subject: Delicacy Or Disgusting - That Is The Question [print this page] All across the globe there are literally hundreds of different cultures with their own unique blend of foods they consider "delicacies". Some of them, however, seem more likely to make you throw up than make your mouth water.
For instance, if you travel to Asia you are likely to find people devouring a wide assortment of things most people would never consider putting anywhere near their mouths. One of the most popular dishes served at weddings and other big events are Century eggs. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Wrong. These eggs aren't your average chicken eggs that are served scrambled, boiled, or poached- these eggs to the untrained eye in fact resemble a giant rotten blob.
Traditionally, chicken, quail or duck eggs are coated with a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice hulls, then preserved for anywhere between several weeks to several months depending on the recipe chosen by the chef. As I'm sure you can imagine, the scent of them probably smells similar to rotten eggs soaked in horse urine.
The next repulsive delicacy is a traditional Christmas dish in Greenland called Kiviak. In the Spring or Summer, a seal is hunted and killed and all the meat is removed. The carcass and hide are then stuffed with dead birds, sewn shut, and buried under the permafrost until Christmas. As if this wasn't putrid enough, it is then dug up for a holiday get-together where they are eaten by biting the heads off of the rotten dead birds and sucking out the innards. Not exactly something you'd like to find on a hot food display in your local supermarket.
One very traditional and very popular dish in Vietnam is Tiet Canh which is literally a bowl of cold, coagulated, raw duck blood that is garnished with chopped up duck innards, peanuts, coriander, mint, and a splash of lime juice. Mmm, tasty!
Finally, originating in Italy is a delicacy made from sheep's milk called Casu Marzu which can be literally translated from Sardinian as "rotten cheese". This type of cheese, however, goes way beyond the term "rotten" and comes dangerously close to what most would consider "decomposing".
To make Casu Marzu, you take Pecorino cheese and place it outside where it is to ferment and become populated by hundreds of maggots. The maggots then hatch and start to eat through the cheese and digest it, therefore excreting the waste throughout the cheese which at this point is soft with a liquid called "lagrima" seeping out. The Casu Marzu is then sliced into thin strips and spread onto flat bread to be eaten- maggots and all.
So, the next time you mom places a steaming heap of spinach on your plate, you may want to think before you complain. After all, at least it isn't Casu Marzu.
