Part of travel is coming up against local foods that
might raise your eyebrows. Here we take a global trip to those ‘wha?!’ plates,
but remember, as author Eddie Lin of Lonely Planet’s Extreme
Cuisine says, ‘The only difference between ‘tasty’ food and ‘nasty’
food is one letter.’
Witchetty
grub: Australia
These chubby grubs have been a vital staple food for
indigenous Australians for thousands of years. They grow to be about 7cm long
and you can find them across central Australia in the root of the
witchetty bush or gum tree, where they gorge on sap before metamorphosing into
a moth - assuming you haven’t eaten it first. So what does it taste like?
Imagine biting into a small water balloon. The juices spread around your mouth
like a swig of red wine, but the flavour is the essence of egg…or is it
chicken?
Testicle: Afghanistan
Edible testicles come in all sizes - bull testicles
(also called Rocky
Mountain oysters) are
larger, rooster testicles (’rooster fries’) are smaller. The Chinese like
rooster fries in a hot pot, Afghans skewer sheep fries and grill them as
kebabs, and there’s a whole festival dedicated to bulls’ balls in Texas. To prepare them,
just slice the testicle (your eyes may water in sympathy), peel off the
membrane and sautee with lemon and sumac for a soft, spongy result.
Stingray: Iceland
This relative of the shark is equipped with a venomous
barbed stinger at the end of its whip-like tail. The meatiest part of the
stingray is the fins; Icelanders like their stingray rotten and fermented,
while it’s more popular fresh , spicy or barbecued in Malaysia and Singapore. Stingray meat is flaky
yet dense and chewy and tastes like a mix of fish and lobster.
Sea
cucumber: China
Okay, so it’s not an actual cucumber, it’s a
sausage-shaped sea creature that you’ll find in almost every Chinese seafood
restaurant. You’ll find the dried versions in markets and Chinese medicine
shops. Rehydrate the dried ones in water for 12 hours, then braise it for two
hours and serve it with vegetables. The flavour itself is pretty bland and the
texture is slimy with a capital S so don’t even bother with the chopsticks.
Scorpion: Thailand
Seems insane to willingly eat something that could
send you into a mess of convulsions, but a lot of Asian countries like to look
on the bright side, seeing scorpions as a good source of protein rather than a
good source of, well, death. In Beijing you can
get them on skewers, in Thailand
they’re fried or soaked in whisky. So what do they taste like? Well, a little
like popcorn, with crispy outsides and light and airy insides as the organs are
evaporated by cooking.
Pig face: China
Hole-in-the-wall Chinese barbecue restaurants display
their wares of pork and duck in the window, hanging from hooks without disguise
or apology. Pig face is just that. Snap off the ear and eat it like a thick,
chewy, greasy potato chip. Offer the eyeball to someone special. Eat the tender
part of the cheek. Try not to think about if the shoe was on the other hoof…
Guinea pig:
Peru
Most people know them as cute, squeaking little
cartoon creatures, but in Peru,
most homes have a few dozen guinea pigs (called cuy in Spanish) scampering in the backyard until they are
barbecue-bound. When roasted they look like rat but taste like rabbit and the
younger the cuy, the crispier the skin.
Grasshopper:
Mexico
Forget peanuts or popcorn with a cold beer - in Oaxaca, Mexico
it’s all about chapulines
(grasshoppers). Oaxacan restaurants will throw together tacos or guacamole with
grasshopper as the main ingredient. The younger grasshoppers are preferred
because of their tender texture and lack of wings. They are boiled, washed and
then dry fried with lime, salt and chilli. They’re light and crispy with a
grassy, earthy flavour.
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Fugu: Japan
A pinhead’s worth of the toxin in fugu (puffer fish)
can kill 30 people. The poisonous parts of the fugu need to expertly removed by
a licensed fugu chef. Fugu flesh is sliced tissue thin, so thin that the ornate
design on the platter shows though when it’s plated, but the taste? Well, it’s
virtually flavourless. But at least you’re still alive. It’s a bit of a
rollercoaster.
Chicha: Latin America
This fermented drink is traditionally made of corn,
cassava or fruit, chewed and moistened by Inca women. The key ingredient must
have its starches broken down and converted to sugar. Some chicha utilise human
spittle as a catalyst. Others just boil the ingredients then ferment them after
cooling. Flavours vary depending on whether it’s fermented or fresh, not to
mention the source of the spit, but it’s generally sweet.
Others
Crispy tarantulas for sale on the street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Balut from the Philippines.
Bull's testicles that I ate in South
America are pretty neat food. Often served as part of parillada
mixta (mixed grill). Although there's a slight resemblance to chicken meat,
it's still macho food. I didn't like cow udder though, that can also be part of
the same meal. Shaped like canneloni, but containing loose tissue, it tastes
like whipped lard rolled in a chewy skin. Cuy (guinea pig) makes a nice meal.
It reminds of rabbit, both in its size and taste. Good. Having tried all kinds
of exotic foods, the one that I won't eat is the Swedish surströmming. I say it
even though I live in Sweden,
albeit not being a native. Smell and taste aside, it's just not nice to have a
swarm of flies flying around your meal.
