25 Strangest Foods from around the World

February 28, 2013 // Yum

Summary: It is not uncommon to find strange dishes across the globe. Drunken shrimps, live octopuses, ant larvae, dried caterpillar, fried tarantula, dried lizards, the poisonous Puffer fish, etc are some of the strangest foods that you will find.

The popular saying ‘one’s food is another’s poison’ is actually a fact. There are different types of strange foods eaten across the world.

Strangest Foods
The fried brain sandwich is made out of cow’s brain that is about 3 years old at slaughter. Escamole is a Mexican delicacy that is prepared out of ant larvae with a nutty butter taste. Hakarl is eaten in Iceland. It is made out of fermented shark meat. The Chinese bird’s nest soup is made out of bird saliva. The drunken shrimp is another Chinese dish wherein shrimps are stunned in liquor and then eaten alive. Surstromming is basically a dish from Sweden made out of Baltic Herring that is fermented. Another raw dish iSannakji is prepared with small octopuses seasoned with sesame oil. Rocky mountain oysters are not made out of oysters but the testicles of a bull-calf!

Kopi Luwak is an expensive coffee made from coffee beans defecated by small mammals called Civets. Stinkbugs – an Indonesian dish where little insects are eaten raw that taste like bitter sunflower seeds. Lutefisk is a dish prepared out of lye and aged stockfish. A corrosive treat! Casu Marzu is basically a chunk of cheese made out of sheep milk containing live insect larvae. Mopane is a major part of African diet made out of dried caterpillar. The Tuna Eyeball is boiled and consumed in Japan. Dried lizards are commonly used to prepare dishes in a few Asian cultures. They are believed to be of medicinal value. Khash is a dish prepared out of the cow’s stomach, head and feet. Nakji is similar to Sannakji the only difference is that the former involves eating a live octopus whole! A-ping is a dish made out of fried tarantula – common in Cambodia. Haggis is a dish made out of sheep’s liver, heart and lungs boiled in the stomach with salt. Fugu is a strange and dangerous dish made out of the poisonous puffer-fish. Ying-Yang Fish is an offering from Taiwan. The fish is half alive and half fried when served! Ikizikuri is a brutal dish made out of various animals and fish that is served half alive. The penis of a Yak is commonly eaten in China. Balut features a duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten by Filipinos. Puffin heart is a delicacy in Iceland made out of the hearts of the cute little puffin birds.