- Hákarl (Fermented/Rotten Shark) – Iceland
Made from basking shark, it has a ammonia smell and fishy taste, similar to Jewish deli whitefish or very strong cheese. Normally basking shark meat is poisonous when fresh. However, it’s made edible during the curing process.
Read more - Rocky Mountain Oysters -USA/Canada
Also known as prairie oysters or cowboy caviar, rocky mountain oysters are fried buffalo or bull testicles.
Read more - 1000-year-old eggs or Pidan – China
Made by preserving duck eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice hull for several months. The yolk becomes a dark green and egg whites become a brown transparent jelly. 1000-year-old eggs smell of sulphur and ammonia. Yum.
Read more - Fried Grasshoppers – China
Grasshoppers are fried and served on skewers in Chinese food markets.
Read more - Fugu (Pufferfish) – Japan
Featured in a Simpson’s episode, Fugu is pufferfish and is lethally poisonous if prepared incorrectly.
Read more - Surströmming – Sweden
Fermented Baltic herring that is canned while it’s still fermenting. The cans often bulge due to the fermentation process and can explode.
Read more - Live Octopus – Korea
Live octopus is sliced up and the legs are eaten while they are still moving. The tentacles often stick to chopsticks and even to the diner’s mouth, which makes the octopus difficult to eat.
Read more - Bird’s Nest Soup – China
Bird’s nest soup is a delicacy made from swift bird’s nest. A swift is a bird that lives in a cave and it makes its bird nest from saliva.
Read more - Balut – Philippines
Balut is a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.
Read more - Casu Marzu – Italy
Casu marzu means “rotten cheese” in Sardinian. The cheese is riddled with insect larvae and the larvae can jump if they are disturbed.
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