Our (Aishah & I) english project is titled "Food from Sweden"
So basically, I googled (duh) and not only did I find what I was looking for, but a lot more. (click more if you want to see some gross pictures :S)
“Taboo: Gross Foods” will not be for the faint of heart.
Humankind’s taste in cuisine demonstrates some of the most polarizing differences between people, as one man’s delicacy is another man’s horror.
This Halloween, food that creeps and crawls or perhaps squishes when bitten into will be featured on the network, as Taboo takes us across the planet where some will dine on cockroaches, suck down some worms spaghetti-style, or eat the still-beating heart of a snake for good luck.
We all need to eat. But some extreme cuisines are harder to swallow than others. Could you eat fried up bugs or drink snake blood? Does the thought of eating scorpions, stinkbugs or tarantulas turn your stomach? How about SPAM?
Black dogs are an Asian delicacy
In Vietnam dog is served in restaurants, while the Japanese risk a sudden death for a taste of toxic fish. One man's meat is truly another man's poison. What kind of food is taboo for you?
Americans are guilty of many diverse, weird food cravings. New Englanders suck on lobster legs and eat the green “tamale” (liver) of a cooked Atlantic lobster while their Southern brothers revel in the delicacy of Scrapple and Chitlins, clever uses of the guts of critters in tasty stews and such.
Then there are the “Mountain Oyster” lovers. Let’s not go there.
In the special “Taboo: Gross Foods” segment, you will travel across borders to explore the food customs that are perfectly normal and acceptable in some cultures, but reviled elsewhere.
NGC notes in Hanoi, Vietnam, deadly serpents are a specialty item prized for their curative properties, and are sliced live tableside.
The Vietnamese traditionally eat insects, and NGC will treat you to a filmed six-course bug feast of bee larvae, locusts, fried scorpions, silkworms, crickets and stinkbugs.
Some Southern Americans would probably go for the fried Scorpions, it’s a region famous for deep-frying just about anything, including steak, pies and bread.
NGC will also take you to Japan where a pricey Blowfish dinner will set you back hundreds of dollars, and if the chef is having an “off” day, perhaps your life, too.
In Japan, it averages out that fifty people die annually from botched Blowfish meals.
Not to be outdone, some intrepid New Yorkers with too much money and free time have formed an elite, freak food club and serve up bear claws, tarantula, pork testicles and maggot-coated strawberries.
I told you it was going to be a scary Halloween from NGC.
Despite these culinary danger-seekers, most who travel abroad note that the exotic vegetables and grains foreign they encounter are usually a pleasant surprise.
Most Americans don’t want to know about the specifics while sitting down to eat their meal - - nor do they like their food still moving.
Insects disgust us as much as the idea of eating our beloved horses. No way, Jose.
Any heads still attached to the main course is a sure-fire conversation killer at the dinner table for Yankees.
Another difference between "us" and the rest of the world is the lack of love for the organs of an animal. Sure, some serve liver or sweetbreads, but they are rarer than a winning lotto ticket.
With the exception of recent Mexican-American immigrants, preparing your guests sex organs, brains, blood, tongue, feet, stomach, intestines, and other internal organs are all verboten.
The Scottish dish of Haggis, a delicacy made of sheep's stomach stuffed with innards, grains, and spices is often the butt of many jokes. There isn't enough single-malt scotch in the world to make an American down a plate of it.
Here are some interesting food delicacies courtesy of Weird Foods.com:
Monkey Toes (Indonesia) Deep fried monkey toes, eat it off the bone.
Borewors (South Africa)Borewors - sheep, pig, cattle intestines stuffed with meat and offcuts, spiced with herds and cooked on an open flame (barbeque) and served as a meal or snack.
Pig Blood (Hungary) Pigs blood with eggs. In Hungary, it is a big deal to kill the first pig of the season.
Nutria (USA Louisiana, Florida Keys) Nutria are large semi-aquatic rodents indigenous to South America. Big Rats that can swim.
Biltong (South Africa) Animals ranging from cattle to wild animal - springbok, eland or even elephant, get cut up into strips and hung out to dry. Once it is dry it is ready for consumption. National snack for all rugby supporters.
Squirrel Brain (US South) Yes, the brain of the small tree climbing rodent. You cook the head then crack the skull open and dig the brain out.
Salo (Ukraine) Salo is pig fat stored in vats and eaten cold, raw, smoked, fried or boiled. Compare it to fatback.
P'tcha (East Europe) it’s a classic Eastern European Jewish dish that's made from calves' feet and ends up looking like translucent Jell-O, with a garlicky flavor.
Beuschl (Austria) Pig liver, kidney, and heart cut in small pieces and cooked together with some spices.
Rat (Thailand) Rat (Northern Thailand, Karen Hill Tribe)
Calf's Head (France) Tete de veau (Calf's Head). A delicacy in France.
Scrapple (USA) Variations on this include hog's head cheese and souse meat. Scrapple originated among the Pennsylvania Dutch and basically involves boiling a pig's head and grinding that meat up with some organ meat, mixing it with corn meal, and adding some spices. This mixture is formed into loaves and chilled. It's sliced and fried and eaten for breakfast in the mid-Atlanta areas.
Jellied Cow's Foot (Poland) (Called "nozki" in Polish). Buy a cow's foot in a butcher shop, chop it up and cook for hours & hours in water with spices, garlic, salt, pepper, etc. Smells to high heaven.
Beef Tatar (Austria) Raw hamburger with raw chopped onion, salt and pepper.
Pig Head (Hungary) this is called cold soup where the impaled pig head drips a jelly-like stuff in to a pan.
Pork Brains (US South) for some reason pork brains are canned in milk gravy and sold in many grocery stores around the south.
Sheep Head (Norway) Smalahove is the head of a sheep that is smoked for a couple of days and is served half. You eat all of it, incl. the sheep's eyes and tongue. Smalahoved
Pig Blood (Trinidad) Blood pudding: Pig blood + breadcrumbs + rice.
Pig Blood with Scrambled Eggs (Hungary) In Hungary, it is a big deal to kill the first pig of the season.
Cats-who could eat the kitties!
Cat (Hong Kong) Cat meat with steam bread (siopao)
Horse (Japan) Horse sashimi is a fairly common item on menus in Kyushu.
Blood Dumplings- (Sweden) Made of flour, reindeer blood and salt, served with bacon, butter and lingonberry jam.
oops - too many ingredients
Myseost (Norway) Myseost isn't made from mouse milk. Its goat cheese and it smells horrible. Only Norwegians eat it.
Blubber (Arctic) Raw fat from sea mammals
Blood Sausage (Europe) Called Boudin in France, Blutwurst in Germany, and Blood Pudding in the UK. Also called black pudding.
Jelled Blood (China) Duck or pig blood; looks like Jell-O, but opaque and salty.
Blood (Masai in Africa) The Masai subsist largely on milk and the fresh blood drawn from the neck veins of livestock.
Chicken-Fried Steak (USA South) Steak covered with a flour batter and fried, like chicken. This region is famous for frying everything.
Bats (Indonesia) in the covered market in Jogjakarta they sell them, smoked. They're only about three inches long, like skeletal brown mice.
Brawn (England) See Head Cheese Brains (France)
Dogs -(Asia) Dog-eating is common in many homes in the Philippines and parts of China.
Criadillas (Spain, Canada) Bull testicles. Also called Prairie Oysters in Canada (Alberta). It is called "criadillas" in Spain but has different names in other Latin countries.
Cibreo (Italy) Cock's combs (the wattly stuff on a rooster's head): A classic Tuscan dish.
Diniguan (Philippines) Blood stew.
Cheese - An ancient invention, but weird for many other cultures, especially Asians. Blue cheese is basically bacteria-infected mammal secretions.
Bull Penis (Asia) speaks for itself.
Breast Milk (China) A restaurant in the provincial capital Changsha of southern Hunan province, offers dishes cooked with human breast milk.
American Cheese (USA Midwest) Often labeled FOOD PRODUCT.
Bierkase (Germany) Strong-smelling cheese made with beer yeast.
Stewed Dormice (Slovenia) A Slovenian cookbook had a recipe for a nice little stew of mice raised and fattened just for cooking.
Goat's Head (Africa)
SPAM (USA) Deeply loved in Hawaii, where American Samoans have dubbed it “special ham."
Camel's Feet - (France) Weird Food.com has a notated recipe from the Larousse Gastronomique is Pieds de chameau a la vinaigrette (camel's feet).
Camel Tendons (China) said to be better than cow tendons.
Tacos sesos- (Mexico) Tacos made with cow brains.
Haggis (Scotland) Sheep's stomach, stuffed with oatmeal and steamed. A more accurate definition would be: "a highly spiced sausage made from offal meats with oatmeal filler, traditionally in a casing made from a sheep's stomach." Haggis is accompanied by chappit neeps and tatties (mashed turnip (swede, rutabaga..) and potatoes).
Seal Flipper Pie (Canada) Newfoundlanders are said to love it. The flippers are tender and tasty but it's said few mainlanders acquire a taste for them.
It's actually really horrible what some people do to eat. And it's disgusting *gags*
Back to work now.
Ciao4Now
