A big part of the fun of traveling is getting out of your comfort zone and getting to know the people there. The best way to get a sense of the culture is to eat what the people there eat.
Some people don’t like these dishes, but they are a treat in the countries where they are served. Extreme eating may look like this to us, but the people who eat it enjoy it every day or for special events.
- Bird’s nest soup, weird food, China
The soup called “Caviar of the East” is made from swifts’ nests. You might not expect it to be tasty. Swiftlets don’t build their nests out of twigs and leaves. Instead, they use their saliva to build them.
Swiftlets build their nests primarily out of saliva, not twigs, leaving like you might think they would.
One of the most expensive animal products humans eat is the bird’s spit because it is so sticky and viscous. Swiftlets build their nests for 35 days during the breeding season, which means that only three times a year can the nests be harvested. Because the price is so high, many people don’t do it. As the nests are often found in caves near the coast, a risky and time-consuming method must be used to get them.
In response to the rise in popularity of birds’ nest soup, more and more people are making their nests. People in Hong Kong and the United States are the two biggest importers of nests. The most expensive pound of nests can cost up to $2,000, and they’re the two biggest importers. In addition to having a lot of protein, the soup has long been thought to have aphrodisiac properties.
- Fried tarantulas are served in Cambodian restaurants.
It’s probably not good to eat a spider if you’re allergic to them. The street vendors in Skuon, Cambodia, sell tarantulas that aren’t tiny house spiders. You can buy them from them.
Even their teeth and legs have been fried. Some Cambodians learned to eat them during the harsh Khmer Rouge era, and now people from all over the world have come to try them. There was a significant change in how they were eaten.
- Pufferfish from Japan
To keep from ending up in the mortuary, you must be very careful when handling this delicatessen. Japanese people love the poisonous Pufferfish, or fugu, even though it has a lethal toxin 1,250 times more potent than cyanide.
Consequently, its skin and internal organs have the 1,250-fold more powerful poison, tetrodotoxin.
As a result, only chefs who have been trained by the government can make it to Japan. For your safety, only try this at restaurants that are allowed to serve it.
There are street vendors who shout “Balut” as they drive carts down the streets in the Philippines. They’re an excellent libido booster and a good source of protein, so they’re a good choice.
It is widely thought that they boost libido and are a good source of protein.
It’s usually served with beer, but some people like to add chili and vinegar to their meals. Crack open the egg, drink the broth, and then eat the yolk and fetus of the Balut in that order, as shown in the video.
- Maggot Cheese
It’s called “maggot cheese,” and it’s made with Italian cheeses worldwide.
This cheese from Sardinia has a lot of insect larvae on the surface of the cheese. This word is slang for “maggot cheese.” This word is used to describe a bad cheese. Even though it has been banned for public health reasons, it is still available on the black market in Sardinia and other parts of Italy.
It took Piophilacasei larvae to make this cheese from sheep’s milk because they helped the cheese fly make it. When larvae break down fats in the cheese, some liquid comes out. This makes the cheese very soft with a noticeable amount of liquid. As long as the larvae are alive, they can be eaten. When they die, the cheese is dangerous.
If you want to buy Baltic herring that has been fermented, you can find it in Swedish supermarkets. But it isn’t likely to be next to Ikea meatballs, so don’t expect to see it.
Some airlines think pressurized cans, like pyrotechnics and explosives, are dangerous.
This spring-caught herring is fermented in barrels before it is canned. The fermentation process lasts for a few months after the herring are caught. Because the fermentation process is still happening, the cans can get bigger during shipping and storage.
The pressurized cans, like pyrotechnics and explosives, have been banned by some airlines from being taken on flights by some people. Most of the time, when you open a can of fermented fish, the smell is the first thing you notice. Bread and boiled potatoes are often served with it, too. Beer is the best way to wash it down. Milk or water won’t do.
