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Eight of the Most Disgusting Food Delicacies
Published by Kenny Stenzerfield in Offbeat
February 6, 2008
Be amazed at what unusual and disgusting foods are considered delicacies around the world. You may want to rethink some of those trips you have planned.
Digestive-Tract Java (Kopi Luwak Coffee)
Price: $600 per pound
These Sumatran coffee beans earn their delicacy status after a journey through the digestive tract of a civet, a small cat-like animal. Once picked from civet droppings on the jungle floor, the beans are scrubbed clean. The coffee, once brewed, is known to have a chocolaty flavor.
Swiftlet Nests
Price: $1,000-$10,000 per kilogram
Male swiftlet birds use their saliva to build nests that are a delicacy in China. They carry a high price due to the month-long period of creation for each nest. The nests themselves are considered tasteless, but they are often added to soups and sought after medicinal qualities. Harvesting of nests has depleted swiftlet populations in some locations
Goat Excrement Beauty Oil (Argan Oil)
Price: $120 a liter
In Morocco, goats climb and perch in the branches of the Argan tree in search of its fruit and nuts. After the nuts are excreted by the goats, local farmers use them to produce a rich, golden-colored oil that has is said to have medicinal properties. It is also commonly used in cosmetic creams to nourish the skin.
Maggot Cheese (Casu Frazigu)
Price: $100 a pound
The Italian government has outlawed the sale of Italy’s maggot-infested Casu Frazigu, commonly known as “rotten cheese,” because it can only be safely eaten for a few weeks in July in August. During the aging process, a fly called Piophila casei deposits its eggs on the cheese. When the maggots are born, they move throughout the cheese, excreting enzymes that give it an overwhelmingly pungent smell, a rotten taste, and a soft, creamy texture. The cheese is served commonly weddings and other family gatherings.
Snake Wine
Price: $21 per jug
This Vietnamese delicacy starts when a restaurant server makes a slit along the belly of the snake, and then drains its blood into a vat of rice wine. The mixture is often served in shots. Sometimes a drinker will down the snake’s still-beating heart. This is followed by a meal of snake meat. Locals consider the fiery, unpleasant-tasting drink to have healing qualities.
Fugu
Price: $300 a kilogram
Fugu is made from the poisons extracted from the pufferfish. The creature contains lethal levels of poison, and only licensed, trained chefs are allowed to prepare it. Fugu is commonly served as sashimi, but it’s also eaten in cooked dishes. The fish is prized for its texture and for the prickling sensation caused by the small levels of poison in the meat.
Fertilized Duck Egg (Balut)
Price: Less than a dollar an egg
Balut, is a fertilized duck egg, with a partially formed fetus inside. It is usually eaten by cracking open the shell and drinking the fluid. Then fetus is seasoned with salt and pepper, and eaten raw. These eggs can be commonly found in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia.
Ant Caviar (Escamoles)
Price: $40 a pound
Escamoles, is made from the eggs of black ants, which collected from colonies, harvested from the roots of the agave plant in Mexico. They must be collected, just before the larvae turn into ants, and the larvae collectors must wear protective gear to protect themselves from stings. Their taste has been described as that of corn, and they are often eaten in tacos.
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40 Comments
ewwwwwwww
Escamoles are ant eggs, but the thing in the picture are Maguey worms which are also a delicacy
this article is sweet but the food made me gag! HaHa
you should change all your price per pound units all to English, or all to metric. Try not to use the word Delicacies too mush. other than that great article.
How come MacDonalds quarter pounder didn’t warrant a mention?
One of the most disgusting delicacies around. With a large coke and large fries. Ugh!
I’ve had the digestive tract coffee, it tastes pretty good!
To the best of my knowledge Argan isn’t eaten and excreted by goats, and even if it is the part that makes it into the oil is inside a hard shell protected during the digestion, so no amount of excrement would be involved. NYT certainly doesn’t mention goats: http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/travel/tmagazine/14get-sourcing-caps.html?pagewanted=print
Oh, and Argan oil is quite yummy.
Cheap argan oil is goat-excreted. Most argan oil is pressed. You can tell which argan oil is goated pretty easily – it smells like goat crap.
that’s gross..
Fugu is made from the poisons extracted from the pufferfish.
You’re wrong. Fugu IS pufferfish. The muscle and nonpoisonous organ meats (liver etc.) are served as food. They don’t tingle (because there’s no neurotoxins, because it’s been properly prepared) but they are delicious.
Next time, read your paragraph to make sure it makes sense?
Make sure you research the food before you write about it, or copy and paste from other sites. And Balut are never eaten raw. you drink the “broth” or liquid after it has been cooked.
BALUT is not eaten raw! it is definitely boiled…tnx!
This is sooo gross, i cant believe some people eat this stuff…maybe beacause its healthy
Fugu and pufferfish = same thing dude.
The meat of the fugu is eaten and SOME of the organs. (I think the liver, kidneys… poisonous) one DROP of that poison is enough to send you into paralysis and instant death.
All in all, a good article.
Good post, thanks!
Lol, there are some things that aren’t that disgusting.
Look for more disgustin things
Wo!!!!!
I cant believe somebody would really eat these type of things. That stuff is disgusting.
if anyone liked this article, than check out mine,Five Foods to Make You Puke.
You got a couple of things wrong. First of all, fugu is NOT made from the poison of the puffer fish. Why eat poison? The meat if the fish is prepared after REMOVING these poisons. Second, the picture you use to accompany escamoles is NOT escamoles. They actually look much more like mealworms, another edible insect.
Balut is never, never, eaten raw…get your fact straight…
well is nasty how could people eat that they are so gross well thats ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i’m throwing up already by looking at it
I think some people are being completely ignorant to other people’s cultures. Not to mention some of the information in this article is wrong. As others have already said, balut isn’t eaten raw and fugu is the pufferfish, not the pufferfish’s poison. Just because something might look or sound gross, it doesn’t mean that it tastes gross. I’m sure most of you have heard of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
NICE!!!
i ate BALUT (fertilized duck egg), only the yellow part but never the FETUS! once i tried, and i could remember feeling the feathers of the duckling and it’s head….i gagged and spit it out. my mother taught me a beginner’s technique: THINK, i am not eating a dead fetus.
I always fail.
hahaha.
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those r not escamoles, escamoles look different. the pic shown as them are called gusanos de maguey
:O thats sick :/
I can’t believe he said balut is eaten “raw”! Is that even possible?
And dude, poisons are never eaten. Fugus will always be pufferfish.
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balut is cooked before being served my friend. I believe it was by boiling the egg or steaming…something like that:) and also, it tastes great when spicy vinegar is poured before eating(^_^)
this article would be better if it weren’t strewn with factual inaccuracies. looks like you don’t even know what you’re writing about & you’re just trying to make things sound more disgusting than they actually are.
im filipino nd i eat balut….its gr8! i eat evrything even the fetus, nd yea its never eaten raw….thts gross.
i tasted the maggot cheese its good!
GROOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSS! Nasty! Who would eat that? EWWWWWWWWWW!
what r these?? yuk….x-(
correction! balut is not eaten raw. it is cooked by boiling. and it is very yummy and nutritious.
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That shit is gross. Check this one out: http://apocalypsecakes.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/bird-flu-feather-cake/
emagawd that is soooooooooooo disgusting! I’ve heard of the maggoty cheese and balut though. soooo cruel…
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