Vegemite and Ox Penis.
July 27th, 2009
I stumbled upon a website that listed the most disgusting foods in the world (by country) and amongst the camel’s feet, tiger’s testicles, pork uterus, ox penis, cow urine and maggot-cheese was Vegemite. Come on. Vegemite is not disgusting. Yes, it doesn’t look the most appetising, but it fair dinkum tastes good on ya toast in the morning. Also under the ‘Australia’ list were witchety grubs and beetroot! The ‘American’ list of disgusting foods was just as strange (as in strange that they made the list). On that list was Spam (okay, fair enough there), iceberg lettuce and peanut butter.
I’ve eaten some pretty disgusting foods in my travels, so here’s my list of the 10 most disgusting foods I’ve eaten:
Rancid shark – Iceland
Hakarl, or rancid shark, is traditionally prepared by digging a hole, placing the shark in the hole, pissing on it, then burying it for about six months until it rots. It’s then served cold ala sashimi style.
Burned sheep’s head – Iceland
If you’d like to prepare this at home, it’s very easy. Get a sheep’s head, burn it to remove the wool, cut it in two in order to remove the brain, boil it, then serve with mashed turnip.
Fried grasshoppers – Burma
A local girl brought me one and when I said, very politely, that it was quite nice she brought me a whole bowl of them. It wasn’t nice – sort of burnt with gooey horrible stuff inside – and I had to eat about 20 of them.
African sausages – Kenya
Otherwise known as goat’s intestines. The boiled intestines, which were grey and slimy, were served dangling daintily from a stick.
Worms – South Africa
I had a traditional South African entrée of fat black slimy Mopani worms that were ‘gently simmered’ and came served with peanut butter and tomato relish. They tasted like burnt sausage, and then the second crunch let loose the slimy insides which tasted exactly as I had feared a worm would taste like. As if someone had blown their nose into my mouth.
Frog’s brains – Indonesia
I’d eaten frog’s legs in France before, but when I ordered frog in Yogyakarta, Indonesia I got the whole frog – including legs, eyes, stomach and brain.
Goat soup – Kenya
I’m pretty sure this mug of soup isn’t in the Continental Cup-a-Soup range: Hearty Goat with Fat Globs and Grey Sludge.
Foetus eggs – Vietnam
It’s as horrible as it sounds. It’s duck eggs with the foetus inside only a few days away from hatching. And it’s eaten raw.
Offal sausage – France
I ordered this by accident. I thought I was ordering some gourmet sausages in a very nice restaurant in a Paris, but instead I’d ordered sausages stuffed with smelly and grey offal bits.
Beetroot – Anywhere
I agree with the ‘disgusting foods’ list here. Why anyone would want to eat beetroot is beyond me. I think I’d rather eat raw rancid frog’s brain soup.
But then again none of the above comes close in the disgusting stakes to something else I saw on my travels (and rather sensibly passed up an offer to try). I found it in China and it’s called Baby Mice Wine. It’s a traditional Chinese ‘health tonic’, which apparently tastes like raw gasoline. Little mice, eyes still closed, are plucked from the embrace of their loving mothers and stuffed (while still alive) into a bottle of rice wine where they are left to ferment. Here’s a pic… (and yes, gross!)
Has anyone eaten any other ‘disgusting’ foods in their travels?
On July 27th, 2009 Brett said:
On July 27th, 2009 NOFXmike said:
On July 27th, 2009 brianthacker said:
On July 28th, 2009 Michael Wang said:
On July 28th, 2009 Sarah Michelle said:
On July 28th, 2009 Sarah Michelle said:
On July 28th, 2009 Sandra Grey said:
On July 29th, 2009 Vicki said:
On August 4th, 2009 allrite said: