Practically every country has its ownculinary preferences that can shock foreigners. For example, for an Australian, it's normal to taste soup from kangaroo tails or roast from a flying squirrel. You will not be surprised by the Chinese with roasted moles, and it's common for a Hindu to have breakfast with a shark in a creamy sauce. However, all these animals, although exotic, but quite edible. Russian tourists coming to Kenya, not without interest, try shish kebab from a porcupine or roast from a zebra - if you abstract from obsessive memories of how we admired in the zoo these lovely little animals, you can even enjoy yourself from the meal. However, in the world of cooking there are dishes that people can not eat unprepared to eat - it is too strong disgust and fear of the original ingredients.
Scary foodPhoto: www.photobank.com
Shish kebab from larvae, mole and other "inedible" products can be found on the markets in China. Photo: www.photobank.com
The market in China. Starfishes here are not the most exotic delicacy. Photo: www.photobank.com
Alligator's filtephoto: www.photobank.com
Fried scorpions Photo: www.photobank.com
Poisonous manioc, which is baked at the stakePhoto: www.photobank.com
The most poisonous fish is the fuguPhoto: www.photobank.com
Poisonous dinner
In the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific OceansSea snakes are found in abundance. In terms of toxicity, they surpass their land sisters - their bite is ten times stronger than the "kiss" of a cobra. But at the same time, in some countries they are eaten with pleasure. For example, in China and Japan, sea snakes are stuffed and filled like sausage. By the way, the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun have always been famous for their love of poisonous dishes. The most famous example is the fugu fish, having tasted which, you can go to the next world, and the only insurance against a fatal outcome is the skill of the cook, who must neutralize the dangerous product during preparation. The desire to get a dose of adrenaline while eating is characteristic not only of the Japanese. Residents of Brazil can give them worthy competition with their favorite cassava. This is an extremely poisonous shrub, the tubers of which are rich in hydrocyanic acid. One sip of juice - and a person dies within an hour. However, thrill-seekers are not at all afraid of this fact. Cassava is baked on a fire (like potatoes) to neutralize its toxic effect. And it has to be cooked for a long time, because raw tubers "in their skins" can lead to severe poisoning. The inhabitants of Cambodia are also risky guys: they are not averse to feasting on scorpions. Before serving the deadly dish on the table, they deep-fry the arthropod, and the boiling oil completely kills the poison.
Dessert of spider's eggs
Write about what people eat in Asian and African countriesfried cockroaches and locusts, are no longer interesting. Our stars ate these delicacies every weekend, being the "last heroes" on a desert island. In addition, many tourists saw, and some even risked trying, a dish in Thailand under the general name "patanga", consisting of larvae, locusts, cockroaches and ants fried in oil. Such culinary delights will not surprise anyone, which cannot be said about fried spiders. And not some tiny and harmless arachnids, but real tarantulas - huge and hairy. These monsters, capable of swallowing a small bird, can hardly fit in the palm of your hand. Most European women, having seen such a miracle, would run as fast as they could, filling the surroundings with squeals. But Indian women from South America serve tarantulas to their households for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They prepare the delicacy in different ways. Some remove the insects' limbs and fry their bodies along with the internal organs. Others wrap the tarantulas in leaves, grill them, then remove the "offal" and eat only the legs and meat. In general, it's a matter of taste. But gourmets agree on one thing: the most delicious tarantulas are pregnant females. They squeeze the eggs out of the female spider, like from a tube of toothpaste, and save them for dessert.
Medusa ordered?
It turns out that the jelly-like transparent jellyfish,the mere sight of which can put many people off their appetite, are also edible. They contain easily digestible proteins, fats, carbohydrates, amino acids, as well as micro- and macroelements in ideal proportions for the body. True, not every jellyfish is suitable for culinary delights. Nothing will come of the Black Sea specimen, but the Asian one, caught in the Yellow Sea, can be used to make a lot of delicious dishes - this is what the people of China, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia think. They say that the finished jellyfish resembles soft cartilage. It tastes bland, with the smell of the sea, but it easily takes on the aroma of accompanying products and spices. For culinary experiments, only fresh large jellyfish, similar to mushrooms, are needed. The most delicious piece is the "head" located under the cap, which, according to connoisseurs of the delicacy, crunches amazingly on the teeth. True, it is too expensive and only wealthy people can afford it. Those who are poorer are content with tentacles and a cap.
Stones instead of chips
Some people love spiders, snakes and jellyfish, andothers eat seemingly inedible things – earth and clay. In Africa, there is even mass production of these “products”. Not far from Ghana, specially trained workers mine hard edible clay, which is first turned into powder, then mixed with water and flour and baked into “mud” cakes for tea. At local markets, you can find several types of earth and stones brought from different parts of Africa. The natives like to crunch on these delicacies at night. The Masai tribe, to the horror of European residents, went even further – for them, a great delicacy is considered to be… elephant dung. More precisely, plant seeds stuck in it, which the animals digested. Expert opinion Dmitry Krylov, author and host of the program “Neputevye Zametki” The cuisines of some countries are very exotic. For example, in China I had a chance to try fried grasshoppers, which were served as a side dish to the famous Peking duck. It felt like I was trying shrimp with beer. In Bali I was treated to a cocktail of snake blood and bile with honey. It sounds scary, but in reality the drink resembled . In Africa I tried the meat of wild animals. I can say that fried crocodile is quite pleasant – its taste is something between chicken and pork. During my trip to Latin America I dared to taste fried worms – I simply satisfied my curiosity and I think I will never agree to repeat this. Read more:
