Unusual Global Foods

Snake wine, South-east Asia: Next time you're complaining about the tepid chardonnay you've been served in a pub, just be grateful that you haven't been served a nice glass of snake wine !his popular beverage is believed to have important restorative properties in countries including "hina and #ietnam $t can either be made by steeping a snake in rice wine, or by mixing snake bodily fluids, such as blood, with the alcohol Century eggs, China: %est assured, these rather misleadingly&named eggs aren't eggs which have been stored for '(( years) they're preserved for just a few months *ut that's still enough to turn the yolk dark green and the white brown Fugu, Japan: !here aren't many meals which involve risking your life +ne of ,apan's most notorious dishes is the fugu, or pufferfish, which can be lethal if its toxic parts are not correctly removed +ver -( people have died in ,apan after eating the fish since -((( Fried spiders, Cambodia: !he "ambodian delicacy of fried spider is something of an ac.uired taste !hese little chaps are tarantulas, served with a lime and black pepper dip in the /hnom /enh restaurant %omdeng 0ccording to "live Graham&%anger's book with 1uu 2eng, Cambodia's Top Tables, the restaurant serves over -(( a week Witchetty grub, Australia3 /robably high on the list of things not to tell your mother you did on your gap year is snacking on a witchetty grub, an 0ustralian term for the large white larvae of several moths !hey were traditionally foraged by 0boriginees Shiokara, Japan: $f you turned up your nose at liver as a child, you'd better look away now 4hiokara is a ,apanese dish made from marine animals such as s.uid which are fermented in their own viscera $t's no wonder that it's often gulped down and followed by a shot of whiskey Grasshoppers, worldwide: Grasshoppers are loaded with protein, and are a popular delicacy in many parts of the world $n 0sia, you'll find them fried and sold in street markets, while in 2exico, a type called chapulines are often served with lime and garlic 1ast month, the 2exican chain 5ahaca launched a grasshopper dish at one of its 1ondon branches Sannak i, !orea: Fancy trying a live octopus6 Sannakji is a traditional 7orean dish of octopus cut into small pieces and served while the tentacles are still s.uirming Unsuprisingly, it presents something of a choking ha8ard "u##in heart, $celand: Gordon %amsay found himself in hot water in -((9, when he was filmed eating a puffin heart on his "hannel : show The F Word. Forty&two viewers complained to +fcom about the incident, though puffin heart is a delicacy in $celandic cuisine %scamoles, &e'ico: 5e all know that te.uila is a product of the te.uila plant, or blue agave *ut did you know that people also enjoy ant larvae which is harvested from the plant's roots6 2exicans supposedly call this unusual snack ;insect caviar; (eondegi , !orea: $f larvae leave you hungry, why not try a few beondegi6 !hese silkworm pupae are traditonally served as a snack in 7orea )ong *i dan, China: /erhaps one of the most eyebrow&raising foods the world has to offer is the "hinese deliacy tong zi dan, or ;virgin boy eggs; <very spring in the city of =ongyang, eggs are boiled in the urine of young schoolboys

+,karl, $celand: 5hen in %ome, do as the %omans $n $celand, this means taking a nibble of h>karl ? decomposed shark !he shark is buried to ferment in its own fluids for several months, then cut into strips and hung up to dry (aby mice wine, China-!orea: 0nother drink supposed to have beneficial health properties is baby mice wine, wine filled with well, you guessed it !hankfully, we couldn't find a picture Cockscombs, %urope: "ockscombs, the fleshy growth on the top of chickens' heads, might not strike you as an immediate supper ingredient *ut in $taly, they're a crucial aspect of a famous sauce called cibreo "ombs also have a place in French gastronomic history, where they were traditionally used as garnishes Surstr.mming, Sweden: !he 4wedish like nothing more than a bit of herring & preferably as sour and fermented as possible !he smell of surstrmming is so strong when you open the container that it's generally eaten outdoors /ocky mountain oysters, 01S1: !he name sounds rather exotic, until you discover that this 0merican dish is actually nothing more than deep&fried bull testicles $t was reputedly a favorite of the 0merican 5est's cowboys, and is often found at festivals (lack $2ory co##ee: 1ast year, a coffee called *lack $vory became one of the world's most expensive brews, at @','((( per kilogram For that price, you can expect a smooth, full taste and perhaps a slight earthy hint of elephant dung Aes, this coffee is made from beans eaten by !hai elephants, then plucked from their droppings (alut, "hilippines: *ored of eggs boiled, scrambled or fried6 !hen try yourself a balut ? a fertilii8ed duck embryo boiled in the shell )epa 34Stinkheads45: 5ith a nickname like that, it's little wonder this traditional 0laskan snack hasn't caught on <aten by the indigenous Aupik people BpicturedC, it involves chopping the heads off fish and burying them in the ground with their innards until they achieve the re.uired tang