Buzz
Food is a universal experience, one that connects people across cultures. Sharing a meal with someone is often considered one of the kindest acts you can offer. Yet, while the excitement of tasting new cuisines is undeniable, the thought of consuming a liquefied animal or a moving tortilla might leave most people horrified.
If you happen to be eating right now, you might want to pause for a moment.
10. Ptarmigan Feces
Ptarmigans are sizable birds that inhabit the Arctic, resembling a more elegant version of a chicken. They serve as a crucial food source for the Inuit people in Northern Canada because, unlike the region’s migratory animals, they remain during the brutal winters. In an area where hunters may go months without a successful large-game hunt, having a dependable food supply is invaluable.
As a result, the Inuit have developed methods to utilize every part of the ptarmigan—even its droppings. However, ptarmigan feces aren't a quick snack you can casually pick up while heading to a seal nursery. Preparing this dish involves a careful process to ensure it tastes right. The droppings must be collected in winter, thawed, and dried—fresh droppings don’t provide the desired flavor.
The next step is to hunt a seal.
Once you’ve killed the seal, cut it into pieces, chew the chunks, and spit the chewed meat into a bowl. If you feel like adding a bit of extra saliva, it’s actually helpful. At this stage, mix the dried ptarmigan droppings with the chewed seal meat, stir thoroughly, and add some rancid seal oil to enhance the taste. Those who’ve sampled the dish claim it isn’t as awful as you’d imagine.
9. Jumiles
Every November, families in Taxco, Mexico, gather for one of the year’s most significant culinary celebrations. During this time, the entire city is alive with activity. The irresistible scents of freshly made corn tortillas, ground chilies, and ripe tomatoes fill the air, while the markets buzz with vendors selling their dishes to the crowd-packed streets. If you stop by one of the many food stalls, you’ll find yourself with a generous helping of the key ingredient—live stink bugs.
Called jumiles, these green, crunchy insects are a culinary delicacy in Southwestern Mexico. They emerge in large numbers in November and remain until the end of February, during which time locals gather them in baskets. Live jumiles are commonly added to tacos, but can also be turned into salsa, fried in their own oily secretions, grilled, roasted, toasted, or boiled. If you’re feeling impatient, no one will mind if you simply pop a live jumile into your mouth. The taste is often compared to “cinnamon-like.”
8. Shiokara
To the uninitiated Westerners, sushi stands as the epitome of Japanese cuisine. For the truly daring, you might try odori don, but most people stop there.
It’s unfortunate, because Japanese cuisine offers so much more. Consider shiokara, for instance. Shiokara is seafood served in its own fermented intestines, resulting in a chunky, chewy, and pungent mixture in shades of beige, depending on the animal used. The most common variety is ika-no shiokara, made from squid, though there are many different kinds. It’s traditionally enjoyed with alcohol, and the common practice is to take a large bite of shiokara, immediately followed by an even larger gulp of sake or whiskey.
7. Cobra Hearts
On Mangga Basar Street in Jakarta, the cobra stalls come to life around sunset and stay busy well into the early morning hours. Here, customers can experience one of Indonesia’s most unusual and grim medicinal rituals—a shot of fresh cobra blood mixed with palm liquor.
The process is straightforward. Beside each stall is a cage filled with writhing, irate black cobras. When a customer is ready, the vendor swiftly grabs the calmest snake and with a sharp butcher’s knife, cuts off its head. Then, in front of the customer, the vendor tilts the snake’s body upside down and presses out every drop of vivid red blood into a glass, while discussing the supposed health benefits of the blood. These include enhanced sexual vitality for men, firmer breasts, and clearer skin for women, among other claims. These vendors can earn up to $100 a night. After draining the blood, the snake is filleted, and the meat is cooked on the grill, shish-kebab style.
In Vietnam, cobra blood rituals take things to an even more intense level. The setup is largely the same, but instead of decapitating the cobra, they rip out the snake’s still-beating heart and drop it into a glass filled with the cobra’s blood and a few shots of rice wine.
6. Bodog
Even today, Mongolia preserves a strong nomadic lifestyle, one that honors the traditions of their ancestors, many of which trace back to the era of the legendary Mongolian Khans. Despite the changing world outside their isolated steppe, nestled between China and Russia, the nomads of Mongolia have found ways to integrate modern technologies with their age-old customs. It’s as if you’ve traveled back to the 13th century, only to discover a time traveler got there first: You ride a horse into a small village where children play barefoot, and water is still pumped by hand. But beside each circular, tent-like ger, you’ll spot a shining solar panel, allowing the goat herders to roam with access to electricity.
While much of Mongolian life has embraced modernity, some traditions remain untouched by time. Bodog, also known as Mongolian barbecue, is one such practice. This dish involves cooking goat meat within the goat’s own hide. The preparation is meticulous, taking hours of careful work and an even longer time to cook. After the goat is killed and decapitated, it is suspended by its severed spine while the chef methodically removes every bone, organ, and scrap of meat, all while ensuring the hide remains intact. The internal organs are discarded for the dogs to feast on, while the meat and bones are set aside and seasoned.
Once the goat has been emptied, the real cooking begins. Hot stones from a fire are inserted into the goat’s limbs, followed by a layer of meat, then more hot stones, repeating the layering process until the goat is filled. It’s then sealed at the neck and left to cook from the inside out. Throughout the cooking process, the entire bundle is periodically seared on the outside, causing the fur to burn off. The result is a white balloon, inflated by the steam of the cooking meat. The final product is a bodog.
5. Frog Juice
Peru stands as one of the world’s most geographically diverse nations. From the lush Amazon rainforest to the towering peaks of the Andes and down to the white-sand beaches lining the Pacific, it offers a striking blend of nature’s harshest beauty. Home to ancient wonders like Machu Picchu, the glacial Alpamayo pyramid, and the enigmatic Nazca lines of the Sechura Desert, Peru is an unforgettable place to visit.
In the heart of Lima, the capital city of Peru, there’s a curious and rather unappealing tradition that takes place every day at open-air markets. Vendors prepare a drink that has deep roots in the folklore and mysticism of Peru—jugo de rana, or “frog juice.” To make it, a frog is tossed into a blender with spices, herbs, and a splash of honey. It’s believed to be a cure-all for ailments ranging from anemia to erectile dysfunction. When made with the rare and endangered scrotum water frog, it’s known as “Peruvian Viagra.” However, any frog can be used, regardless of whether it's endangered or not.
According to the BBC, vendors at these markets can sell over 100 frog juice smoothies each day, each featuring a freshly blended frog as the main ingredient. The persistence of this drink’s sale, despite its controversial nature, highlights the ongoing clash between tradition and modern conservation efforts in Peru. For every 10 jugo de rana stalls closed down, 10 more open up in their place. It’s a futile struggle, like trying to stay dry in a hurricane by swatting at raindrops. If this practice continues unchecked, entire species of Amazonian frogs could disappear as quickly as one can gulp down a mug of frog-flavored “Viagra.”
4. Wasp Crackers
In early 2015, some intriguing photos began circulating online. They depicted crackers with dead wasps baked directly into them, much like how chocolate chips are incorporated into cookies. Far from being a joke, these wasp crackers are real and quite popular in Omachi, Japan.
More of a trend than a traditional delicacy, these crackers are made using digger wasps that are sourced from the wild. The wasps are boiled, dried, and then mixed into the traditional dough used to make rice crackers, or senbei. The concept is believed to have been started by a group in Omachi who collaborated with a local bakery to create this unique treat. According to RocketNews24, a Japanese news blog, the wasps taste similar to bitter raisins, with the only real downside being the occasional wasp leg caught between your teeth.
3. Virgin Boy Eggs
For centuries, the arrival of spring has marked the start of a highly anticipated tradition in Dongyang, China. As the weather begins to warm and the first hints of greenery blanket the hillsides, egg vendors make their annual trek to local elementary schools. There, they’ll find rows of buckets, waiting to be filled with a special ingredient for transport back to market stalls.
As the days pass, a distinct scent fills the air—a fragrance described by some residents of Dongyang as the “smell of spring.” If you stroll through the city’s streets, you’ll likely encounter large pots simmering with eggs in a clear, yellowish liquid.
The liquid is urine from young boys.
Virgin boy eggs have been a part of Dongyang’s culinary tradition for centuries. While the origins of the practice remain a mystery, and no one remembers why it specifically has to be the urine of boys, it continues as it always has. Boys are encouraged to urinate into the buckets rather than using toilets, and once the urine is collected, eggs are placed into the pots to be boiled. Afterward, the eggs’ shells are cracked, and they are placed back in the liquid to soak for several more hours. The entire process takes a day, and these special eggs are sold at twice the price of a regular boiled egg.
2. Snake Wine
If you travel across Southeast Asia, you're likely to encounter a bottle of snake wine at some point. From Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong, snake wine has deep roots in traditional medicine. It's believed that the snake imbues the liquor with healing properties, reputed to treat ailments ranging from skin issues to arthritis. The supposed medicinal effects are thought to stem from the venom of the snake seeping into the wine.
Whether or not there's truth to the claims, there’s an undeniable morbid quality to the sight of a snake curled up inside a jar of amber-colored alcohol. According to Vice, the production process is even more unsettling. A live snake is carefully placed inside a bottle, with rice wine poured over it, drowning the snake alive. Taking a shot of snake wine certainly leaves an impression, but it’s not always the alcohol's potency you have to worry about. Several stories tell of people making homemade snake wine only to find the snake still alive after months of fermentation. In one infamous case in 2013, a woman in China reportedly went to the hospital after the viper in her wine leaped out and bit her.
1. Dragon In The Flame Of Desire
Chinese cuisine is unapologetically bold. It’s a vibrant, in-your-face culinary experience that’s steeped in centuries of tradition. There's an old Chinese saying that they’ll eat anything with four legs—except a table—and our guess is that even the six- and eight-legged creatures are fair game. That said, there are still rarities in Chinese dining. The Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing, for instance, has had a hard time winning over locals with its unique menu—because all of its dishes are made from penis.
When you order a dish like “The Essence of the Golden Buddha,” “Lotus Flowers with 1,000 Layers,” or “Dragon in the Flame of Desire,” you’re actually receiving an ox’s penis, a donkey’s penis, or a yak’s penis, respectively. Every dish on the menu features some form of genitalia, except for the testicle dishes. One item on the menu features tiger penis, though it comes with a steep price of $5,700 and needs to be ordered months ahead to ensure the necessary parts are available. If you’re unsure which type of penis you’d like, you can opt for the “hotpot,” which includes six different types of penis and four testicles, much like an Applebee’s sampler plate of genitalia.
