Soup made from raw blood. Crackers filled with wasps. Boiled ant eggs. Behold some of the strangest, rarest and downright bizarre foods from all around the world.
17 Of The Most Bizarre Foods Eaten Around The World
It’s time to take a trip around the world. No, you won’t need a passport or plane tickets for this experience. All you’ll need is an open mind and an iron stomach, because we’re about to fly through some of the strangest and most bizarre foods you’ve ever seen in your life. You’ll find everything from fried tarantulas and rotten fish to blood soup and loaded sheep intestines. So hold on and get ready for quite the experience with these 17 bizarre foods from all across the globe.
1. Dim Sum Chicken Feet – East Asia, Caribbean, South America and South Africa
- image via China Sichuan Food
While chicken feet may seem intimidating to eat, they can actually be quite flavorful and tender with the right recipe. This Chinese dim sum recipe aims to give you that.
2. Fried Spiders – Cambodia
- image via Always Foodie
You’re probably thinking, “How on earth can Cambodian people enjoy tarantulas as a snack”? Well, these spiders are tossed in a sugar mixture, garlic and salt and taste something like a mix between cod and chicken. Doesn’t sound too bad, right?! Eek.
3. Escargots – France
Popular as an appetizer in many European countries, escargots are snails cooked in white wine, garlic, butter and parsley.
4. Haggis – Scotland
Haggis is a traditional Scottish sausage made from a sheep’s stomach stuffed with the sheep’s liver, lungs and heart as well as oatmeal, onion, suet and seasoning. It’s even illegal in the United States.
5. Balut – Philippines
- image via Panlasang Pinoy
While this odd looking boiled egg may offend some, it’s considered a delicacy in most Southeast Asian countries. Balut is a boiled chicken or duck egg whose fertilized embryo is nearly completely developed.
6. Stargazy Pie – United Kingdom
- image via Imgur
Stargazy pie is a classic Cornish dish of sardines, eggs and potatoes covered with a pastry crust. The pie has a significant place in the heart of the Cornish community, meant to honor the brave man who saved the village from starvation in the 16th century.
7. Turtle Jelly – China
Yes, turtle jelly is exactly what you think it is. Made from powdered turtle shells mixed with herbal ingredients, the jelly is used as a traditional Chinese medicine and dessert.
8. Wasp Crackers – Japan
- image via RocketNews24
It may sound crazy, but these wasp-filled Japanese rice crackers are so popular, they’re even available on Amazon. $17 can get you 2 bags…if you dare.
9. Akutaq (Eskimo Ice Cream) – Alaska
- image via Sweet State Of Mine
An Eskimo ice cream treat from meat, vegetable, seal oil, fat and different varieties of berries. At least it has berries on it.
10. Surstömming (Rotten Fish) – Sweden
- image via The Adventures of Lunki and Sika
This fermented Baltic sea herring, notorious for its pungent smell, is often eaten with a kind of bread known as tunnbröd.
11. Live Drunken Shrimp – China
Fresh shrimp, literally drowned to death in rice wine, served with garlic, green onions, salt and pepper. One of the more gruesome recipes on here.
12. Raw Blood Soup – Vietnam
A soup made from raw duck or goose blood. While it may be loved in the Vietnamese culture, the government is trying to ban it due to health hazards.
13. Fruit Bat Soup – Guam, Micronesia and Africa
- image via h00280189
Let’s move on from raw blood soup to fruit bat soup? Oh my, this soup is made from an entire body of a fruit bat, boiled with ginger and onion. It is rumored to be the cause of Ebola in Guinea.
14. Beondegi – Korea
Steamed or boiled silkworm pupae which are seasoned and eaten as a snack in Korea. Only for those with a tough stomach.
15. Casu Marzu – Italy
A traditional sheep milk cheese that gets it taste…from larvae? Yes, the larvae help promote an advanced level of fermentation and breakdown of the cheese’s fat.
16. Sakura Niku (Cherry Blossom Meat) – Japan
- image via Goin’ Japanesque
Awh, doesn’t this cherry blossom meat sound lovely? Well, it’s actually horse meat sashimi. Damn it.
17. Boiled Ant Eggs in Coconut Milk (Tom Kati Kai Mod Daeng) – Thailand
- image via Import Food
Ant eggs are high in protein, so it makes sense that some cultures would indulge in them.
What do you think of these bizarre foods? Which of these recipes caught your attention most? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
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