more natural than eating mcnuggets that have been cooked in an additive that also prevents the space shuttle from burning up when reentering earth's atmosphere.
10 February 2010 5:02AM babycakeeb Report this comment
This is to stig1phs. Very ignorance of you and no respect towards other cultures. If you have not got a open mind and heart I suggest you should stay at home and eat your bland food and be a bland person. Durian and Jackfruit taste wonderfully unique, Kimchi is just a better way of making pickles and preserve vegetables for harsh weather conditions. Raw herring has a rich flavour.
15 February 2010 6:22AM beardouk Report this comment
Deep fried pig skin ? Isn't that what we in Britain call pork crackling ? (And here in Cuba chicharones.)
5 April 2010 3:00PM akshaymg1 Report this comment
It certainly does have a ewww factor to it. India has some of it's ow too. Farmers here, ate rats during drought. In popular destinaions like Goa, you could get yourself some Frog legs!
12 May 2010 1:53PM mattsid1 Report this comment
The article refers to pig face in China, but the photo clearly says Namdaemun, which is in Seoul, South Korea. Get your facts right LP!
13 May 2010 3:01PM 8cheerios Report this comment
This article says states that "in Peru, most homes have a few dozen guinea pigs (called cuy in Spanish)". This is completely and utterly false to say that "most homes" have guinea pigs. You will only find this in small villages in the highlands and along mountain trails, and to generalize this is as the norm for the country is hugely false, misleading and incorrect. Peru is a country with dozens of cultures and landscapes and cuisines, and to say cuy is in most homes is only feeding into the ridiculous stereotypes that the country is all llamas and guinea pigs and bright colored clothes. There are jungle regions, desert areas, beach, large cities and university towns, and about 99% of Peruvians regard eating cuy as something of old generations or people in villages in the mountains. To say it is in most homes is not correct. In most homes you will find a delicious drink made of purple corn, and you will find rotisserie chicken, but not cuys.