Here are a sample of dishes that appear regularly on "Fear Factor" ;-)
Balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. The first time I tried this was in the Philippines in 2006. And the only thing I can say is "It looks worse than it tastes". The anticipation of peeling the egg - and seeing the beak, feathers and webbed feet was really fascinating. When I finally popped it into my mouth, it just tasted like egg yolk - very rich egg yolk!
Beondegi is a street snack that I tried at the Namdaemun night market in Seoul, Korea. I was visiting the market with a client, and in the spirit of "exceeding client expectations", I popped these 3 cm brown sacs into my mouth. When the sacs revealed bits of squidgy legs and antennae, I realised this was not a simple popcorn snack - they were boiled silkworm pupae!
Stinky tofu is basically fermented beancurd. Being Chinese, I've eaten tofu from infancy, but nothing prepared me for this delicacy. I tried this for the first time at a night market in Mailiao, Taiwan. Firstly, it takes a lot of courage to even approach the stall because of serious pong (much like the smell of full garbage trucks in a tropical climate). The taste is just like tofu that's gone off. However, the pickled cabbage that is served together with this does help offset the "strange"ness of the flavours.
Black pudding is a blood sausage. It is served as part of a cooked breakfast in England. The first time I had it was in a "greasy spoon" in Barnsley, Yorkshire. It tasted fine -similar to the Chinese liver "lap cheong" or sausage. But I preferred the rest of the English breakfast - sausages, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, buttered bread - washed down with huge mugs of tea...YUUUUMMMM!
Note: Individual food shots are borrowed from Wikipedia. Only the Aunty Jo-Jo eating balut shot is from my camera
No comments:
Post a Comment