Weird Food Wednesday

Bizarre delicacy foods from around the world

Delicacy is the state of being luxurious and something pleasing to eat. For most Americans, we think of Filet Mignon, lobster, crab, etc. For other countries, their dishes bring new meaning to delicacy.

• In China, their dish is the bird’s nest soup. The soup is predominately made up of saliva the bird makes that has a gelatinous, rubbery texture. It is one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The birds produce the salvia to build nests; breeding season is a period of 35 days and the nests can only be harvested three times a year. Also, the nests are located in coastal a cave, which makes it much more complicated to obtain. A bowl of soup can cost around $30 to $100 per bowl. Advantages of the bird’s nest soup: believed to be nutritious in proteins and minerals and have aphrodisiac qualities. 

• What else that is nice to have is a nice glass of wine with dinner. How about snake wine from Vietnam? Snake wine is a bottle of rice wine with a venomous snake inside. The process takes many months. The snake steeps the rice wine to let the poison dissolve into the wine. The venom is not dangerous because the ethanol. The wine is a slight pink color, which is from the snake’s blood. Advantages of the snake wine: supposedly many health benefits.

• In the Philippines, Balut is compared to as American’s hotdog.  Balut is a fertilized egg that is boiled before it is due to hatch. It is cooked when the fetus is anywhere from 17 to 21 days. The unhatched duck or chicken has already developed feathers, a beak, bones, and claws and is eaten, as well as the juice inside. The way to eat Balut is to simply crack the egg, sip the broth, and eat the yoke and fetus. Commonly seasoned with salt, black pepper, and vinegar. Advantages of the Balut: boost libido and full of protein.

-Claire Gerdau