Shit Burger: The Great Food Safari – Weird and Strange food from around the world
Have you ever had a huhu? It’s a traditional Maori grub that supposedly tastes like buttery chicken. Or how about tasty lizards from the food stalls of the Philippines?
Trying new and unique foods from all over the world is perhaps one of the most exciting experiences about travelling to new places. There’s nothing quite like diving into an authentic Indian curry or sampling some of the best sushi in Tokyo. Foreigners taking holidays to Australia are eager to try a good kangaroo steak or a piece of emu jerky – a delectable treat!
Then there are those more outrageous culinary experiences: how about fried crickets in Laos or deep fried monkey toes in Indonesia? Have we whetted your appetite? Dig into some of the most bizarre food items in the world – if you dare!
Shit Burger (Japan) – while not publicly available (for good reason), scientists in Japan have found a way to turn human excrement into a meat substitute. Scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda calls his invention the sh*t burger, and it’s made by successfully extracting the protein from the solids found in sewage, mixing it with soya and then flavouring the patty with a steak sauce derivative. (Image Source: wurstundfleisch.wordpress.com)
Thousand Year Old Eggs (Hong Kong) – featured in the first season of Australia’s Master Chef, this common Asian food topping can be found in noodles, rice porridge or eaten whole. Duck and quail eggs are preserved (for a couple of months – not actually a thousand years) in a clay, salt and sand mixture until the egg whites turn to jelly like and the yolks turn a dark green.
Tripe (Various) – tripe is common offal extracted from the stomachs of common farm animals including cows and sheep. It is featured in many cultural cuisines, including many European nations and Asian areas. They can be steamed, grilled, spiced, poached, boiled – and served in a variety of ways. Visit your local butcher for a local sampling.
Fried Crickets and Tarantulas (Cambodia) – also common in Laos, Thailand and other South Asian countries, deep fried crickets are a common snacking item. While you won’t find it on the in-flight menu, we hear these crunchy critters taste great with a tall glass of cold beer!
Fried Rats (Thailand) – Thai and Laotians have a unique way of dealing with pests – grill ’em up and serve ’em! Roadside stalls in rural parts of these nations can be found dishing out grilled bandicoot rats and other rodents to customers – and they cost twice as much as a chicken or beef!
Huhu Grubs (New Zealand) – while most modern New Zealanders probably prefer to not make huhus a part of their staple diet, it has been long considered a delectable dining delight in Maori tradition.
Birds’ Nest Soup (China) – these swift birds’ nests are considered a real delicacy in China. The saliva of the birds that hold the nest together gives a unique gelatinous quality to the soup that many find quite enjoyable.
Snake Wine (Vietnam) – no you haven’t drunk too much – these unique bottles of wine made in Vietnam feature a whole snake body in the bottle. Used for medicinal purposes, snake wine is made by steeping a venomous snake in a bottle of rice wine – thereby removing the poison and leaving the snake body soaking, which is deemed to have many health benefits.
Balut – Bird Feotus (Philippines) – this common snack features a partly formed chick foetus along with the egg. The eggs are boiled when the foetuses are between 17 and 21 days old, and some older foetuses have already formed beaks and feathers. Just as a common as a hot dog in some places!
Casu Marzu – Maggot Cheese (Sardinia) – this maggot riddled cheese gives a whole new dimension to the idea of “well aged” cheese. It is now banned for health reasons, but you may still find it on the black market in parts of Sardinia or Italy.
Monkey brains (Indonesia) – monkeys, from their brains to deep fried monkey toes, originated as a Chinese delicacy although the practice is now more commonly associated with Indonesia. Over hunting has made the eating of monkeys quite controversial internationally, although it is still practiced in many native populations throughout the world.
Live Skinned Frog (China) – a delicacy in Cheng Du, these frogs are skinned alive and then served up fresh to be cooked in a hot pot. What can I say – the Chinese like their meat fresh.What’s the most bizarre food that you’ve tried on your travels?
Here’s Dorota and I sampling a few Chinese favorites in Wangfujing, Beijing. We ate tarantula, cicadas and scorpions, but there was many more such as sheep penis, lizard, baby pigeon, star fish, sea urchins, sea horses, millipedes and snake.
Comment by Phill Ohren on 27 May 2010:
Eeeeeew! The Sh*t burger is shocking! How do scientists get funding for that kind of thing?
Comment by Phill Ohren on 27 May 2010:
Eeeeeew! The Sh*t burger is shocking! How do scientists get funding for that kind of thing?
Comment by WorldFriends on 27 May 2010:
Oooh! I think I would have a hard time stomaching most of them! Most bizarre food I’ve tried is deep fried maggots! But it really didn’t taste like maggots at all because it was so deeply fried! Went well with ketchup, by the way. π
Comment by WorldFriends on 27 May 2010:
Oooh! I think I would have a hard time stomaching most of them! Most bizarre food I’ve tried is deep fried maggots! But it really didn’t taste like maggots at all because it was so deeply fried! Went well with ketchup, by the way. π
Comment by ayhkny on 29 May 2010:
wow, this is awesome. thanks for sharing.I had the tripe,thousand year old egg and bird’s nest soup before and don’t find it too bizarre. I have the gut to try 80% of the items above (def not the sh*t burger).Its really depends on which part of the world,custom, culture and the food you grew up with.
Comment by ayhkny on 29 May 2010:
wow, this is awesome. thanks for sharing.I had the tripe,thousand year old egg and bird’s nest soup before and don’t find it too bizarre. I have the gut to try 80% of the items above (def not the sh*t burger).Its really depends on which part of the world,custom, culture and the food you grew up with.
Comment by Globe Nomads on 23 June 2010:
Some of the above are not too bizarre in my opinion. You might even have consumed some of them one way or another without knowing such as in medicine. Humans adapt remarkably well and if everyone around you starts eating some weird food, you will get used to it. Furthermore, how do you know if the pizza or hamburger that you are eating are not considered as weird in other cultures?
Comment by Globe Nomads on 23 June 2010:
Some of the above are not too bizarre in my opinion. You might even have consumed some of them one way or another without knowing such as in medicine. Humans adapt remarkably well and if everyone around you starts eating some weird food, you will get used to it. Furthermore, how do you know if the pizza or hamburger that you are eating are not considered as weird in other cultures?
Comment by Nick on 6 July 2010:
Hi, sorry, this isn’t related to this post, I’m trying to get hold of Alex! Just tried to submit a guest post but it keeps telling me my file is too large (even though I reduced the file size of the jpegs to less than 100kb each) – can you please get in touch so I can just email it to you?
Thanks
Nick
Comment by Nick on 6 July 2010:
Hi, sorry, this isn’t related to this post, I’m trying to get hold of Alex! Just tried to submit a guest post but it keeps telling me my file is too large (even though I reduced the file size of the jpegs to less than 100kb each) – can you please get in touch so I can just email it to you?
Thanks
Nick
Comment by Laura on 28 July 2010:
Hi! I would like to swap links with your site. My blog is http://www.travelocafe.com. I’ve already added you under my “Links” section on my page. Please send me the description you favor for your site. Thank you!
I’m also looking for guest bloggers. Please let me know if you’d be interested in being featured on Travelocafe.
Regards, Laura
Comment by Laura on 28 July 2010:
Hi! I would like to swap links with your site. My blog is http://www.travelocafe.com. I’ve already added you under my “Links” section on my page. Please send me the description you favor for your site. Thank you!
I’m also looking for guest bloggers. Please let me know if you’d be interested in being featured on Travelocafe.
Regards, Laura
Comment by Laura on 21 August 2010:
How amny of these recpies have you tried, tasted… uhhh?
Comment by Laura on 21 August 2010:
How amny of these recpies have you tried, tasted… uhhh?
Comment by Rob on 31 August 2010:
Hi there,
I’m trying to get in touch with someone from this site, is there an email address?
Comment by Lisa on 3 September 2010:
Tried the bird nest soup last year from like http://www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm . Tastes really good… yeah, I thought it was gross at first, but wow, you won’t regret it.
Comment by Neil on 16 September 2010:
http://www.yuckfood.com
Comment by Neil on 16 September 2010:
http://www.yuckfood.com
Comment by Anonymous on 16 September 2010:
There are some great photos there Neil. Shocking.
Comment by Travel Blog on 16 September 2010:
There are some great photos there Neil. Shocking.
Comment by Teddy on 26 September 2010:
The food descriptions sound yuck but the taste could be different….*the shit burger* lol…..good compilation
Comment by Teddy on 26 September 2010:
The food descriptions sound yuck but the taste could be different….*the shit burger* lol…..good compilation
Comment by Kelly Dunning on 2 January 2011:
I tried Haggis while I was in Scotland, which is basically all of the leftover pieces of a sheep after all of the nice meat is gone, boiled up in the sheep’s stomach. I was a bit nervous but you know what? It was actually quite good and I would eat it again!
I agree, one of the best parts of traveling is trying new foods!
Comment by Kelly Dunning on 2 January 2011:
I tried Haggis while I was in Scotland, which is basically all of the leftover pieces of a sheep after all of the nice meat is gone, boiled up in the sheep’s stomach. I was a bit nervous but you know what? It was actually quite good and I would eat it again!
I agree, one of the best parts of traveling is trying new foods!
Comment by Fileto Fish on 10 February 2011:
Tried? Bird Nest soup last year from like http://www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm . Tastes really good… yeah, I thought it was gross at first, but wow, you won’t regret it.
Comment by Fileto Fish on 10 February 2011:
Triedο»Ώ Bird Nest soup last year from like http://www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm . Tastes really good… yeah, I thought it was gross at first, but wow, you won’t regret it.
Comment by L.a. Cabildo on 10 April 2011:
Well, as a Filipina I have tried Balut (steamed duck egg) but it’s not for me, hahaha! I saw the Tarantulas in Cambodia but my adventurous taste buds can’t even try it because I’m in transit. Although, I tried grasshopper in Thailand, it doesn’t taste bad but still its not for me. I just like trying things just to have a say.
Comment by L.a. Cabildo on 10 April 2011:
Well, as a Filipina I have tried Balut (steamed duck egg) but it’s not for me, hahaha! I saw the Tarantulas in Cambodia but my adventurous taste buds can’t even try it because I’m in transit. Although, I tried grasshopper in Thailand, it doesn’t taste bad but still its not for me. I just like trying things just to have a say.
Comment by Marie Hudson on 19 April 2011:
So interesting! But with my gag reflex and texture issues I don’t think I could be as adventurous as I would like, even though I like trying new things. Just looking at the photos makes me less hungry.
Comment by Eunice on 25 April 2011:
Those foods on the list above are really strange and I think some of them will makes me think if I can eat them…Anyway, this post is really informative and very interesting indeed…Thanks for sharing this post to us…^_^
Comment by Anonymous on 26 April 2011:
I did eat Italian frogs once but not knowing what it was. It tasted good but I will not tell you what I did when I was told what I have eaten.
Each country with its own more or less weird delicacy I guess, there is no point in commenting until you try all the above, it might be a great experience, it may be not π
Comment by Anonymous on 29 April 2011:
ummmmm has anyone noticed the LIVE skinning of a frog?? posted here…HELLO???
thats just cruel, but than again, China is known for its animal cruelty,,,,skinning dogs alive for food too……..sickos
Comment by Jessica - Travelling Alone on 31 October 2012:
You know I really enjoy my food AND I consider myself adventurous, but I still wouldn’t eat a single thing on this list… I think I was probably too overwhelmed by the S**t burger from the very start to even consider any other options!
Comment by Samuel Jeffery on 10 April 2013:
Wow! A shit burger π From your list I have tried snake wine before both in Vietnam and in South Korea. I think it would be a cool thing to create a list of foods to eat from around the world similar to the way others create bucket lists π