Have you dared to dine on the salted cheeses of Croatia? Do you devour the prickly, hairy legs of a fried tarantula without flinching? Does the notoriously smelly and squidgy durian fruit (banned from all public transport in Malaysia) wash down like blueberry smoothie? Weird cuisine has always been my thing. If you love to test your threshold with the wackiest dishes too then travelling the globe is all the more exciting.
My philosophy? If a whole nation of people are eating steamed chicken feet (China), fermented shark (Iceland) or pig’s intestines (Spain), it must be worth trying. But you don’t have to be wacky to be adventurous with food. There are many dishes which are a little out of the meat-and-two-veg comfort zone but still taste delicious – and don’t score so highly on the weirdometer either. Read on for 3 interesting must-try dishes from around the world!
Angulas (Baby Eels) – Spain
This is one of my favourite tapas dishes but it’s quite hard to find if you’re wandering the streets of Barcelona close to the tourist hot spots. If you want to try this delicious national gem, you’ll need to find some winding backstreets and get yourself to a local tapas hangout. The slimy, wormy look of the eels can be off putting for the squeamish but the delicious hot garlic oil gives it loads of flavour. Still not convinced? Check out the recipe online.
Fugu Puffer Fish – Japan
Now there’s nothing weird, disgusting or crazy about this dish at all. In fact, it tastes beautiful and the Japanese see it as a major delicacy. For fish connoisseurs, this is the crème da la crème. The catch? There’s a 6.8% fatality rate from a single bite. It’s a game of Russian roulette but perhaps that’s its appeal?
Pudding N’ Souse – Barbados
This isn’t to everyone’s taste but for those of you partial to a piece of black pudding with your full English, pudding n’ souse is worth a try. The pudding is a boiled sausage of blood and pig’s intestines and the ‘souse’ cold pickled pig’s trotters which is served over the warm pudding. Sound good? This dish is strictly a Barbadian dish making it all the more special so get searching for Barbados holidays to get your tastebuds on those trotters.
Credit: YouTube
