Rebecca Ley takes a closer look at some of the strangest foodstuffs you'll find across the globe.
It’s one thing having an adventurous palate, quite another eating some of the things on this list. Here, we reveal some of the oddest foods from around the globe – but perhaps make sure you’ve eaten your lunch first...
1. Guga
The guga are plump young gannet chicks, which salted and boiled, are a pungent and controversial delicacy for the people of Ness, on the Isle of Lewis. Every year, in late summer, the islanders head to a remote island rock 40 miles north of Lewis, called Sulasgeir, which serves as one of the most important breeding grounds for gannets.
Although bird protectionists have tried to ban the cull completely, the islanders have a special dispensation to continue their centuries-old tradition. The taste of the birds is a point of contention, but said by some to be like a very salty, fatty goose.
2. Balut
A list of the most bizarre foodstuffs wouldn’t be complete without a nod to balut. The fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell is easily one of the strangest foods in the world. Balut is common in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam.
It is said to taste – perhaps unsurprisingly – like egg and chicken. Many are surprised that a food that looks so odd – often with the bird’s features clearly developed – can taste so banal and familiar.
3. Sannakji
We are all used to a sushi lunch nowadays, but sannakji is something else. The Korean delicacy is actually still alive. Live baby octopus are sliced up and seasoned with sesame oil. Still squirming when consumed, advocates argue that it couldn’t be fresher.
This is strictly one for the brave, however – unless chewed carefully, the tiny suction cups can stick to the mouth and throat. Animal rights advocates might argue that’s karma.
4. Fugu
The Japanese puffer fish is a legendary delicacy. Filled with enough of the poison tetrodotoxin to be lethal, only specially-trained chefs, who undergo two to three years of training and have passed an official test, can prepare the fish.
Some choose to leave a minute amount of poison in the fish to cause a tingling sensation on the lips and tongue.
5. Casu Marzu
This is another ‘live’ delicacy - a cheese that is home to insect larvae. Found in Sardinia, the larvae are deliberately added to the cheese to encourage a level of fermentation that is close to decomposition, at which point the fats in the cheese are broken down.
The tiny, translucent worms can jump up to half a foot if disturbed – giving a whole new meaning to the phrase 'fast food'.
6. Hakari
Made by gutting a Greenland or Basking shark and then fermenting it for two to four months, hakari is an Icelandic food that reeks with the smell of ammonia.
It's available all year round in Icelandic stores and is often served in cubes on toothpicks. Makes a change from cheese and pineapple.
7. Rocky Mountain oysters
These aren’t the kind you find in the sea, but a rather misleading name given to the deep-fried testicles of a buffalo, bull or boar.
Rocky Mountain oysters (also called Prairie Oysters) are well-known and regularly enjoyed in America – generally where cattle ranching is prevalent. The testicles and peeled, boiled and rolled in a flour mixture before being fried.
8. Natto
Another Japanese delicacy, natto consists of fermented soy beans. It has the consistency and smell of something that has been left in the fridge too long – but is a great source of protein and considered very healthy.
The flavour of natto is nutty, savory and slightly salt. Traditionally eaten at breakfast to accompany rice, natto is also served with salad, fried and made into sushi. A whopping 236,000 tonnes of the stuff are consumed in Japan every year.
9. The stonner
Forget the deep-fried Mars bar, the stonner is that bit more peculiar. A sausage wrapped in kebab meat and then deep-fried, it’s an artery-clogging delicacy found in the Ruby Chip shop in Glasgow.
At a gut-busting 1,000 calories, it’s so fatty it carries a health warning, with the owner of the chippy limiting customers to one a week. Cheekily named after Scots slang for a state of arousal, it’s been condemned by nutritionists.
10. Scandinavian salty liquorice
These black sweets inspire devotion and revulsion in equal measure. The distinctive taste doesn’t actually come from salt – but rather from ammonium chloride, which is why they often go under ‘salmiakki’ which is the Finnish word for the compound.
The taste is like nothing else – some have likened it to ‘caramelised motor oil’ – but you’ll have to try it to see for yourself.
11. Insects
Actually we are the weird ones for not chowing down on creepy crawlies. Research carried out at the National Autonomous University of Mexico found that 1,700 species are eaten in at least 113 countries across the world.
In Mexico, grasshoppers are sold by the pound in markets, while Colombians eat ants which they grind and spread on bread.
The bugs are rich in protein and lower in cholesterol than beef or pork. Scientists think that we should eat more of them in the West, as eating insects puts less strain on the environment – cultivating them requires forest to be preserved rather than felled.
What's the weirdest thing you've eaten? Let us know in the Comments box below.
This is a classic lovefood article
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