Recently I compiled a list of bizarre and poisonous foods that people actually eat. This time I decided to just stick to revoltingly disgusting foods that are nonpoisonous but equally stomach-turning. If you are not thoroughly grossed out after reading this, you might be a psychopath. Just my humble opinion, of course. Okay, here goes:
1. Fertilized Duck Embryo: Balut (Philippines) This is made from a fertilized duck egg that has a partially grown duck embryo inside. The egg is boiled, which cooks the liquid and the embryo. It is eaten by puncturing the shell and sipping the broth inside. After that, the shell is peeled to give you access to eat the yolk and the cooked chick. This is a popular dish and vendors sell it in buckets filled with sand, which keep the disgusting food warm.
2. Stinking Toe Fruit (West Indies) This is a foul-smelling large seedpod shaped like big, fat toes. The inside fruit is described as brown, mealy pulp around the seeds, which are tasty and sweet. The outer shell is hard and difficult to crack open. The inside substance is dry, powdery, yellow and hairy. Sounds mouthwatering, eh? Not. When the shell is opened, an odor is released that can be described as the funk of 40,000 years. Apparently, the smell doesn’t bother the local people, monkeys or hare-sized rodents called agouti.
3. Bag of Assorted Edible Bugs (Thailand) This bag contains weaver ants, silk worms, grasshoppers, big crickets, sago worms and buffalo dung beetles. You just can’t get enough dung beetles to eat, right? The insects are fresh because they’re frozen right after they’re captured and washed. What goes inside the bag are dehydrated little buggies with natural flavoring and salt. You can buy these online at BizarreFood.com.