Each country has their own traditional dishes like England’s roast dinner, Spain’s paella and Italy’s lasagne; however there are some countries that have more unusual delicacies. We might not fully understand right now why people around the world eat everything, just like Chines. Taking a look at the list of 10 bizarre foods from around the world and see if your perspective on trying international cuisine doesn’t change.
You had probably never eat any of these top 10 bizarre foods, most of them are popular in their respective regions for pretty good reasons.
Top 10 Bizarre Foods That People Usually Eat
Haggis
This Scottish dish contains the internal organs of a sheep, including the liver, heart, and lungs. Mix this with some chopped onions, raw beef or mutton’s fat, salt, and spices. Mixed with stock and traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a sausage casing rather than an actual stomach.
See also: Top 10 foods that make you happy
Yak Penis
Yak penis is a Chinese delicacy and is also known as “Dragon in the Flame of Desire”. It is most commonly served in the Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing which is famous for serving penis and testicle dishes, the yak penis dish is very popular as it is supposed to be very good for skin!
See also: Most Expensive Foods and Spices in the World
Fried – Brain Sandwich
A fried-brain sandwich is generally a sandwich with sliced calves’ brains on sliced bread. Long before the era of Mad-Cow Disease, a sandwich made from fried calves’ brain, thinly sliced on white bread was a common item on the menus in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The sandwich is still available in the Ohio River Valley, where the brains are now heavily battered and served on hamburger buns.
In El Salvador and Mexico beef brains, lovingly called sesos in Spanish, are used in tacos and burritos. Brains from cows over 30 months old at slaughter are no longer permitted in human food in the United States. Some restaurants have taken to serving pigs’ brains instead of cows’ brains due to Mad-Cow Disease.
See also: Top 10 Highly Fattening Foods We Eat
Fugu
Fugu is the Japanese word for the poisonous puffer fish, 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 chefs will choose to leave a minute amount of poison in the fish to cause a tingling sensation on the tongue and lips as fugu can be quite bland. Perhaps the fuss of fugu is more in surviving the experience than the actual taste of the deadly fish.
See also: Best Foods to Boost Your Metabolism
Sannakji
Sannakji or sannakji hoe is a variety of hoe, or raw dish, in Korean cuisine. It consists of live nakji (a small octopus) that has been cut into small pieces and served immediately, usually lightly seasoned with sesame and sesame oil.
The nakji pieces are usually still squirming on the plate when this dish is served and, if not chewed carefully, the tiny suction cups can stick to the mouth and throat. This is not a dish for the fainthearted.
See also: Most Poisonous Foods in the World
Balut
Balut seemes to be on every strong and bizarre foods list, One of the most popular dishes in the Philippines, where it is commonly sold as streetfood. A balut is a fertilized (mostly half fertilized) duck or chicken embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell. As unappealing as half-developed ducklings are, balut is high in protein and also, an aphrodisiac.
It’s up to you to decide if that’s all worth it, but if it’s any consolation, the people who’ve tried balut say it tastes much better than it looks. These are common food in countries in Southeast Asia, such as Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. These are often served with beer.
Fried Spider
Fried spider is a regional delicacy in Cambodia. In the Cambodian town of Skuon the vending of fried spiders as a specialty snack is a popular attraction for tourists passing through this town. Spiders are also available elsewhere in Cambodia. These spiders are fried from a species of tarantula that is about the size of a human palm. Typically only the legs are eaten, with mixed reviews on eating the abdomen.
Rocky Mountain Oysters
It is a well-known novelty dish in parts of the American West and Western Canada where cattle ranching is prevalent and castration of young animals is common. Rocky Mountain oysters are bull calf testicles used for human consumption.
Sometimes pig or sheep testicles are used. They are often deep-fried after being peeled, coated in flour, pepper and salt, and sometimes pounded flat. This delicacy is most often served as an appetizer with a cocktail sauce dip.
See also: Top 10 Important Foods to Fight Fatigue
Tuna Eyeball
These type of foods Commonly eaten in China and Japan. Tuna Eye can be found staring up at you in most Japanese stores for less than a Pound. In Japan, the dish is served fried with garlic and soya sauce. Apparently it tastes a bit like squid and the eyeball comes surrounded by fish fat and severed muscles that are also meant to be quite tasty. To cook, you simply boil it and then season to taste.
Chicken Cartilage
Chicken cartilage no doubt one of the most bizarre foods, is commonly served in bars in Japan as a tasty snack. It can be eaten fried or on a shish kabob. The texture is very chewy and sometimes can take quite a few mouthfuls to break it up properly.