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The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

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Humans are like goats. We'll eat any damned thing. Just ask the people who make PowerBars.

In fact, you'll find foods in this world that don't even seem possible. Not just that they could exist, but that people would actually stick this stuff in their mouths without a gun to their head.

We've found six dishes that seemed to have sprung from Satan's own cookbook.

#6.
Escamoles

From:
Mexico.

What the hell is it?
Escamoles are the eggs of the giant black Liometopum ant, which makes its home in the root systems of maguey and agave plants. Collecting the eggs is a uniquely unpleasant job, since the ants are highly venomous and have some kind of blood grudge against human orifices.

The eggs have the consistency of cottage cheese. The most popular way to eat them is in a taco with guacamole, while being fucking insane.

Wait, it gets worse ...
Escamoles have a surprisingly pleasant taste: buttery and slightly nutty. This hugely increases the chances that, while in Mexico, you could eat them without realizing you are eating a taco full of fucking ant eggs.

Danger of this turning up in America:
We're not sure Taco Bell hasn't snuck this shit into their food already. Just make sure you know what' in that burrito. Ask at the counter if you have to. Also, watch those ads close because they'll try to dress it up in some kind of friendly-sounding, pseudo-Mexican name.

#5.
Casu Marzu

From:
Sardinia, Italy.

What the hell is it?
This, dear reader, is a medium-sized lump of Sweet Fucking Christ. Casu Marzu is a sheep' milk cheese that has been deliberately infested by a Piophila casei, the "cheese fly." The result is a maggot-ridden, weeping stink bomb in an advanced state of decomposition.

Its translucent larvae are able to jump about 6 inches into the air, making this the only cheese that requires eye protection while eating. The taste is strong enough to burn the tongue, and the larvae themselves pass through the stomach undigested, sometimes surviving long enough to breed in the intestine, where they attempt to bore through the walls, causing vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

Wait, it gets worse ...
This cheese is a delicacy in Sardinia, where it is illegal. That' right. It is illegal in the only place where people actually want to eat it. If this does not communicate a very clear message, perhaps the larvae will, as they leap desperately toward your face in an effort to escape the putrescent horror of the only home they have ever known. Even the cheese itself is ashamed; when prodded, it weeps an odorous liquid called lagrima, Sardinian for "tears."

Danger of this turning up in America:
There is significant danger here, as we're thinking the cheese companies have a lot of maggot stock in the back of their warehouse they'd like to get rid of. And, there may actually be a market for it. Self-loathing is a powerful force in this economy (see the diet section of your local supermarket) and there' times you get low enough that, damn it, you feel like you deserve nothing better than infested cheese.

#4.
Lutefisk

From:
Norway.

What the hell is it?
Ahhh, Lutefisk. After the larvae-ridden cheese, it's a blessed relief to sample a clean, down-to-earth Scandinavian recipe.

A little too clean.

Lutefisk is a traditional Norwegian dish featuring cod that has been steeped for many days in a solution of lye, until its flesh is caustic enough to dissolve silver cutlery.

Wait, it gets worse ...
For those of you who don't know, lye (potassium hydroxide/sodium hydroxide) is a powerful industrial chemical used for cleaning drains, killing plants, de-budding cow horns, powering batteries and manufacturing biodiesel. Contact with lye can cause chemical burns, permanent scarring, blindness or total deliciousness, depending on whether you pour it onto a herring or your own face. Or, so the lutefisk industry would have us believe.

Danger of this turning up in America:
IT'S ALREADY HERE! Shit!

It' true, lutefisk is more popular in the United States than in Norway. What the hell are they doing with it? They're not eating it are they? Is it because it' a cheap alternative to colonic irrigation? Seriously, how do you advertise this stuff?

#3.
Baby Mice Wine

From:
Korea.

What the hell is it?
What better to wash down your gelatinous lumps of lye fish than a nice chilled cup of dead mice? What better indeed.

Baby mice wine is a traditional Chinese and Korean "health tonic," which apparently tastes like raw gasoline. Little mice, eyes still closed, are plucked from the embrace of their loving mothers and stuffed (while still alive) into a bottle of rice wine. They are left to ferment while their parents wring their tiny mouse paws in despair, tears drooping sadly from the tips of their whiskers.

Wait, it gets worse ...
Do you wince at the thought of swallowing a tequila worm? Imagine how you'd feel during a session on this bastard. Whoops, I swallowed a dead mouse! Whoops, there goes another one! Whoops, I just puked my entire body out of my nose!

Danger of this turning up in America:
Who are you going to find in America that' OK with drinking dead fetus juice as a way to improve their own health? OK, other than lawyers.

#2.
Pacha

From:
Iraq.

What the hell is it?
Of all the dishes, this is the one most likely to be mistaken for a threatening message from the mob. It' a sheep' head. Boiled.

Wait, it gets worse ...
Pacha only reveals its terror gradually. Sure, maybe you can get around the fact that you're eating face. But, the more you eat it, the more bone is revealed, until you give a final burp and set your cutlery down beside a grinning ivory skull. Its hollow eye sockets stare back at you with a look of grim damnation. "Burp while ye may," the sockets say, "for the same fate will happen to you--and all too soon."

We wonder why the Iraqis keep blowing themselves up? Wouldn't you, if every evening meal was a festival of death?

Danger of this turning up in America:
Not looking like that, it won't. But, you tell people that sheep head contains some kind of enzyme that boosts your metabolism and ...

#1.
Balut

From:
The Philippines

What the hell is it?
Behold, for our journey of horror reaches its destination. Balut are duck eggs that have been incubated until the fetus is all feathery and beaky, and then boiled alive. The bones give the eggs a uniquely crunchy texture.

They are enjoyed in Cambodia, Philippines and the fifth and seventh levels of hell. They are typically sold by street vendors at night, out of buckets of warm sand. You can spot the vendors because of their glowing red eyes, and the faint, otherworldly sound of children screaming.

Wait, it gets worse ...
... Because you're never going to look at an egg the same way. Tell yourself that every time you crack open an egg from now on you won't be half expecting a leathery wad of bird to come flopping out into the skillet.

Yes, balut is upsetting on about a half-dozen levels. Sure, all meat eaters know on some level that the delicious chop on your plate used to belong to something cute and fluffy, which gambolled in the sun during the brief spring of its life. Most of the time, it' perfectly possible not to give a shit. But, when you're biting into something that hasn't even had a chance to see its mother' face ... well, it' different.

Danger of this turning up in America:
Actually, marketed properly, these eggs could be a damn good motivator. When you've looked death in the face at breakfast time, what the hell else can the day throw at you?




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1216 comments, and nobody mentioned orlotan?

Posted on 1/5/2009 9:14:23 PM

and talk utter bullshit...

Posted on 1/5/2009 5:09:33 AM

ugh... did you know that in China people eat HUMAN, yes I tell you, HUMAN fetus in their soup... I think it's illegal or something, but some still 'consume' it due to health thing...

oh well, in China you can eat anything.. and I do mean ANYTHING!

oh how about alive monkey brain? suck it up with straw...

what you're wrote here is not as nasty as the things I know... since I live in Asia ;)

Posted on 1/5/2009 2:53:47 AM

I once cracked an egg to bake a cake and found a very tiny baby chick in it. I haven't been able to look a eggs the same way... now eating a duck fetus...

Posted on 1/2/2009 10:34:26 PM

well actually,balut isn't that bad if you don't eat the duck,i usually just eat the yolk and the white part of the egg(not the shell)

Posted on 1/2/2009 1:17:10 PM

How is the ant egg one any worse than caviar?

Posted on 12/28/2008 9:17:45 PM

Oh I forgot to add:
Other than that, I found this very horrendous, but only in the way that it was intended. Your writing complimented the article. Loved it :) The pictures were awwwwesome.

Posted on 12/26/2008 7:11:02 PM

Alright, that fetus mice wine is definitely NOT Korean. It's more likely it's Chinese. After all, the label on the bottle in the picture is written in Chinese. SHUDDERRRRRRR gahd, that is extremely offensive to Koreans. You change that. Like, NOW. Totally incorrect. FIX IT!

Posted on 12/26/2008 7:09:08 PM

I'm a Filipino and a proud (and apparently badass) duck fetus eating S.O.B.!

Posted on 12/19/2008 1:46:55 AM

The f'ing Balut is the illest thing I ever saw, (Bizarre foods is a kick ass show) Asia is a wondrous place where small cute lovable animals scream hard wangs and tasty morsels

Posted on 12/11/2008 1:22:42 PM

When I visited Mexico with a church group two summers ago, I ate the brain, tongue, and eyeball of a cooked goat head. The latter two were actually pretty tasty once I got over what it was I was eating. Eyeball burst like a gusher in my mouth, though. Almost gagged.

Posted on 12/9/2008 7:35:38 PM

hey they missed a mexican food any of u ever heard of menudo its made from cow stomach xD and i actually eat it

Posted on 12/8/2008 9:21:05 AM

I think that's the Cantonese, actually. (looks it up) Oh, hey, "many countries". *gags*

Posted on 12/6/2008 7:35:47 PM

did u guys know that the chinese eat live monkey brain? fucked up

Posted on 12/6/2008 10:00:00 AM

omg hahaha balut! I went to high school in the philippines and my scottish friend jo ate balut on a dare!

Posted on 12/6/2008 9:59:26 AM

Isn't there a thing in france where they eat a small bird thing, but for some bizzare (probably shame-related) reason they have to do so while their head is under a blanket?
also that cheese has made me stay away from any dairy product that could concievably contain jumpy maggots

Posted on 11/30/2008 12:56:20 PM

Clearly you haven't been to Iceland.

http://www.mbl.is/frimg/4/45/445723.jpg

Same as pacha, but different condiments. Potatomash and turnip mash. :)

I think cazu marzu should be nr .1

Posted on 11/29/2008 6:10:51 AM

I've eaten duck fetuses before, from the egg.. They're not bad, really. It was a Vietnamese thing, though. They had a special salt-and-pepper mixture to sprinkle in the liquid, it tasted okay.

Posted on 11/27/2008 1:49:39 PM

dude i think im gonna give up eating now 0_o

Posted on 11/25/2008 8:44:32 PM

Monkey brains, anyone? Raw monkey brains? How about tripe? Live squid? None of those made the list, sadly.

Posted on 11/24/2008 9:35:59 AM

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