You know what will put you off your lunch? Reading through this list of wild food delicacies from around the globe. They involve private parts, urine and tarantulas, naturally. Enjoy.

1. Balut

A developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. Nope, we’re not joking. It’s eaten in south east Asia and often served with beer, probably to fog the horrendous memory.


It’s like a real-life alien in an egg (Picture: Shankar S. via Flickr)

2. Century eggs

These bad boys are egg, quail or duck eggs preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt and quicklime for a long period of time – weeks or even months. Yuck. The yolk has a strong odour of sulphur and ammonia, and these gems are served at special occasions in China.

They look like a cross between oysters and egg yolks (Picture: Design Pics Inc/REX)



3. Shiokara

Could be noodles in a nice katsu sauce. It’s not. It’s marine animals cooked in a sauce of their own fermented organs. Grim.

Organs, fermented organs – just why?! (Picture: Getty)

4. Smalahove

It’s exactly as it looks – a sheep’s head. It’s usually eaten before Christmas in Norway, and is steamed for a few hours and served with potatoes. Since 1998 it cannot be made from adult sheep and must be made from the head of a lamb.

Hey, at least the eye’s been removed, right? (Picture: Wikimedia Commons)

5. Escamoles

Could be macaroni cheese, could be buttery beans, it’s not, it’s the larvae of ants that are found on the tequila plant. This Mexican delicacy is sometimes known as insect caviar, yum.

Served on a nice little floury tortilla (Picture: Christiano Oliviera via Flickr)

6. Kiviak

Auks (birds that look a bit like a baby puffin) are stuffed into a seal (yep, you read right, the ACTUAL animal). They’re stuffed in whole including beaks, feet and feathers and then the seal is secured to ensure there’s no additional air inside. Over the course of seven months the birds ferment and they are then eaten as a scrummy meal in Greenland in the winter.

How many men does it take to stuff a seal full of birds? (Picture: Source)

7. Brain sandwich

The name sort of gives this one away, although thankfully it’s not a human brain. This giant burger which looks SO much like it could just be chicken is in fact calves’ brain and is served in Missouri, USA.

The biggest burgers we’ve ever seen (Picture: Wikimedia Commons)

8. Snake penis wine

This definitely involves a snake, a whole venomous snake in the bottle. It’s popular in Vietnam and Asia where the snake is said to have health properties. We’re not sure whether the penis addition in this bottle is an actual penis (bear and other animal penises are also found in wines in Asia) or just a fun title for the beverage.

Fancy some snake penis wine to celebrate your new job? (Picture: Andrew Stern via Flickr)

9. Blood tofu

Looks like yummy chocolate chunks, is in fact lumps of jelly-consistency pigs’ blood. In China duck, sheep, chicken and cow’s blood is also used.

Looks like it could make such a good 3pm snack (Picture: C D Rosario via Flickr)

10. Virgin boy wee eggs

These eggs are made by being cooked in the urine of young boys. Every year in spring, urine is collected from prepubescent boys in China and then boiled with the eggs. They are sold for twice the price of a standard boiled egg. *vomits on self*

When is urine ever a good idea? (Picture: Source)



11. Fried Tarantula

Picture a nice bit of fresh calamari, except darker and with a lot of legs. Yum. The fried tarantula is popular in Cambodia, where they are seasoned with salt, garlic and chilli. They’re said to taste like a bland combo between chicken and cod. Hmm.

We picture it to be as crispy as chili beef from the local Chinese takeaway (Picture: Istolethetv via Flcikr)

12. Shirako

This delicacy, eaten in Russia, Japan, Romania and Sicily is the milt – or seminal fluid – of fish. It can also include the fishes genitalia. Yum.

Fish semen for dinner tonight, anyone? (Picture: Marc Phu via Flickr)

13. Tuna eyeball

Snap up this gruesome lunch for less than a pound in most Japanese stores – you simply boil and season to taste. It apparently doesn’t taste too dissimilar to a boiled egg…

Look at it just staring at you (Picture: Kenneth Burger via Flickr)

14. Huitlacoche

You know how if you go on holiday and leave everything in your fridge you come back to moldy vegetables? Yeah, well this is the mould from corn, removed and used in tasty Mexican meals – most notably quesadillas. Yum.

Like a nice grey slush puppy (Picture: Tania De La Paz via Flickr)

15. Casu Marzu

Take a nice big wheel of Parmesan, mmmm, then leave it to sit and chill out for a bit, and you end up with this. This rotten cheese is eaten in Italy and contains live insect larvae, because it is purposely left for cheese flies to lay eggs on. They then break down the cheese fats leaving a softer (and much more maggot-filled) cheese.

It could almost be a nice piece of cheesecake, almost (Picture: Source)

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