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In my quest to try everything, I’ve eaten some weird and bizarre foods.  See the 10 most bizarre foods I’ve eaten and experience what they taste like in this satirical review.

I’ll try anything twice. Well, maybe not that Greenland shark, but I love to experiment with unique foods around the world. These are the 10 strangest things I have tried with a satirical culinary review of each to bring the horrible experience alive for you.

10. Grasshopper and Worm Tacos in Mexico

10. Grasshopper and Worm Tacos in Mexico

10. Grasshopper and Worm Tacos. These are traditional Aztec foods and are now increasingly popularity at upscale restaurants and trendy mezcalerias in the highlands of Mexico. These bugs are highly nutritious and can pack a strong flavor when cooked with secret family blends of local spices. These bugs all have crunchy shells with creamy, moist fillings that ooze flavor when bitten. They go great with a smokey, small batch mezcal and some hot sauce.

 

 

 

 

9. Live Lemon Anta in Ecuador

9. Live Lemon Anta in Ecuador

9. Live Ants. Used as a renewable “spice” in the steamy Amazon jungles of Ecuador and Peru, lemon ants can be used as a flavoring on mashed potatoes where they stick and can’t run off the plate. These caramel-colored ants live only in special places in the jungle called devil’s gardens within hollow pockets of vegetation and provide an interesting symbiotic benefit to the tree they infest. The texture is crunchy with a “pop” when you bite them and a burst of tangy lemongrass fluids — a warm welcome after a week surviving in the Amazon jungle on tasteless staples. Be sure to bite into them fully to keep them from biting you later.

 

 

8. Whole Guinea Pig in Peru (called cuy there

8. Whole Guinea Pig in Peru (called cuy there

8. Whole Guinea Pig. This rodent is a staple of South American cuisine. I was so alarmed at the terrified look on the face of my first guinea pig on a plate that I sent the dish back and asked them to chop his head off. He looked like he was boiled alive and his face stuck like that, eternally staring at me with fear and loathing. Guinea pig tastes a bit like rabbit with a gamey taste and a sticky mouthfeel. The tiny muscles require a fair bit of scavenging to find enough sustenance. The locals eat the skin, which is very tough and chewy.

 

 

 

7. African Calamari Made from Cow Stomach

7. African Calamari Made from Cow Stomach

7. “African Calamari.” This is made from slices of cow’s stomach. Smooth on one side and intensely bumpy on the other, it has a salty taste with a tough chewy texture and a mouthfeel of rough sandpaper giving way to a definite fishy taste, hence its local nickname. It finishes strongly gamey and leaves you with a bunch of crunchy grit in your mouth and an aftertaste of dead grass.

 

 

 

 

 

6. Hakarl or Greenland Shark in its own rotting juices

6. Hakarl or Greenland Shark in its own rotting juices (Iceland)

6. Hákarl or Greenland Shark. Anthony Bourdain described it as, “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing” he has ever eaten. Served soft frozen to mute the taste slightly, it has the consistency of a frozen popsicle. The fish is inedible to humans, so it is buried in the ground to decompose for 4 months and comes out the concentrated essence of putridness. The taste of horribly rotten fish is quickly overwhelmed by the intense taste and smell of ammonia that fills your nasal cavity and brings instant tears to your eyes. They have puke buckets readily available for people who cannot quell their gag reflex. The horrible taste lingers through dozens of tooth brushings.

 

 

5. Jellyfish Salad

5. Jellyfish Salad in China

5. Jellyfish. One of the more bizarre foods on the planet is live jellyfish.  The texture of a jellyfish is gelatinous and extremely chewy, almost crunchy, making a loud squeaking sound as you chew. It has a very subtle, delicate taste of fishiness like a soft seaweed soup. The tendrils can be slurped up like spaghetti. It is normal to experience a very slight numbing of the tongue and mouth that can last a few hours. Jellyfish spoil extremely quickly and yellow, so look for a translucent white color to indicate top quality.

 

 

 

 

4. Roadkill Whiskey in Vietnam

4. Roadkill Whiskey in Vietnam

4. Roadkill Whiskey, Vietnam. Snake whiskey is revered in Vietnam as an aphrodisiac, treatment for muscle pain and almost any serious illness imaginable. It is common to see king cobras, black scorpions and ginseng soaking in bottles, but some restaurants add rats, lizards and even dead birds of questionable origin into the monstrous glass jars to soak for 6 months. It tastes like very strong, stinging whisky and finishes with a subtle taste of rodent and reptile tartness on the back of your tongue. It leaves you with an interesting boost of energy and focus. Despite the noxious taste, you will soon crave another shot.

 

 

 

3. Banana Beer in Burundi

3. Banana Beer in Burundi

3. Open-Tub Banana Beer. In Burundi’s second city, the Catholic Church controls the majority of the economy in that area. The Church’s main revenue source comes from making the best banana beer around. Huge vats of the liquefied rotten banana pulp covered in flies are still fermenting at market stands. The lady with the huge spoon waives aside the black free-floating slime covering this dark yellow liquid concoction and your empty water bottle is filled with the freshest rotten homemade liquor around. Be careful, it is much stronger than it seems.

 

 

 

2. Eating a Fried Tarantula in Cambodia

2. Eating a Fried Tarantula in Cambodia

2. Fried Tarantula. There is a town called Skuon on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia where there are so many tarantulas that at night the ground looks like an endless boiling ocean of hairy legs. The locals stir fry these in chili oil and spices. They actually taste wonderful, like a fried Thai soft-shelled crab… But hairy. I prefer not to eat the main body, as a noxious green liquid squirts out that tastes and smells pretty foul but it won’t hurt you.

 

 

 

 

1. Beating Heart of Cobra Shot in North Vietnam

1. Beating Heart of Cobra Shot in North Vietnam

1. Beating Cobra Heart Shot. A must-do in Vietnam. Cobra is a delicacy that is becoming highly regulated and harder to find. The slithering live cobra is brought to your table by the waitstaff. Its chest is sliced open and the beating heart is carefully pulled out of the body. It is chopped off at the arteries and drops into a shot of clear rice wine that is quickly stained red. It has the slippery, muscular consistency of a live oyster. You crush it slightly between your teeth and the hollow chambers release the last of the cobra blood. It kicks as it slides down your throat.

 

 

Want to see more bizarre foods?  Try this article: SHOCKING: Brad tries the Chef’s special at Indonesia’s Most Macabre Meat Market

I want to hear from you!  Have you tried any of these Exotic Foods?  What is the weirdest food you have eaten or heard about?  Here is my running list, help me add to it…

The top 10 weirdest foods I have not tried

  • Puffed queen ants
  • Dog
  • Bull testicles
  • Roaches
  • Maggot Cheese
  • Fertilized duck eggs Philipeans
  • Ox penis
  • Hundred year rotten egg
  • Live Monkey brains
  • Human Remains??

My Craziest Stories:

Want to read my best travel stories? Here are some good ones:

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About the author: Brad Bernard

 

Brad Bernard has traveled through 92 countries to find off-the-map experiences and authentic adventure travel. He pushes his own personal boundaries by travelling experimentally. Brad’s personal quest to find the most extreme and unique in travel has bred misadventures and moments of enlightenment alike. You can read his craziest stories on his adventure travel blog

Website: https://plus.google.com/+BradBernard340/