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The Weird Things People Eat Around the World
So is it pickled snake head? Or is snake head a type of fish? Either way, I'm not eating it. Spotted in an Asian market in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Black beans are good. Cheese is good. But black bean cheese? I dunno -- it sort of looks like a bowl of ash. I guess I'd try it; it is the natural black foodstuffs, after all.
Found in San Francisco.
It's tough to read the label, so I'll just tell you: it's cow lung.
Trout isn't that weird really, but they hardly look "live."
Spotted at the Raleigh, N.C. BugFest.
Ay-yo Adrienne... you got something in your teeth.
What's Haw anyway? Found in Beijing.
Scary.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Willy Jun 21st 2007 7:48AM
Cool post. I think the cone pizzas look great!
In Zambia, I ate caterpillars, known locally as "mthonda." Lightly fried, the inch-long bugs were a dark, dark brown, and slightly crunchy. They didn't have much flavor at all; they tasted mainly like I was eating burnt toast.
Some of my neighbors ate field mice. Dug up from the fields, the mice were boiled and dried in the sun for a few days. Thereafter, they could be stored for weeks. Some of the kids would sell them door to door for less than 1 cent apiece. The adults would buy them and carry them in their pockets. Yes, they ate the whole thing -- except the tail. There is a belief that if you eat the tail, you'll "fall to the back of the class."
hhh Jun 21st 2007 4:18PM
first couple are just bad translations
... and you need to get out more
Ben Jun 21st 2007 4:29PM
i think i remember seeing cone pizza somewhere here in the US... San Diego Maybe?
Sean Jun 21st 2007 4:46PM
That salmon candy is, in fact, dangerous. In a good way.
RedSaber Jun 21st 2007 5:12PM
You should have included the famous "Poutine" from Quebec, Canada!
There's a whole myth and culture surrounding that famous meal, which consist of fries, gravy and cheese (it's actually much more complicated, with sausages, and all that kind of stuff you can add).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine
Check it out! ;)
It's FUCKING INSANELY GOOD ;)
whistles Jun 21st 2007 6:29PM
Candied salmon is very very good. It is smoked then candied, quite pricey and very very good. It is common on the west coast of Canada.
Haw is a berry, haw flakes are sold in every chinatown round the world quite tasty, the hamburger part is a bad translation.
The Italian cauliflower is called Romanseco and is quite tasty kind of like part broccoli part cauliflower.
check out www.weirdmeat.com very cool weird meat :)
Alex Hagen Jun 21st 2007 6:52PM
Crispy Cones, in Arcadia CA...I've had them, they are not that good.
http://crispycones.com/crispy/location.htm
Albert Jun 21st 2007 7:57PM
Here are some pork brains and edible beef blood I took a picture of a few months ago:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1131/583588846_293661b97d.jpg
shipley Jun 21st 2007 9:45PM
Cow lung (usually known as "lights") is often sold by butchers in Britain as a cheap form of offal usually used as pet food. In my experience, cats go crazy for the stuff and will eat it until their stomachs are bulging!
Jason Jun 22nd 2007 2:08AM
The second one isn't a bad translation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakehead_fish
LarianLeQuella Jun 22nd 2007 3:40AM
Seen a bunch of interesting things here in Korea. The live octopus is another wonder to behold. It will fight back! Ad sometimes the bad translations are the funniest! If you want to see a bunch of them, just head over to http://engrish.com/ for almost endless entertainment (and many of them are food related).
yonan32 Jun 22nd 2007 4:09AM
i live in Indonesia, and we eat cow's lung regularly. it's tasty, really, nothing to be grossed out about :D
Michael Studman Jun 22nd 2007 4:15AM
The Sesame Black Bean Cheese is not actually cheese. It's more like a sesame / black bean paste somewhere between a creme caramel and pannacotta in texture (but swimming in sweet syrup). Cheese is a clumsy approximation for its texture, I suppose.
Lisa Jun 22nd 2007 10:26AM
Giant water bug??!!??!! We call them ROACHES here in Florida. Didn't know there was a market for them. Hmmmmmmmm......
Brandon Jun 22nd 2007 10:32AM
Hey, wonderful article.. and.. just.. looks all so tasty I can hardly stand it. NOT! I am from the U.S., and..not a single ONE of these foods I have heard of. And.. they all look.. very gross. Especially the cone pizza.. that just looks like a heart attack and coma waiting to happen! Interesting article, I have posted a link to this blog article on my blog, because I think this is really fascinating and interesting.
Dan Jun 22nd 2007 11:26AM
Snake head fish are a kind of "Frankenstein" fish that can survive for a time outside of the water. They are major predators, and have been introduced to the waters around Washington, D.C.
Jhon Jun 22nd 2007 11:37AM
see http://hotshadow.com/People_Eat_Around_the_World.aspx
Lindsay Jun 22nd 2007 11:44AM
FYI: Haw is a type of fruity Chinese candy. When I was much younger, I remember going to the Chinese food market in Houston with my mom and it would always be a treat to get Haw Flakes. They were small, thin, reddish-brown disks, maybe no more than an inch in diameter, that came in paper packaging with Chinese characters that I definitely didn't understand. Kind of a different/Chinese version of Life Savers, or think "fruit leather" but with a flakier texture. I loved the fruity flavored disks, and I still do! I believe they are originally cherry flavored. So, to think that there is HAMBURGER flavored haw flakes kind of makes me gag!
Adrienne Jun 22nd 2007 2:43PM
The pizza cones do look yummy!!! However, you won't find any pork floss with rocky buns stuck in this Adrienne's teeth... What is that exactly?
No scary food stories here. I'll try most and I tend to like most. Craziest thing I've ever eaten was some type of scrambled brain in Transylvania, Romania. It was pretty savory. :p
Nice post and pics!
A
Donald Jun 24th 2007 12:12AM
Snake head fish are named for the tapered shape of their small heads, not because you eat the head... Snake head fish are voracious predators and a terrible pest, but aside form that they're really just fish. If you happen to be cooking one, be sure to cook it thoroughly, as they can contain parasites.