You might have heard that some Polish dishes are considered at least "unusual" among other nations. Even some European citizens find our pickles or sour cabbage strange. I would like to mention some unusual dishes from the whole world. As I don't want to cause disgust, I wont paste photos, but I will provide links for those who want to see how described food looks like.
1. Casu Marzu
Let's start in Europe. This Sardinian speciality is basically cheese. Quite unusual because a cheese maker will leave it outdoors so that special kind of flies will put its eggs inside it. The cheese is ready when larvea will start to consume it. One should cover his/her eyes because those larvas can jump up to 15 centimeters. Also this is its "freshness" indicator: when larvea are dead, the cheese becomes toxic and should not be eaten!
http://ruszwpodroz.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Casu-Marzu1.jpg
http://ruszwpodroz.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Casu-Marzu1.jpg
2. Surstromming
I already mentioned pickled cucumbers. Our northern neighbors, Swedes, have their own pickled food - fish. I think that this is enough to consider it disgusting. Just to spice it up(spice, got it? :P), I will add that this food is quite dangerous, and not allowed in air transportation, because it might explode. Also it smells so bad that it is suggested one should open them under water so that it smells less.
3. Kopi luvak
Paradoxurus hermaphroditus is an Asian fox-like creature, which likes coffee berries very much. Also it is unable to digest coffee seeds. So people gather its excrement and get coffee seeds out of it and sell them as really expensive drink. Nowadays people breed civets and keep them in (usually) small cages, so the production of this specialty is considered cruel and unethical, as civets tend to live shorter and die easily in cages.
4. Hundred year eggs
A hundred is an overstatement. Usually it takes a few weeks to prepare this meal. This is a Chinese dish. One need to put eggs in water, rice shells, tea, quicklime and clay solution. After a few weeks the meal is ready. So, yes it is basically spoiled eggs.
Another egg on list. Well, maybe not exactly an egg because it is a half-developed chicken or a duck chick, still in its shell. It comes from the Philippines, and it is considered to be delicacy there. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to try it.
I could go on, and on with strange or disgusting food. Icelanders eat rotten sharks, Greenlanders rotten penguins, Japanese live fish. Personally, I have tried live octopus in Korea. Never wanted to do it, however, I was offered it and didn't want to disrespect my host. It was quite good (the best seafood I've ever tried, actually), but I would never do it again, as I think it is cruel. How about you? Have you ever tried something strange? How was it?
Sources:
http://ruszwpodroz.pl/roznosci/najdziwniejsze-potrawy-swiata/
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming
http://www.podroze.pl/swiat/azja/10-najdziwniejszych-potraw-swiata/1670/
Sources:
http://ruszwpodroz.pl/roznosci/najdziwniejsze-potrawy-swiata/
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming
http://www.podroze.pl/swiat/azja/10-najdziwniejszych-potraw-swiata/1670/
Comments
Hundred year egg doesn't look that bad, but I hope it doesn't smell like rotten egg.
I don't know how people can eat something stinking or some meals from this list, but as everyone knows, people around the world are eating many strange things, so strange food for us is daily meal for someone from another country.
Im very curious about trying Surstrooming. I have seen many videos of people trying those fermented fishes and I wonder if it was all staged up or it sticks so badly for real. Im hundred percent sure I wont try Balut. It looks too disgusting for me. Even if i look at it i feel sick.
In the best french restaurants this dish become on top again
Are You surprised? iam..
Japan have all kinds of weird dishes like Shirako which is basically cod semen (it's considered the male equivalent of caviar) or tuna eyeballs.
The level of disgust and "strangeness" seems to depend on what culture that person is from. For example Asians don't mind eating weird dishes like deep fried insects - it's a casual food for them. Beef is a normal food for Europeans, while people from India would find it disgusting.
On the other hand we do not have to look far to notice some unusual meals even in our Polish cuisine. Personally, I cannot stand the soup called ''Flaki''... To me it is not at all tasty, not at all traditional, more like something unbelievably weird, long and slimy - the opposition of a home made and warm, delicious soup.
To my Scandinavian colleagues the most unusual meals in Poland are f.eg. blood sausage (kaszanka) and brawn (salceson).
The most unusual thing I have eaten was a whale steak in Norwegian restaurant.
I love sushi and I would like to try a live octopus. I’m sure I will like it. And also I’d try different bugs, maybe even live ones when I’ll have an opportunity. I’ve heard that bulls testicles taste like chicken, so I’d take a try of it as well. Living on the edge.
I won't try most of this strange food because I'm a vegetarian and I don't eat meat.
That thing must be probably the only piece of food I've heard about and would not eat, no matter what. Seriously, whos idea was that? Oh, that cheese is missing something, I'll add some jumping worms and wait till they get fed on it.
On the second thought maybe I'd also dare to try Surstromming, it could be quite quaint and new experience for sure, now, when after having read this article our typical ways of preparing fishes looks so boring ;)
With a little concern I wonder what would be next... Apparently, it seems one could get used to anything.
On the other hand, I would really like to drink Kopi luvak coffee, i heard, that it is really good.
I never tried anything special or unusual, I usually choose proven dishes.
Last year I had a roommate from Taiwan. When I cooked quite usual dishes such as scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes, she was observing that process with her eyes wide open and was shaking her head. I still don't know what surprised that girl so much. I was giving her ukrainian candies, and then she began to give me taiwanese sweets in response. For each of us all these goodies seemed exotic.
As a coffee lover, I want to taste Kopi luvak. And as the saying goes, never say never. but I'm pretty sure I will never try that disgusting cheese.
Why wouldn't you try seafood?
A deep-fried Mars bar is an ordinary Mars bar normally fried in a type of batter commonly used for deep-frying fish, sausages, and other battered products. The chocolate bar is typically chilled before battering to prevent it from melting into the frying fat, though a cold Mars bar can fracture when heated.
I am glad that the product has not received support from Mars who said "deep-frying one of our products would go against our commitment to promoting healthy, active lifestyles.
Here's link to the article: http://www.delish.com/food/a47614/pickle-juice/?src=socialflowFB
Sometimes I joke there are two kinds of people:
1. people who eat to live
2. people who live to eat.
I'm definitely in the first group ;) So it's impossible to bribe me with any food - amazing dishes, sweets and so on.
Some time ago I tried octopus, but it was fried, not alive! Could you describe it in detail? How to do it? What part of octopus first? Is she bemused?
In Egypt we have this traditional dish called Feseekh which is served during Sham-El-Nessim festival (our Easter). This is a fermented fish (grey mullet) – you prepare it with lots of salt. It has a very strange smell however it is very tasty.
The best kitchen is from ICELAND. I don't know how they manage invent those meals but I think the cold, harsh environment and extremely poverty was behind it. For example: Súrir hrútspungar - Sour ram's testicles
That brings us to ram's testicles, this is a tricky one. Iceland used to be a very poor country, full of poor farmers that would make the most of anything they could eat. So, that includes the testicles of the ram, and many more.
We can all thank God that our "ogorek kiszony" is the weirdest dish for foreigners and our kitchen is considered good tasting and healthy.
Sometimes it's probably not wise to try everything though. Especially when you are offered it in suspicious cirumstances. My friend ate a fermented herring on the last Woodstock festival. We were walking around the campsite area and some guys wanted us to try this herring from a can. They opened the can and it absolutely stinked in about 10 meters radius I'd say. He did try it and had to use a lot of wine to cover this smell up.