8/14/2019 The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-6-most-terrifying-foods-in-the-world 1/6

#6.Escamoles

From: 

Mexico.

What the hell is it? Escamoles are the eggs of the giant black Liometopum ant, which makes its home inthe root systems of maguey and agave plants. Collecting the eggs is a uniquelyunpleasant 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 themis in a taco with guacamole, while being 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 ant eggs.

8/14/2019 The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-6-most-terrifying-foods-in-the-world 2/6

#5.Casu Marzu

From: 

Sardinia, Italy.

What the hell is it? This, dear reader, is a medium-sized lump of Sweet 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 theonly 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 tobore 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 veryclear 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."

8/14/2019 The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-6-most-terrifying-foods-in-the-world 3/6

 

#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 apowerful 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 onwhether you pour it onto a herring or your own face. Or, so the lutefisk industry

would have us believe.

8/14/2019 The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-6-most-terrifying-foods-in-the-world 4/6

 

#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 embraceof 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 feelduring a session on this one. Whoops, I swallowed a dead mouse! Whoops, there

goes another one! Whoops, I just puked my entire body out of my nose!

8/14/2019 The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-6-most-terrifying-foods-in-the-world 5/6

#2.Pacha

From: 

Iraq.

What the hell is it? Of all the dishes, this is the one most likely to be mistaken for a threateningmessage 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 yougive 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."

8/14/2019 The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-6-most-terrifying-foods-in-the-world 6/6

#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. Youcan 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 thatevery 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 onsome 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 damn. But, when you're biting intosomething that hasn't even had a chance to see its mother' face ... well, it' different.