Who doesn't love food? I love all kinds of food. In other countries, they eat foods that to us, seem disgusting and seems like something that we would never, ever, EVER put into our mouths but to them, it may be loved food from all around. Think about it. We may have the same plates and platters, and call the dishes the same thing as other countries but they may have different stuff embellished on it. Or they may have something completely different and new that to us, may seem a little disgusting. It's the same concept to them. Have you ever seen that show, "Bizarre Foods"? The host of the show, Andrew Zimmerman, makes a living going around the world to different countries and eating the most famous and wanted foods that are in that country. Some of those foods are a little disgusting and more hardcore than what you might want to know. It may make you think twice before you go and eat something. If the foods on that show give you a weak stomach, there's a show that's exactly the same except, this one is called "Bizarre Foods America." I bet you won't be able to tell what's different, well, maybe you will just by reading the title. In this series Andrew Zimmerman, the same guy, goes to different states in America and eats the most common, most popular, and the most weirdest foods that are at restaurants, people's houses, anywhere within that state. (Before you read on, I hope you have an empty stomach.)
So, you may be wondering, "Why are you talking about this strange show?" or maybe you're thinking "Get on with the blog, this is obviously going nowhere." before you decide to stop reading, let me get to the part that contributes to what I'm trying to say. One episode, Andrew Zimmerman went to a small town in India. The food there looked good and while he was explaining what the food was, it sounded awful. One thing that he saw and explained was a delicious looking, small creature like thing that was on a stick. It was being slow roasted and it was made with a secret family sauce so it must have been good. People where walking around with this food too. "It smells really good" says Zimmerman. He decided to give it a try, but, he spit it out, it was horrible tasting. Andrew Zimmerman had eaten a baby bat. How gross right!?
That just explains my point. What seems gross to us may be something that the people in other countries really enjoy and eat all the time. Which could be a reason why they eat it, it could be something that they eat all the time and are used to. If we ate a baby bat, with not ever trying one before, I'm sure that many of us would react the same way that he did, spit it out and say that it was perhaps the worst thing we have ever put into our mouths.
You may think that I'm over exaggerating a little but I assure you, I'm not when I say that some people, in other countries, eat baby ducks that haven't even been born yet. This one is a little disgusting and disturbing so let me apologize in advice for what I'm about to tell you. A town in India, again, gather these ducks eggs, usually farmers do this. They gather the eggs until they're about 3 days from hatching so that way they are fully developed. Then, you just crack open the egg, and eat that poor duckling... raw. There's a certain kind of duck that they eat though. A duck that won't poison you when you eat the raw baby bird. Disgusting, I know. I'm so sorry that you had to read that but the more you know, right? I hope you weren't eating after reading that.
What about the food that everyone knows. The food that if you ask were their favorite, they would all most likely say this. Can you guess what it is? Pizza! Pizza is delicious and can come with many different toppings. Things like sausage, pepperoni, pineapple, jalapenos, dare I say, sardines.. EW! Pizza is something that is loved around the world, but... sometimes we all love something different on a pizza. We may even make pizza a little differently. In Russia, the top pizza topping something called "mockba" It's a combination of sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon, and onions. Your breath will probably smell really bad after eating that. In Brazil, the top topping is green peas, Japan, eel, squid, and Mayo Janga (mayonnaise, potato, and bacon.) In France, they have this pizza topping called "flambée." It's basically bacon, onion, and fresh cream . That sounds like it would be delicious! I could ramble on, and on, and on, and on about the different pizza toppings there are in the different countries of the world but I won't, it just makes me hungry! Well, some toppings. Not Japan's and Russia's topping. I would never be able to bring myself to eat those. Would you?
There are other strange foods around the world too. Not just pizza toppings, or raw duck, but other foods that to Americans, we never heard of or would ever think existed. Here's some examples:
In China, there's a thing called a "Century Egg." Don't let the name confuse you, these eggs haven't been stored for 100 years but only a few months. That's still long enough for the yolk to turn dark green and light brown. That sounds disgusting. It looks moldy! YUCK!
Here's another strange food you could have in Japan. I wouldn't recommend eating it because it sounds pretty risky to eat this one. It's called a "Fugu"(Pufferfish) and if not prepared correctly, the fish's toxic parts can kill you. There have been about 20 deaths recorded after the year of 2000 because of eating this fish. Yeah.. I wouldn't recommend trying to eat it.
In a Cambodia, there's fried spiders. How gross would that be?! The spiders are Tarantulas that usually get served with lime and black pepper dip. A restaurant in Cambodia serves over 200 spiders a week. My question to them is... How do you get all of those spiders? Is there a person that sells them? Or do they hunt them themselves? These are the questions that must be answered!
Something that is ate around the world is an insect that you were either terrified of, or tried to catch every summer when you were a kid. Grasshoppers. If you ever watch the survival shows, they always eat these bugs because they're filled with protein. These little fellas can be prepared in many different ways, just like pizza! In Asia, they're sold on street markets and are fried. In Mexico, they're usually served with lime and garlic. Would you ever eat them?
What about some pickled snakes? Doesn't that just sound.... Appetizing? Just kidding. Pickled Snakes sounds interesting.. There's this thing called "Snake Wine" in South-east Asia. It's believed to have some "restorative properties" in countries like China and Vietnam. There's two different ways to make this weird drink, but, it's a little weird so I'll leave you to research that.
There's plenty more dishes that I could tell you but I think you get the point. Around the world, there's a lot of different and gross things that are loved and get ate everyday in different countries. Would you ever eat any of these dishes? What about being like Andrew Zimmerman and going around the world eating these things... for fun! I could never imagine eating moldy eggs or eating grasshoppers. Could you? Would you?
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