Boiled Duck Head
For anyone who has ever had a
Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet, duck is usually the meat everyone
scrambles for but have you ever considered eating its head? On the
streets of Shanghai you can find heads aplenty, boiled or roasted for
your special gourmet break in China. There is no exact approach to
eating them (start with the skin or crack their heads open) but if
you’re feeling brave, wade through the brains and cartilage.
Deep fried locust
They
have appeared in both the Bible and the Koran, ravaging the land and
eating huge swathes of food crops. Now it is possible to have them as a
healthy snack on a boutique cultural holiday in Thailand. We think that
constitutes as a bit of payback.
Whether you want to eat a locust
that has been deep fried is another matter altogether. Despite that
off-putting feeling locust (and a variety of another insects) are
available to nibble on throughout south-east Asia where they form an
important part of the indigenous people’s daily diet. Said to be a bit
like eating a prawn (with that same crunchy taste), you can either start
with the legs or the head. Try not to think too much about the taste.
Nakji
A dish made popular in Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy,
if you have seen that film you will have an idea of what this peculiar
dish is. If not allow us to reveal it. It’s an octopus. A living one.
The
octopus in question is yanked out of a tank, cut to pieces (which are
still “moving”) and served to customers on a plate. A good chew is
necessary for any would-be eaters as the squirming pieces of the octopus
can cling to the inside of a person’s throat through their suction
cups. If this sounds quite frightening and wholly unappealing then
there’s always Nakji Bokkeum, a dish that uses octopus as stir fry. Yum.
Fried-brain sandwiches
Mad
cow disease made people wary of eating parts of a cow. Nevertheless
there are still places and people on this earth that dare to eat parts
of a cow many of us wouldn’t even consider. In North America people eat
fried-brain sandwiches which are exactly as they sound; sandwiches made
from a brain that has been fried.
A dish that can be found in
restaurants in and around St. Louis, Missouri and Evansville, Indiana,
since the outbreak of BSE it has become less popular and harder to find.
Still, if restaurants won’t offer you the brains of calves they may
offer you the brains of pigs as an alternative! Try this particular dish
on your special cultural holiday in America.
Lutefisk
Lutefisk
is made from cod which, considering the through line of this article is
far from being an alternative dish. However there’s more to lutefisk
than meets the eye and through a strange preparation process we have a
dish that is well and truly unusual. Lutefisk is prepared by taking that
cod, soaking it in water for five to six days before soaking it in a
solution of lye. For those who do not what lye is, it’s used in the
production of soap.
Another one to two days of soaking is required
before the fish can be cooked. At this stage it’s swollen to a
jelly-like substance and produces a funky odour. Prevalent in Norway but
also popular in regions of North America, if you’d like an option that
doesn’t emit an appalling whiff then have a go at Lutefisk made from
either pollock or haddock. Have a go at this “culinary delight” on your
special gastronomy holiday in Norway.
Balut Egg
Balut Egg
sounds harmless enough but on this particular list appearances can be
deceptive. In this case this delicacy is not a normal egg with yolk in
the middle but a fertilized duck embryo that’s boiled alive and eaten
whilst it’s still in the shell.
Excuse us for a moment.
A
delicacy said to be an aphrodisiac; the contents of this snack are full
of muscle-building protein. If you need a little kick, season the egg
with some garlic, pepper, chilli or vinegar. For those who really want
to try something they’ve never done before, this dish is perfect for
anyone on a leading gastronomy break in South-east Asia.
Haggis
Our
final dish and for those who live in England or Scotland it might seem
strange to have this dish on the list or it might not. Regardless, this
dish deserves its place here be for the ludicrous amount of foodstuffs
it manages to put together in one humongous package.
The main
ingredients of haggis are the following: sheep’s heart, liver and lungs.
Then it’s minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with
stock and left to simmer in the animal’s stomach for three hours. It’s
amazing how anyone could eat something so filling. Blowing many
of the contenders on this list with its quantity, try some on your
luxury gourmet getaway in Scotland the next time you’re there.
