By: Chiawei Leu
When it comes to eating food, everyone always wants to try the best, or most delicious delicacies one has to offer. Asian food is typically considered as having the most scrumptious food out there, but sometimes, a few delicacies can go awry. What may seem as gross and outlandish to most may actually be the most expensive, sometimes aromatic, delicacies you can possibly afford to try in the Asian culture. In this blog, these food choices will be noted upon, going from what I find as most acceptable, to most vile. This is completely an opinion on my part, as some people may find the last couple of choices to be quite delicious when compared to the others. However, please note that viewer discretion is much advised, as well as a strong stomach.
With so many food choices out in the world, it is of course, quite difficult to observe and critique them all. The following choices were picked by popular word of mouth and from hearing of the delicacies from when I was a child.
Without much further ado, I present to you, the "Top 10 Asian Delicacies".
Number 1: Bee Larvae
This one is just the starter. This delicacy actually doesn't look too bad in the picture. Eating bee larvae is quite popular in China and Japan, and can be found at various restaurants or street vendors. They are usually seasoned with just salt and pepper after a soak in a fryer, but they can also be pan-friend with either soy sauce and/or sugar, depending on your specific taste buds.
To be quite honest, I have actually tried these fried before, and I have to admit, it isn't half bad. It has a crunchy texture to it, almost like a potato chip, and tastes almost like a chicken flavored chip, or salty dried-ramen. After being fried, the normally squishy and pus filled inside becomes more of a crunch than a chew. Popular with the locals, bee larvae is a cheap snack that can satiate most, and as the popular Bear Grylls would say on his show, "they are full of vitamins and protein that can help give the body energy when it needs to get going".
Number 2: Silkworm Pupae
Silkworm pupae, also known as beondegi, is a popular snack food in Korea. Beondegi, literally meaning "chrysalis" or "pupa" in Korean, is a steamed or boiled silkworm pupae which is seasoned and eaten as a snack (1). Silkworm pupae can be served in cans or at bars to go along with whatever drink you may order, typically beer, replacing the normal choice of eating peanuts or salted pretzels.
To prepare beondegi, the cocoons of the silk worm are first steamed or boiled, and then seasoned to add flavor to the protein-filled sac in the cocoon. An interesting fact about this food is that it was actually proposed to be a snack item to be brought with the astronauts as space food on their long-term missions - it was however turned down, replaced by protein shakes instead.
I have never tried these, but from what I have read, the canned variety is said to have a slight smell of nuts with "a hint of a canned pea flavor mixed with mildew", whereas the freshly deep-fried version is described to be similar to a peanut ski stuffed with a chewy cheesy paste. Probably not the most appetizing description I have ever heard, but if many people eat it, there must be something appetizing about it.
Number 3: Horseshoe Crabs
Horseshoe crabs have changed very little in the 445 million years that they have been around the earth. Quite common in the United States, usually used as bait or chum in fishing, it is quite a delicacy in many Asian countries. The female horseshoe crab is what the consumer market typically wants. The eggs found underneath the shell are what makes them such a delicacy. A note of warning, as they do not taste like the typical caviar or fish eggs placed normally on sushi, the female horseshoe crab's eggs are known to be quite an acquired taste.
I am normally quite open to trying new things, and when this was first brought to me when I visited my family in Taiwan, I wasn't too fazed by it. However, as soon as the waft of smell came from it, I was immediately disgusted. The smell is quite comparable to something of a mixture of battery acid mixed with a slight tinge of burnt hair. The taste of it - even worse. Typically, fish eggs, or roe, pop in your mouth, unleashing the salty juicy goodness inside; this was more like eating a Lego mushed with a rotten fish paste. This is definitely not a food that I would recommend to anyone, even to the most brave of stomachs.
Number 4: Tuna Eye
Tuna eye is actually quite delicious. Well, maybe not exactly delicious, but it is definitely not bad tasting when compared to some of the other foods in this list. It is rated number 4 mainly only because it does not look like the most appetizing food there is to eat. There is a slight creepiness factor when you look at your food, only to have it stare blindly back at your without once blinking. Tuna eye typically comes packaged just by itself, with the muscles that hold it severed off, leaving only a few bits and strands of the muscle and fat left attached to the back of it. Many Asian markets will sell this for not much more than a dollar or two. In fact, the Asian market down Washtenaw sells tuna eye for about $1.00, which is not a bad deal considering how much eye and protein you get for that price.
Preparing the eye can be done in various ways. Typically served in a stew at many traditional Japanese restaurants, it can be slightly seasoned with a tinge of lemon and salt, and sometimes ginger and other types of vegetables with noodles can be served with it for a tasty bowl of udon noodle soup. When cooked right, the eye has an interesting texture of hard jello, and tastes pretty much like fat from a fish, as the eye consists mainly of just pure fat and protein.
Number 5: Cod Fish Sperm
Known as "Shirako" in Japan, cod fish sperm is quite a favorite delicacy in the winter among the Japanese culture. From many of the pictures that I have seen of this, and from what I have seen at the Osaka Airport sushi bar in Osaka, Japan, the look of the cod fish sperm can only be comparable to either clean, sliced intestines, or like a peach colored human brain. The Japanese however, like cod fish sperm for its light and delicate taste, which has just a slight tinge of a fishy taste to remind them they are still eating something from a fish.
Cod fish sperm is supposed to have the same consistency in your mouth like soft butter, and is popularly believed by the Japanese to reduce impotency in men and increase performance in the bedroom.
Number 6: Stink Bugs
Stink bugs are generally medium-sized insects that look much like the common beetle, only flatter, with slightly broader "shoulders". They are about 13-17mm long and about 8mm wide (2), and in the jungles of Irian Jaya , Indonesia, are considered as one of the tastiest treats by the native children who reside there. The children hunt for them by calling "mo mo mo" when found to keep them still, and often search for them in groups early in the morning.
The smell a stink bug gives off is quite pungent, however, when cooked, no longer smells like it does in its alive form. It is often prepared over a fire, wrapped in leaves as to not burn the insects directly.
Number 7: Bird's Nest Soup
Bird's nest soup is quite a very popular Asian delicacy in Chinese cuisine. The reason for its name is that it is the actual bird's nest, boiled into a soup form. The nest comes from the white nests of swiftlets that reside in caves. The male swiftlets create the nest by using their own saliva, creating one sticky strand at a time, until there is finally enough for it to harden and make a nest suitable for its eggs. Each nest takes about 35 days to complete (3). Because of this long laborious task, bird's nest soup is not a cheap delicacy whatsoever. The average price of a single bowl of bird's nest soup can cost as low as $30, but can range as high as $100 in Hong Kong.
Bird's nest soup is eaten as it is supposedly rich in nutrients that can help one's immune system, aid in digestion, and raise one's libido.
The soup is quite tasty. Although it can be prepared in various ways, when I had it in Hong Kong, the soup was a salty jello-like chunky noodle form. This is definitely a choice soup that I would eat again. The only reason why it is numbered so late in the list is that when you take time to think about it, you are literally eating the saliva of a bird, and when it is put in that sense, it no longer sounds as nearly appetizing as it really is.
Number 8: Kopi Luwak
Kopi Luwak, or more commonly known as Civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans that have been eaten and digested by the Asian Palm civet. Farmers create these civet coffee beans by feeding the civets nothing but the freshest coffee berries. Because the civets themselves cannot digest and breakdown the berries, the come out just the same as they came in. This practice is commonly done in the Indonesian Archipelago, Vietnam, and in the Philippines (4). Because the civet passes the beans entirely through its digestive system, the civet's natural stomach acids and enzymes give the coffee a unique aroma, and oftentimes lacks the bitter taste typically associated with coffee.
The defecated coffee beans from the civets are definitely a luxury gourmet product, with prices starting at $50 per 100 grams. Although I have never consumed this coffee, the fact that it comes from the after-product of an animal's breakfast/lunch/dinner, it definitely ranks itself as something that I would not want to put in my mouth, caffeinated or decaf.
Number 9: Balut
A balut is a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell (5). Oftentimes served with beer, it is commonly believed to be an aphrodisiac and high in protein. As you can see the man on the left eating, the balut seems to be doing a great job as an aphrodisiac.
Balut can be bought as street food in the Philippines, and is often served with various spices such as ground pepper and chili. The balut can be bought in many various stages too; it can be purchased right from the first stages of development, all the way to almost being completely ripe and ready to hatch. The grossness look factor of this delicacy is quite up there, which is why it is number 9 on this list.
Number 10: Monkey Brain
Monkey brain is probably one of the most controversial delicacies out there. The practice of eating this delicacy is usually associated with the Chinese, though it can be found also it other various countries. The consumption of monkey brain is supposedly a cure for impotence. There are various ways of eating the monkey's brain, with the most controversial being eaten fresh out of the monkey's head, spooned out of the skull while the monkey is still alive. Eating raw monkey brain has its hazards, as it is high in fat content, and can also contain/cause diseases such as fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and other diseases that are similar to the mad cow disease in cattle (6). The practice of eating monkey brain was one that was often joked upon in my family as a child. Although my parents and I have never tried monkey brain, my grandfather has, as it was popular in his time, and was undoubtedly believed to cure impotence. The consumption of monkey brain, both in its cooked and raw form ranks as number 10 as it is possibly the most vile combination of everything disgusting and animal cruelty put together.
Works Cited:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beondegi
2. http://wiki.bugwood.org/Stink_bugs
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird's_nest_soup
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg)
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_brains_(cuisine)
Pictures Cited:
Bee Larvae: http://thewondrous.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Strange-Meal_14.jpg
Silkworm Pupae: http://www.oneinchpunch.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/pupae-korean-snacks.jpg
Silkworm Pupae in hand: http://www.blogjam.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/palm.jpg
Horseshoe crab Picture 1: http://www.dcwild.com/images/Shoreline/Horseshoe-Crab.jpg
Horseshoe crab Picture 2: http://nintharticle.com/horseshoecrab.jpg
Tuna Eye: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCDB1nVKujsbGSLl6ZQbSwUuvq8Wwrc2KytPEaDr22sxz06e8YuasJAmkBv2C2q3szXlv19echUV5LGKkQZS-gNDJMdoN2hw0Ur3n8Y4CpVBFN5FQcIDgsxjSJSV1iXyw3QPPSoIk_9ns/s1600-h/13.jpg
Tuna Eye in Packaging: http://www.fleealaska.com/images/eyeball1.jpg
Cod Fish Sperm: http://blog.hotelclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cod-sperm.jpg
Stink Bug: http://www.dpughphoto.com/images/green%20stink%20bug%20durham%20113005.JPG
Bird's Nest Soup: http://bestofguangzhou.com/locations/the-peninsula/bird-nest-soup.jpg
Raw Bird's Nest Soup: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/SwiftletBirdNests.jpg
Kopi Farmer: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Kopi-sumatra-farmer.jpg
Asian Civet: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Paradox_hermaph_060924_ltn.jpg
Guy eating Balut egg: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Raul_Arellano_eating_Balut.jpg
Multiple Balut Pictures:http://www.apricotbeige.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/balut.jpg
Monkey Brain: http://maxent.org/ch/images/01_table.jpg
