A Matter of Taste: Strange Foods From Around the World

Originally Published on 31/12/2013

When it comes to cuisine it's a question of personal taste and what's a culinary heaven for one person, can be a gustatory hell for another.

This hub focuses on those food items that are widely seen as "strange" or "bizzare" due to their inclusion of unusual ingredients, unorthodox cooking methods, cultural contrasts and alien dining customs. There are even a few entries that aren't generally considered edible (e.g. dirt, tree bark, placenta etc) as well as some fairly obscure yet controversial rituals that involve "devouring" the intangible, such as sin and sunlight.

So, prepare for your mouth to occasionally water and your stomach to frequently churn as you make your way through this hub, digesting the plethora of unusual foods detailed within.

Enjoy!

(Sorry for the length though...I felt compelled to constantly add to this hub as more information came to my attention, though I must admit I got a bit carried away).

List of Contents of this 'Strange Foods' Hub

Baby Gaga (and Human Cheese)

“If it's good enough for our children, it's good enough for the rest of us”, said icecreamist Matthew O'Connor in February 2011 when his London cafe began serving ice cream made from human breast milk.

This controversial ice cream was further flavored with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest with a wafer and optional shot of Calpol (a brand of children' medical syrup) or Bonjela (an oral gel used to treat mouth ulcers, sores and teething pain in babies).

It was sold for one week before being seized by the Westminister Council to ensure that it was safe for human consumption. The product is still on the market but under the new name “Baby Goo Goo” after pop artist Lady Gaga filed a lawsuit against the ice cream's creator Matthew O'Connor.

What's it taste like?

Journalist Zoe Williams took the taste test and found Baby Gaga had a similar flavor to regular vanilla ice-cream “until the mouth-coating back taste kicks in – like a thin, more goatish, dairy”.

Peter Dominiczak wrote a very favorable review of the breast milk ice cream in the London Evening Standard describing the taste as “fantastic” with a flavor that was “light and creamy with just enough of a vanilla tinge”.

Update: In April 2015 ice cream makers, The Licktators, relaunched the product, re-labelling it 'Royal Baby Gaga' in reference to the birth of Princess Charlotte. For a period, they also made the recipe available on their website.

Similar in Substance: Human breast milk is also a key ingredient in a product called "Human Cheese", created by New York University Student, Miriam Simun, who has so far produced breast milk cheese in three flavors: Westside Smoke, Wisconsin Chew and Midtown Funk.

The milk is sourced from three separate woman with different diets, lifestyles and locations so as to provide three unique flavors. Westside Smoke and Midtown Funky are described as "creamy and just pure heaven," while Wisconsin Chew's flavor is said to reflect the vegetable-filled diet of the breast milk donor.

Note: Consuming human breast milk isn't exclusive to the cases explained above. Other notable examples include NYC Chef Daniel Angerer using his wife's excess breast milk to create 'Mommy's Milk Cheese'; as well as Abi Blake, the self-proclaimed "Nigella Lawson of breast milk cookery" using this natural ingredient to make cupcakes and lasagna among other things.

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Bacteriophages

These tenacious viruses are among the most abundant microorganisms on Earth and are currently used as a food additive on numerous products in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe and Asia.

Bacteriophage sprays are often applied to meat, fish, cheese, fruit, vegetables and ready-to-eat meals with the goal of controlling the spread of bacteria – such as as Listeria monocytogenes – a potentially lethal bacteria to those with a weakened immune system.

What's it taste like?

Bacteriophages have no taste or negative health effects, so the presence of this virus on your steak shouldn't contaminate its flavor or make you ill.

Balut (also known as 'Balot')

It's rare to find a list of “strange foods” and not see Balut listed within the top 3. The reason why this Southeast Asian delicacy features highly on so many lists is due to Balut's appearance as a partially formed unborn chicken or duck embryo still in its shell.

Balut is prepared much like a hard boiled egg and when it's ready to eat a hole is created on one side of the eggshell revealing a deceased and partially developed bird with easy to recognize bodily features such as eyes, feet, wings and veins and sometimes a beak and feathers. Balut is generally eaten first by sucking out the liquid broth that surrounds the embryo, before peeling the shell back further and consuming the yolk and the chick. It's often eaten with a range of spices and condiments including salt, lemon juice, vinegar and ground pepper.

While chicken and Mallard duck eggs can be used, most balut-eaters consider Muscovy duck eggs aged no more than 17-days as superior. These fertilized eggs are popular snacks in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, with many people considering it a super-food, an aphrodisiac and an energizer that contains a number of vitamins and nutrients including retinol, B-carotene, riboflavin, niacin and ascorbic acid.

Interestingly some superstititous Filipinos abstain from eating balut out of fear that it can transform a person into a vampiric, shape-shifting, flesh-craving, fetus-eating ghoul known as an aswang or manananggal. This superstition may also drive the common custom of adding salt and spice, which are believed to ward off aswang attacks and protect balut-eaters from transforming into such creatures (though it's more likely that most people add these condiments to enhance flavor).

What's it taste like?

Despite Balut's somewhat grotesque appearance many people who have eaten it agree that it has a pleasant flavor, similar to a hard boiled egg and chicken or duck broth (depending on the type of bird within the shell). Depending on how far the bird has developed its bones may also add a crunchy texture.

National Geographic Explores Balut Eggs

Beating Hearts

In a famous scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom a Thuggee priest rips the still beating heart out of a sacrificial victim.

While thankfully that scenario was a work of fiction, it is possible to pull still beating hearts from certain animals, which are then usually served as food to paying customers. One example is a Getemono restaurant in Japan where culinary explorer Andrew Zimmern was served a disembodied and still beating frog's heart after ordering frog sashimi.

Probably the most famous location for eating beating animals hearts however is Le Mat, a village located near central Hanoi, Vietnam. Le Mat is popularly referred to as “the snake village” as the reptiles play an important role in the village's culture and traditions. On the 20^th day of the third lunar month the village hosts a snake festival, inspired by a local legend of a Le Mat villager who saved the daughter of King Ly Thai Tong(1028-1054) from a giant serpent in the Duong River.

Snake dishes are a Le Mat specialty, including a raw and beating cobra heart in a shot of rice wine followed with chasers consisting of the serpent's blood, bile and venom. The heart is eaten for its purported health benefits, including an increase to male virility and sexual performance.

What's it taste like?

As the heart is usually swallowed whole and not chewed most people have found that other than being a little salty it doesn't have much taste and is usually overpowered by the flavor of what ever it's served in, whether it be wine, bile or blood. Gastroenterologist Harry Teicher and culinary explorer Anthony Bourdain have both likened the experience to eating an “interesting” and “athletic” oyster.

Anthony Bourdain Enjoys A Beating Cobra Heart in Vietnam

Bhut Jolokia (& Other Potent Peppers)

Most foods on this list exist to bring people joy, allowing them to sample cultural delicacies and uphold certain traditions while satisfying their hunger and curiosity.

Bhut Jolokia however constantly brings people just one thing – pain. Also known as the 'ghost pepper', Bhut Jolokia was listed as “the world's hottest chilli” by The Guinness World Records in 2007, reaching 1,041,427 Scoville Heat units compared to the intensity of jalapeño which only rate around 2,500-8,000 units.

The heat and pain experienced from eating chilies in general is largely due to chemical compounds known as capsaicinoids, which includes Capsaicin (the key ingredient in pepper spray) and Dihydrocapsaicin. The concentration of these compounds in Bhut Jolokia reportedly reaches up to 338 times greater than jalapenos and 18 times greater than Scotch Bonnet (which has a Scoville rating of up to 350,000 heat units).

Capsaicinoids are insoluble in water so the best way to combat a chili burn is by consuming milk or other dairy products that contain Casein - a lipophilic (fat-loving) substance that can effectively 'wash away' Capsaicin molecules similar to how soap removes grease.

Capsaicin and Dihydrocapsaicin can cause excruciating agony if chilies come into contact with a person's eyes or nose and have reportedly caused lesions on peoples' skin when Bhut Jolokia has been handled without gloves.

Pepper cultivators' determination to scorch mouths in searing pain has led to the production of even hotter chilies including the Infinity Chili; the Naga Viper; the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T (which notably is so potent that many people wear protective body suits and chemical masks when cooking with it) ; the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion; and finally the Carolina Reaper with an average rating of 1,569,300 Scoville heat units, making it the most pungent pepper recognized by Guinness World Records as of August 2013.

Though it's been replaced as the world's hottest pepper, the Bhut Jolokia's potency remains so notorious that in India it's been used as a repellent to keep marauding elephants away from human settlements as well as having been weaponized into a “chili grenade” in 2010 as an addition to the country's arsenal in its war on terrorism.

What's it taste like?

Bhut Jolokia has a “sweet”, “woody” and “smoky” flavor for the first 30-45 seconds before it's completely overpowered by the chilli's intense heat, which can last up to 40 minutes.

Those who succumb to the ghost chilli's wrath describe the experience as being “painful”, “hell” and “torture”, sometimes leading to hiccups, shortness of breath, vomiting and numerous unpleasant trips to the toilet.

Bhut Jolokia and some of the hotter peppers are common ingredients in the world's spiciest chilli powders, sauces, extracts (one of which claims to have a Scoville rating of 9 million heat units) and curries, as well as being popular in countless food challenges and pranks.

Castoreum, Civet Absolute & Other Sumptuous Secretions (Ambergris and Musk)

When it comes to these additives the whole world can probably agree with poet Thomas Gray's now popular phrase that “ignorance is bliss”.

Castoreum is a bitter and creamy orange-brown substance sourced from North American and European beavers' castor sac scent glands, which is located near their anus, and secreted by these animals to mark their territory.

It's also used by humans, mostly in perfume fragrances but can also occasionally be found in some cigarettes and artificial vanilla, raspberry and strawberry flavorings. Food products that may contain castoreum include ice cream, flavored drinks and confectioneries, in which they're listed in the ingredients as “Natural Flavors”.

A similarly off-putting ingredient in food and fragrances is Civet Absolute, which is derived from civetone - a pheromone secreted from the perineal glands of civet cats.

According to an online merchant its initial aroma is “overbearing, raw, vile and slightly faecal” but when well diluted with alcohol or odorless solvent its scent is a lot more pleasant, becoming “musky, smoky and heightened" with "sweet animalic notes of sublime tenacity”.

Like castoreum, civet absolute is most commonly used in perfumes, but may also be included in raspberry, caramel, butter, grape and rum flavorings for beverages, ice cream, chewing gum gelatin, candy and baked goods.

Both products are considered safe to consume, though their addition to food and beverage isn't quite as common as other natural ingredients and not as widespread as many people believe. Apparently though castoreum is an essential ingredient in a Swedish schnapps called 'BVR HJT' or 'Bäverhojt'.

Other 'Sumptuous' Secretions: Other animal secretions known for their use in perfumery and cookery include musk and ambergris.

Originating from the Sanskrit word 'muṣká' (meaning 'testicle'), musk is an outrageously expensive aromatic secretion, this time harvested from the abdominal glands of the male musk deer (which are now largely endangered due to being over hunted for this fragrance) primarily located in India, Tibet, Siberia and the Jiangsu province of China.

Like castoreum and civet absolute, musk has historically always largely been associated with cosmetics and fragrances, though it's also used in traditional Chinese medicine and very low levels may also appear in food, adding nut, caramel and fruit-type flavors to beverages, gelatin, pudding, frozen dairy deserts, baked goods and candy.

Ambergris is a grey, hard, waxy bile-duct secretion, created within the intestines of a sperm whale after ingesting sharp and indigestible material, such as squid beaks. Upon being expelled from the creature's body, ambergris can be found floating in the ocean, washed up on coasts and beaches, or otherwise harvested directly from harpooned and beached whales.

Also known as "grey amber" or even "whale vomit", it was once a popular addition to medieval, baroque and renaissance confectioneries and cookery.

Historically Chinese incorporated ambergris to tea (referring to it as the "flavor of dragon's saliva"); wealthy Egyptians melted it in their coffee; while the Persians including it in a sherbet concoction of lemon and water. Ambergris was also popular in Europe, with famed cookery writer Hannah Glasse (1708-1770) and chefs Robert May (circa 1588-1664) and Vincenzo Corrado (1736-1836) making use of it in their cuisine (in his book The Accomplisht Cook, May actually describes dishes that include musk, ambergris and civet all together).

The womanizing 18th-century explorer, Giacomo Casanova apparently ate ambergris with chocolate mouse as an aphrodisiac while the 19th-century gastronome, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, create 'ambered chocolate' which he designated 'chocolate of the afflicted' and 'chocolate of the unhappy'.

Ambergris is also extremely rare, exceptionally valuable and today almost exclusively reserved for perfumery. Occasionally small quantities are used as aromatic flavors in liqueurs, tobacco, fruit flavors, beverages, candy and ice cream.

Casu Marzu

Much like Balut, this is an another popular entry on strange food lists. Originating from Sardinia, this delicacy involves leaving pecorino cheese to ferment in the sun so that it can attract cheese flies (piophila casei) which can lay up to 500 eggs at a time within the pecorino. When the maggot larvae hatch from their shells they digest the pecorino and release an enzyme that results in a fermentation process, causing the cheese's fat to putrefy. When casu marzu is ready to eat, the top of the cheese is sliced off, revealing a soft gooey substance infested with maggots.

If the fly larvae die in the cheese before consumption, cazu marzu is toxic. Some people remove the live maggots before eating the cheese, while others eat the pecorino with the squirming larvae. Consumers should also be aware of the maggot's ability to launch themselves up to 6 inches in the air.

What's it taste like?

Casu Marzu creates a burning sensation in the mouth and is said to taste similar to Gorgonzola. Some Sardinians consider it an aphrodisiac and hallucinogenic, but it was also banned in Sardinia due to health concerns that include allergic reactions, intestinal larvae infection and burning of the oesophagus and stomach. It can still be bought on the black market for several times the price of normal pecorino.

Apparently the ban was lifted by the European Union under grounds that Casu marzu is a traditional food made using traditional methods.

Note: Maggot-filled cheese isn't exclusive to Sardinia either. In Nicaragua there exists a dish that also involves worm-infested Chontales cheese. Apparently popular around the time of the Sandinista Front movement in the 1960s, it's now more-or-less vanished from Nicaraguan cuisine.

Chicha

How many people would drink a beer knowing that the bartender spat in their glass? Not many would, unless they're drinking traditionally-made chicha, in which case one would expect the inclusion of human spit, as this alcoholic beverage, native to the Andes, is historically fermented in human saliva.

There are many different types of chicha all using a different core ingredients, which can include yuca, maize, quinoa, peanuts, carob, grapes, chonta palm, pineapple, cloves and pink peppercorns.

Chicha de jora, made from a type of corn called maiz jora, is one of the most well known and believed to be an Incan favorite. It's traditionally made by women of the household who chew on maize and spit it out to create small balls, which are then dried before being boiled and fermented in earthenware vats for up to 6 days. During this time the saliva's ptyalin enzymes break down the maize starches into fermentable sugars.

The end product's alcoholic content is quite low, usually between 1-3 percent.

While malted maze has mostly replaced the chew-and-spit method, some people still produce chicha the traditional way with saliva, including New York's Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.

What's it taste like?

Chicha's taste depends on the ingredients used, which varies between Central and South American cultures. Chicha de jora is said to taste similar to cider, which when drunk young has a sweet flavor but becomes progressively more sour the longer it's left to mature. One taste tester describes the flavor as being a bit like "English barley water mixed with light pilsner" or a "shandygaff of ale mixed with cider or milk".

Chica de yuca, which is made from cassava, is also very popular and is said to be thicker but with a milder flavor.

NOTE: There are also similar beverages with different names including Peru's saliva-fermented cassava drink known as masato and nijiamanchi.

Brazilian caium follows a similar preparation, with maize or cassava being cooked, chewed, re-cooked over an open fire and then fermented in earthenware pots.

It's also rumored that early production of Japanese sake was created by women in Shinto chewing up cooked rice and then spitting it, allowing the saliva's enzymes and naturally occurring bacteria and mold to convert it into an alcohol drink. This is believed to be how kuchikami (chewed in the mouth) sake was originally made.

Citizen's Gold Pills

Created by artists Tobi Wong and Ken Courtney these edible gold leaf capsules were marketed in 2005 as part of a series of pointless luxury items, which when eaten turns a person's “innermost parts into chambers of wealth” and bowel movements into 24 karat gold – literally.

What's it taste like?

As gold can't be digested and has no taste or nutritional value the only reason to consume these $425 tablets is the joy of seeing gold flakes in your excrement.

Note: Examples of people eating gold stretch beyond these capsules, with many foods, confectioneries and beverages around the world bringing "a touch of class and elegance" to consumers by incorporating edible gold or silver leaf (sometimes referred to as "vark").

Gold, silver and sometimes actual gems, pearls and diamonds are trademark tasteless ingredients for some of the world's most over-the-top pointlessly expensive food items, ranging from sushi wrapped in gold leaf to ice cream sundaes lined with edible gold, the latter costing $25,000; and even a strawberry desert once rumored to cost $3.95 million due to its inclusion of a 7-carat pink diamond ring.