The Top 10 Most Bizarre Foods

There's this wonderfully giddy and almost overtly informative show on The Travel Chanel called, 'Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern'. Basically, Andrew travels to any number of countries all over the globe and samples the local cuisine, no matter how revolting or gag-inducing, and does it with aplomb and flair making it seem almost as though you, too, would want to indulge on roasted ants or 1000-Year Old eggs. Every episode sees Andrew, an actual chef and food critic, popping up on another continent exploring its popular regions as well as the more out-of-the-way locations where 'natives' dig up far more, um, 'exotic' foodstuffs such as bug larva or sun-dried river life. So, I have basically seen every one of these episodes since the show's inception and I can safely say it has become one of my favorite things to watch. I have gathered a list of ten of the most outrageously disgusting and vomit inducing foods from the past season and change and I, with sour stomach, present them to you.

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10) Bird's Nest Soup

From Wikipedia-"Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese Cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup. The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been traditionally used in China for over 400 years, most often as bird's nest soup." Yeah, I watched Andrew eat this mess, apparently pretty common, and it looked precisely the way you'd imagine: a big-ass bowl of phlegm.

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9) Camel Paw

'Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern' clip: Crazy Camel Paw

I don't know. I guess this could be OK, right? I mean it's not like the camel is a filthy animal, I mean he just lives in sand primarily, and... oh who am I kidding. Camel paw, camel toe... it all sounds kinda the same.

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8) Haggis

From Wikipedia: "There are many recipes, most of which have in common the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, and spices and salt mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's STOMACH for approximately three hours." See, with this, it's not so much the sum of its parts as it is the individual nastiness. Namely: the stomach. I've heard it's pretty good, but -as adventurous as I am- it just screams off-putting.

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7) Muktuk (Fermented Whale Blubber)

I honestly have very few words for just how undeniably incorrect that muktuk looks. But, I digress. If I were an Alaskan Eskimo, I'm sure it would be just amazing. Goodness.

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6) Yak Penis

From gridskipper.com/travel/beijing: "Above is a dish known as "Dragon in the Flame of Desire," or as you and I might call it, yak penis (waiter included for scale). Though penises have an enduring place in Chinese and Asian cuisine, the new Guolizhuang in Beijing's Westlake is likely the first restaurant to specialize in penises exclusively. Every dish has a penis, the only exception being those which focus more on the testicles. Newbies unsure of their favorite flavor of wang are advised to sample the hotpot, which contains six different penises and four testicles simmered in chicken stock."

Mmmm... pass some more penis, please!

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5) Jellied Moose Nose

"Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a chef's knife outta my hat!"

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4) Balut

I guess at this point this balut nonsense isn't as unusual as it one was, since it's been eaten on everything from Survivor to Fear Factor, but the simple fact remains that this is retched and the sheer sight of it makes my stomach fall into my ass. No thank you very much.

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3) Stinky Tofu

You know, tofu in and of itself isn't exactly pleasant, albeit healthy and evidently the food of the future, I just can't wrap my mind around why anyone -local culture or not- would want to eat something so assaulting to the senses. I just don't get it.

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2) Mangrove Worm

From members.ozemail.com: "An important bivalve which is found in dead and decaying mangrove wood is called "mangrove worm", Teredo spp. The action of the shells moving together excavates a hole through the wood, and the wood shavings accumulate in the stomach which becomes a distended, worm-like bag. The mangrove worm is chopped from the wood using an axe and is eaten raw."

Oh. Oh God....

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1) Fermented Icelandic Shark

This is the exact point where I would keel over dead. Sweet, sweet Lord...