※SpinalGap24 ※

So, what is the strangest food you've ever tasted? I use the word taste deliberately, as some delights are unpalitable, but the adventurous spirit within cannot resist can it?
For me, the weirdest I've had is Balut...a Philippine delight offered me on day 1, under cover of darkness, which was delicious, until the morning after revealed what balut was, (... a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in newspaper, smilar style to English fish and chips, by street vendors -yes, often after dark)
-lauren6

~~~

New Zealand
Huhu
Huhu grubs (larva) are A traditional Maori food in New Zealand. I've never had the guts to try them myself but people say they taste like buttery chicken.

Belize
Ants
In a village near Orange Walk after a good tamales lunch, my cousins would go and dig the ants nest from behind the farm taking out all the ant eggs. They would then eat the eggs and sigh with satisfaction. Tastes quite like citrus juice mixed with some strong gin. Also known as "ghetto caviar".

Australia
Ants
(Australia, Northern Territory.) In the North of Australia a favorite type of bush-tucker is the abdomen of small 'green ants'. The ants themselves have brown bodies and legs, but a large green abdomen which curiously shares a similar flavor to lemon sherbet. To eat them you pick them up by their head and squash it (so they won't bite you) then bite off the abdomen and enjoy the taste sensation. Beautiful!

Kampuchea
Tarantula
In the town of Skuon around 55 miles North of Phnom Phen tarantula spiders are very commonly eaten by the locals, travelers who pass through often try them too. The practice began in the days of the Khmer Rouge, when food was scarce, but apparently the locals developed rather a taste for the furry 8-legged arachnids and now they still form a major part of the towns dietary intake. Hundreds of these spiders are hunted, cooked and sold everyday in what must be one of the more unusual 'fast food' arrangements.

Africa
Mopane Caterpillars
Mopane are eaten in various South African countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana). For more info please visit: Mopane

Thailand
Ants
Yellow ants or ants eggs in lime and chilies.
Bugs
Thailand street vendors serve up good tasty treats on Koh San road in Thailand. One cart had Maggots by the hand full, Grasshoppers, King Scorpion, Huge Cockroaches, and several others. Most of it actually not bad at all..

Mexico
Tequila Worms
The little worm, the gusano, that lives on the agave plant gets stuck in the bottle. Mmmm. There is even a special brand sold in 2-ounce bottles called "Dos Gusanos", two worms for those who can't get enough.
Locally, which is to say in North America, a not too uncommon confection is the tequila sucker--a tequila flavored lollipop, complete with worm. The first two ingredients are listed as "High fructose corn syrup, insect larva...".

Thailand
Water Bugs
This thing looks like a giant black cockroach, but with harder shell. It's highly priced for the aroma, and it's used in cooking. Good stuff!!
Hornet Grubs
Finally a solution for hornets.

Philippines
Fried Crickets
(These can be found in many parts of the Philippines, and are great as a snack late in the evening and night with ginebra gin, or san miguel beer, I have tried this myself, many times in philippines, and yes, they are delicious...masarap~~! -lauren6)

Thailand
Fried Spiders
big hairy spiders fried in a wok. They're a popular snack.

Mediterranean
Cicada
This is an OLD story, but irresistable... The French entomologist Henri Fabre reports eating roasted cicada larvae, caught as they were surfacing to morph. Apparently Aristotle said that this was a delicacy. Although it did not taste too bad, Fabre concluded that Aristotle, with his fantastic record on experimental science, was probably tricked by some rural farmer's opinion.
How to Bug the Cook: For the cook who has everything, consider "Entertaining With Insects" by Ronald Taylor, with 95 recipes including cricket pot pie, mealworm chow mein, fudge hoppers and beetle sausage.

Australia
Witchety Grub
In Oz now it is considered patriotic to eat Witchety Grub, a plump insect which has become the symbol of Aboriginal cuisine. It is served in fancy restaurants, but I don't think many Oz have actually screwed up the courage to sample it.

Colombia
Roasted Ants
The ants are very large. These are fried or roasted. These are often served in paper cones at movies. They have a smoky taste, a bit like very good jerky. Nice and crunchy.

Cote-d'ivoire
Chitoum
A West African bug called a chitoum. They were imported from Ivory Coast, were dry and black and had all the charm of dessicated garden slugs. I thought they tasted like a cross between dried twigs and green Chinese tea. It did not help that I was told that to prepare them for drying people squeeze their guts out. I ate half of one and went back to popping chocolate-covered crickets.

Cambodia (Kampuchea)
Spiders
In Cambodia as well as other parts of the world, certain spiders are consumed as a special treat. They are rich in protein but hard to come by, so they are more of a special snack than a staple. I tried some when I was in Cambodia a year ago. I believe it is a deep-fried tarantula. The taste was quite good - similar to deep fried soft shell crab - but I had significant psychological hang-ups that kept me from enjoying the special treat to the full extent.

Korea
Silk Worm Grubs
Steaming, grey silk worm grubs can be found in vendor's carts on the back streets of Seoul, Korea. There's this one oriental grocery store near me that I've been going to for several years. At first, as expected, when I asked what strange things were I get the standard "You won't like that." I soon got past that stage with the owner. It's probably been over a year since I've got the you-won't-like-it explanation. Today I got it again! The food in question? "Chrysalis." It's a can of bugs. Of course I bought it, but I don't know what to do with it. I opened the can, and it certainly smelled strange. I was assured that it was delicious and very healthy. Do I just heat it and enjoy? Would fresh chrysalis bugs be better than canned? Thanks for the help. Guess: A caterpillar spins a cocoon around itself when it is ready to mutate into a butterfly or moth. At this stage it is known as a "chrysalis" or "pupa". Perhaps they're silkworm pupae, since the orient produces a lot of silk.

Mexico
Grasshoppers
In Oaxaca, they sell "chapulines" (grasshoppers) as a specialty. They're not necessarily disgusting, but to our northern palates they sure were weird--kind of like really, really salty anchovies (if you can imagine anything saltier than anchovies.) From: Louise Mateos. In Africa and Thailand, grasshoppers are fried in oil. Good for you!
Tasty Bug Recipes Bug Blox
2 large packages gelatin
2 1/2 cups boiling water (do not add cold water)
Stir boiling water into gelatin. Dissolve completely.
Stir in dry-roasted leafhoppers.
Pour mixture slowly into 13 x 9 inch pan. Chill at least 3 hours.
BLOX will be firm after 1 hour, but may be difficult to remove from pan. Cutting blox: dip bottom pan in warm water 15 seconds to loosen gelatin. Cut shapes with cookie cutters all the way through gelatin. Lift with index finger or metal spatula. If Blox stick, dip pan again for a few seconds.
Banana Worm Bread
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 eggs
1/4 cup dry-roasted army worms
Mix together all ingredients. Bake in greased loaf pan at 350 for about 1 hour.
Rootworm Beetle Dip
2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 cup reduced calorie mayonnaise
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. dill weed
1 1/2 tsp. Beau Monde
1 cup dry-roasted rootworm beetles
Blend first 3 ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and chill.
Chocolate Cricket Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 12-ounce chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry-roasted crickets
Preheat oven to 375. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture and insects, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded measuring teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

taken from;
http://www.weird-food.com/weird-food-bugs.html

Well, Liverpool and Norwich City finally offered some relief, furthermore, on the same night too!
Liverpool, as maybe expected, played very well in the Champions League, (is that ever in doubt?), and Luis Garcia's goal is well worth watching again and again.
With Chelsea failing to get the ball between the posts at Real Betis, Liverpool command the group, how satisfying this is. Are you sure there's no rivalry between Spain and Portugal??

As for Norwich City, the nerves showed throughout the game, but they played OK, and may have saved Nigel Worthington's job with victory via an OG, but we'll take them however they come, for it is a lost fact that in most of our games this season, we've been the better team, only one problem...defeat after 90 minutes, which is a serious one.

So, to hospital, and my spine, and the consultants still insist my case is "non-urgent" as said per phone yesterday, to which I retorted, 'yes, in Januray I would have agreed, even through to summer, but it is now November, and I cannot work, cannot move, and seek the help of walking sticks...maybe even a wheelchair by next year."
My consultant was professional, but quick to pontificate the problems of his profession, which I am well aware of myself, (and sympathise with), I told him I can fast-track the conversation, the details of which I've heard too many times before.
The consultant bleated, "It takes 16 weeks to see me" and went on to say, "Look, I see many people with your symptoms, who have ..this and that...problems, and they need to be seen quickly". I was shocked that he did not even know that those symptoms he quoted ARE the symptoms I have too...didn't he know that yet???
Here was a consultant bemoaning his job, and a patient, 10 months down the line without any treatment whatsoever, who is unable to perform his.
Case dismissed...within seconds, as if by magic, (Mr Ben?), he informed 'little' me that he could arrange a meeting at his 'bone clinic' next week!!! (This is not the MRI, but it is progress, at last.)
Well...what do you make of that?
Fight, and fight hard, (but fair), and look what happens. I must thank the press, without whom this may not have happened, but I used every democratic avenue open to me, I was fair, and fought simply for my rights...I do, after all, pay for it as a citizen!!!

We must never loose sight of the fact that many posts are there, to serve us when we, unfortunately in my case, need them, and if you look back in history, many of those posts, (politicians, police, etc), had enormous respect. Today, everything seems divided, and that is regrettable.
There are many reasons, of course, political, social, economical, but something long forgotten remains true...we are all still human, and it is also sadly true, that many need reminding of the fact, both on a personal level and a general one.
We are all still linked by what we are.

Goodness speaks in a whisper, evil shouts.

~~~
It has rained all to-day with a continuendo, and I went in a chair to dine with Mrs Van.
Swift, November 2nd, 1711